Close Reading and the Common Core

1. Close Reading and the Common Core Evergreen Public Schools March 2013

2. The text awakens associations in the reader’s mind and out of the mix, meaning is created. It resides neither in the text nor in the reader’s mind, but in the meeting of the two. Louise Rosenblatt

3. Learning Targets… • I can explore the definition of “close reading” and the place it holds in the work of the Common Core Standards. • I can engage in close reading and notice and note the thinking that is required of me as a reader in interacting with and interpreting text. • I can identify implications of close reading by considering teacher actions, student engagement, text and task.

4. Language from CCSS College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading Standard #1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

5. The overall intent of asking text-dependent questions is to build a habit of critical thinking, and critical thinking should lead to thoughtful critical analysis. Educators do not need to create another generation of teacher dependent learners. Nor do educators need to teach students that they must accept what an author says as the absolute and unquestioned truth. Douglas Fisher (NASSP) Beers and Probst Video Fisher Video

6. CCR Anchor Standards for Reading • Standards 1,2, 3 – Key Ideas and Details • Reading for central ideas and supporting evidence • Standards 4, 5, 6 –Craft and Structure • Analyzing author’s craft • Standards 7, 8, 9 – Integration of Knowledge and Ideas • Reading to compare and contrast, discern perspective across texts • Standard 10 – Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

7. Close Reading Requires: • Understanding your purpose in reading • Understanding the author’s purpose • Supporting reasoning explicitly and implicitly • Getting beyond impressionist reading • Allowing the text to launch inquiry • Attention to barriers to understanding

8. A Close Reading Progression • Establish Purpose • First Reading • Students read independently OR Teacher read-aloud • First Discussion • Partner Talk to Check Meaning • Second Discussion • Assessing for Understanding and Confusions • Second Reading • Teacher-Led Shared Reading and Think Aloud • Third Discussion • Text-Dependent Questions • Writing

9. Diving in… • A reading from “The Long Night of the Little Boats” • Tell your partner what is going on so far • What powerful words, images or ideas stand out to you? • What will you pay attention to as we continue?

10. Continuing on…. • What can we tell about the historical context (time, place, situation)? • What confuses you? • What is this article starting to be about? • After partner discussion, finish the article independently

11. End of our first reading…. • Partners: • What are the central ideas of this text? What evidence supports these ideas? • What is the author’s attitude toward the events he describes? Is he biased? How do you know? • How would you organize this text into parts? What is the author communicating to us in each part? How does each part contribute to the central ideas?

12. Press Pause • Deconstruct this “first pass” of a close reading: • What were the instructional moves in this first reading? • How did they support your understanding of the text? • What are the implications for teacher decision-making?

13. Back to our “little boats” • Re-read from beginning and continue through paragraph 11 • Choose two questions to discuss with your partner: • Why did the author title this piece “The Long Night of the Little Boats” rather than “The Battle of Dunkirk”? • Why do you think the author chose to begin the article with the phrase “It was a miracle.”? • The British soldiers are in “desperate trouble”. What words and phrases does the author use to describe this situation? • What words stand out to you in the author’s descriptions of the boats and their pilots? Why does he spend so much time on these descriptions? • “The sea, as if obedient to suggestion, lay down flat.” What does the word “obedient” mean? Why do you think the author uses this phrase to describe the sea conditions?

14. More “little boats” • Shared reading of paragraphs 18-22 • In table groups: • What words and phrases show us how hard the little boat pilots were willing to work to rescue the soldiers? • What does the phrase “small individual miracles” show us about the boat pilots? How might this phrase connect to the central ideas you think the author is presenting? • What does the author want us to understand about • the sea? • the little boat pilots? • the soldiers?

15. Press Pause • With a partner or trio: • What were the instructional moves in these re-reads? • How did they support your understanding of the text? • What are the considerations for planning a close reading of text?

16. Progression of Text-dependent Questions Acrosstexts Entire text Segments Paragraph Sentence Word

17. Apply your learning • With a partner: • Choose one or two categories of text-dependent questions from the progression and design one or two additional questions for students (using “Little Boats”) • Trial your question(s) with another partner group • Which questions resonated? Why?

18. Learning Targets… • I can explore the definition of “close reading” and the place it holds in the work of the Common Core Standards. • I can engage in close reading and notice and note the thinking that is required of me as a reader in interacting with and interpreting text. • I can identify implications of close reading by considering teacher actions, student engagement, text and task.

19. Debrief • Read through the bulleted list of definitions/descriptions from “Implementing the Common Core Standards: A Primer on Close Reading of Text” • Consider what you have learned today • Choose one that resonates with you • Share your responses at your table

20. Debrief • Please respond to the following on a note card to leave at your table: • How has my understanding of close reading changed or expanded? • What instructional implication(s) am I thinking about the most?

21. Resources and References • Beers, K. , & Probst, R. 2013. Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. • Boyles, N. Dec. 2012. “Closing in on Close Reading”, In Educational Leadership, Volume 7, Number4. • Brown, S. & Kappes, L. 2012. Implementing the Common Core State Standards: A primer on “Close Reading of Text”. Washington DC: The Aspen Institute. • Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M. & Lehman, C. 2012. Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. • Cummins, S. 2013. Close Reading of Informational Texts. New York, NY: Guilford Press. • Fisher, D., & Frey, N. 2012. Teaching Students to Read Like Detectives: Comprehending, Analyzing and Discussing Text. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. • Fisher, D., & Frey, N. 2012. Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

22. Websites • Common Core Standards (CCSSO – Council of Chief State School Officers) • www.corestandards.org • Achieve the Core (Student Achievement Partners) Exemplars • http://www.achievethecore.org/steal-these-tools/close-reading-exemplars • To Make a Prairie: Literacy blog; discussion about text-dependent questions • http://tomakeaprairie.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/some-questions-about-text-dependent-questions • Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project (Calkins and Ehrenworth) • www.readingandwritingproject.com • Fisher article and videos (NASSP) on text-dependent questions • Part two of Fisher interview about close reading • Close reading teaching video of literary text • Close reading teaching video of informational text