Getting at the Heart of Close Reading and
Text-dependent Questions
Presented by
Kate McClain, Reading Specialist
Dawn Settle, PAGE Past President
May 1, 2015
Graphic credit - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/86623992807376489/
In this session…
Participants will
• Appreciate close reading as a strategy to gain deeper
understanding of a text
• Engage in a model lesson of close reading to experience
how this strategy leads to analysis
• Examine text dependent questions and the connection
with gathering evidence using the close reading strategy
• View cross curricular text samples in various modes
Characteristics of a gifted
reader
We have learned through research that some common characteristics of a gifted reader is this
student…
• Comprehends reading materials that are two or more years above grade
level
• Understands abstract ideas quickly and easily; have very little to learn from
being required to participate in grade level instruction
• Know, understand, appreciate and use advance vocabulary
• Love to read and do so with great concentration and enthusiasm
• Retain what they have read for a long time
• Make connections between various reading selections and between what
they are reading and other content areas
• Understand the authors styles and uses the various literary elements
• Needs less drill to master reading skills and techniques
• Needs opportunity to read at their own pace and demonstrate previous or
early mastery of reading skills and vocabulary
• Interact with what they read in creative ways
• Have interests that set them apart from other readers
•
--Susan Winebrenner: Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Clasroom, (2012)
Digging Deeper
How to Bartle Puzballs
There are tork gooboos of puzballs, including laplies, mushos,
and fushos. Even if you bartle the puzballs that tovo inny and
onny of ther pern, they do not grunto any lipplies. In order to
geemee a puzball that gruntos lipples, you should bartle the
fusho who has rarckled the parshtootoos after her humphy
fluflu.
1. How many gooboos of puzballs are there?
2. What are laplies, muchos, and fushos?
3. Even if you bartle the puzballs that tovo inny and onny of
the pern, they will not what?
4. How can you geemee a puzball that gruntos lipples?
How did you do?
1. How many gooboos of puzballs are there?
There are tork gooboos of puzballs.
2. What are laplies, muchos, and fushos?
Laplies, mushos, and fushos are tork gooboos of puzballs.
3. Even if you bartle the puzballs that tovo inny and onny of the
pern, they will not what?
They will not grunto any lipples.
4. How can you geemee a puzball that gruntos lipples?
You should bartle the fusho who has rarckled her
parshtootoos after her humply fluflu
“Every book has a skeleton hidden
between its covers. Your job as an
analytic reader is to find it.”
“The unexamined life is not
worth living” ~ Socrates
What Is close reading? (Figure 1.2) Falling in Love
• It is an interaction between the reader and a text (Douglas
Fisher in the online video interview, “Close Reading and the
Common Core State Standards,” April 3, 2012).
• It is about making careful observations of a text and then
interpretations of those observations (Patricia Kain for the
Writing Center at Harvard University, 1998).
• It involves rereading; often rereading a short portion of a text
that helps a reader to carry new ideas to the whole text
(Kylene Beers and Robert Probst in Notice and Note, 2012).
Powerful Close Reading
Instruction
• Must raise engagement and joy, not diminish it
• Must lead student to independence, not dependence on the
teacher prompting
• Must be one piece of your reading instruction, not the only
part of your instruction
• Must allow time for students to read for extended periods and
across many pages of text, not interrupt time spent reading
with activities
• Must be repeated across time and involve lots of
opportunities for practice, not be a one time activity
• Must be designed in response to the strengths and needs of
your students, not planned solely to match a book or fit a
scope and sequence
What does Close Reading look
like in the classroom?
Students
• Students should slow down when
reading and become “text detectives”.
Teachers
• Teachers can use text exemplars from
the appendices of the CCSS.
(http://elaccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Resources)
• They should be more attentive to the
texts.
• Students should read and reread
deliberately.
• Focus on Tier II words and/or
particular phrases or sentences the
author uses.
• Students present their thinking,
observations, and analyses through
writing, technology or speaking
• Teachers need to select text that is rich
enough for students to draw good
evidences from them.
• Teachers will provide students with a
purpose or focus for reading.
