Close Encounters of the Reading Kind!
Presenter One
Presenter Two

Participants will:
● Complete a foldable with information about the 6 signposts
● Learn how to notice and take note of events that lead students to analyze text more closely
● Create a foldable portfolio as a teaching resource to guide students with close reading
● Have TONS of fun!

• How do you make your lessons rigorous?
• Who is responsible for grappling with rigor?
Teachers? Students?

Let’s make a foldable to record new info about the 6 signposts!
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Contrasts and Contradictions
Aha Moments
Tough Questions
Words of the Wiser
Again and Again
Memory Moment

• DEFINITION: The character acts in a way that is contradictory or unexpected.
• CLUE: a character’s feelings or actions are not what you would expect or contradicts earlier actions
• ASK: Why is the character doing that?
Why would the character act this way?

• DEFINITION: The character realizes or starts to realize something that changes his or her actions or thinking.
• CLUE: A character says ‘I realized,’ ‘I suddenly knew,’ ‘Now I know why...’
• ASK: How might this change things? What might the character do now?

• DEFINITION: A character asks a tough questions that reveals his or her concerns. This can reveal inner conflict.
• CLUE: A character asks self or another person a very difficult question.
• ASK: What does this question make me wonder about? What does it tell me about the character?

• DEFINITION: Another character (often older) gives advice or insight to the main character.
• CLUE: A wiser character offers a life lesson, usually in a quiet moment.
• ASK: What’s the life lesson and how might it affect the character?
What is important about this message?

• DEFINITION: The author keeps bringing up the same image, phrase, or reference.
• CLUE: A word, phrase, or situation is mentioned over and over.
• ASK: Why do you think the author brings this idea up again and again?
Why does this keep happening?

• DEFINITION: The author interrupts the flow of the story by letting the character remember something.
• CLUE: A character exclaims, ‘I suddenly remembered,’ ‘I remember,’ or ‘Thinking back…’
• ASK: Why might this memory be important?

• There are no right or wrong signposts.
• This isn’t a new strategy.
• Close reading is about giving tools to go deeper.
“We believe it is the interaction, the transaction, between the reader and the text that not only creates meaning but creates the reason to read.”
- Beers and Probst

Shutter Fold

How might this be useful in your classroom?

Posters, Bookmarks, and Icons

Useful Stories (Primary)
Pinkadots Elementary, Teachers Pay Teachers

Useful Short Stories (Secondary)
All-American Slurp
Title
Catch the Moon
Charles
Eleven
Fish Cheeks
Harrison Bergeron
The Landlady
The Medicine Bag
Miss Awful
Names/Nombres
The No Guitar Blues
The Scholarship Jacket
The Tell Tale Heart
Tuesday of the Other June
The Veldt
Author
Lensey Namioka
Judith Ortiz Cofer
Shirley Jackson
Sandra Cisneros
Amy Tan
Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Roald Dahl
Virginia Driving Hawk
Arthur Cavanaugh
Julia Alvarez
Gary Soto
Marta Salinas
Edgar Allan Poe
Norma Fox Mazer
Ray Bradbury
CC, !!
CC, MM
Signposts
!!, AA
AA
CC, !!, WW
CC, AA, ??
!!, MM
!!, ??. WW, MM
CC, WW
AA
CC, !!, ??
CC, ??, WW
CC, !!, AA, MM
CC, WW
CC, WW, !!, MM

● Introduce each signpost with short videos like these videos by Brent Peterson
● Signposts can be found anywhere!
○ Wordless texts
○ Use short films to intro and practice signposts
○ Incorporate poems and song lyrics

Baggage by Peter Butler https://vimeo.com/120680403
The Hardest Jigsaw by Eric Anderson https://vimeo.com/11831932
La Luna by Pixar (and any shorts by Pixar) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO-RCzHhwPs
Dia de los Muertos by Gabby Zapata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCQnUuq-TEE

Feedback link: http://fakelink.com
Presenter One email1@fakelink.com
Presenter Two email2@fakelink.com