• Strategies should be provided for reading
different genres and text types
9
How teachers might implement
Close Reading
• Model several readings of short texts
• Read and re-read deliberately, slowly examining and thinking
about how words and meaning evolve
• Read with a pencil in hand, annotate the text while marking the key
ideas and structure
• Look for patterns in the text that deepen meaning – repetition,
contradictions, similarities. commonalities
• Identify author’s use of vocabulary
• Teacher-led discussions of the text
• Write about the text using evidence to support student responses
10
Reading through Lenses
Chief Joseph’s Surrender Speech
Tell General Howard I know his heart.
What he told me before, I have it in my heart.
I am tired of fighting.
Our chiefs are killed;
Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead.
The old men are all dead.
It is the young men who say yes or no.
He who led on the young men is dead.
It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death.
My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food.
No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death.
I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find.
Maybe I shall find them among the dead.
Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is sick and sad.
From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.
~ October 5, 1877
Chief Joseph succeeded his father as leader of the Wallowa band
in 1871. Before his death, he said to his son . . .
"My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my spirit
is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. When I am gone,
think of your country. You are the chief of these people. They
look to you to guide them. Always remember that your father
never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you
are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. A few years more
and white men will be all around you. They have their eyes on
this land. My son, never forget my dying words. This country
holds your father's body. Never sell the bones of your father and
your mother.”
Joseph commented, “I clasped my father’s hand, and promised
to do as he asked. A man who would not love his father’s grave
is worse than a wild animal.”
Non- Fiction Lenses for
Responding to Literature
General Strands for Reading
Literature
RL9.CCR Anchor Strand:
Analyze how two or more texts address
similar themes or topics in order to build
knowledge or to compare the
approaches the authors take.
RL10.CCR Anchor Strand:
Read and comprehend complex literary
and informational texts independently
and proficiently.
Ideas
Structure
• What was the main idea?
• What other major ideas and concepts
were important?
• Explain the relationship between
individuals, events, and ideas.
• What does the text state explicitly,
and what inferences can be drawn
from it?
• How do the central ideas develop
throughout the text?
• What conclusions or generalizations
can be drawn from the text?
• What do you notice about the
structure?
• How do the text features contribute
to the understanding of the concept?
• How are the reasons and evidence in
the text organized?
• How did the structure of the writing
contribute to the meaning or purpose
of the text?
• How do visual and multimedia
elements contribute to the meaning
or purpose of a text?
…How does the structure contribute to
the concept?
… What connections can you make
between the concept?
Key Words
• What were some words and phrases
that were especially interesting or
important? Why?
• What academic or technical words
are integral to this text?
…How do the words reflect the central
concept?
Point of View
• What was the author trying to say
about the main ideas/concepts?
• Is this a primary or secondary source?
• How are the author’s ideas similar to,
or different from, other texts about
the concept?
• How does the point of view or
purpose shape the content and style
of the text?
…Why might people have different
perspectives about the concept?
Reasoning
• What evidence is presented to
support the ideas and concept?
• How does the author uses reasons
and evidence to support particular
points in the texts?
• What assumptions does the author
make?
• What are the implications of these
assumptions?
…Why is the evidence important to
understanding the concept?
Adapted from: Center for Gifted Education. (1998). Literary reflections a language arts unit for high-ability learners. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.
Fiction Lenses for
Responding to Literature
General Strands for Reading
Literature
Ideas
•
RL9.CCR Anchor Strand:
Analyze how two or more texts address
similar themes or topics in order to build
knowledge or to compare the
approaches the authors take.
•
RL10.CCR Anchor Strand:
Read and comprehend complex literary
and informational texts independently
and proficiently.
•
•
•
What were the major
themes/ideas?
What was the author trying to say
about the theme/ideas?
Is there a lesson/moral?
What does the text state explicitly,
and what inferences might be
drawn from the text?
How do the central ideas develop
throughout the text?
… What connection can you make to
the concept?
Structure
• What do you notice about the
structure?
• What literary and style elements did
the author use? Why?
• From what point of view is the text
written? Why?
• How does the point of view shape
the structure, content, and style?
• In what ways is the setting integral
to the text?
• How do visual and multimedia
elements contribute to the meaning,
tone, or beauty of a text?
…How does the structure contribute to
the concept?
Key Words
Feelings
• What were some words/phrases that
were
• especially interesting or important?
Why?
• What examples of figurative
language relate to the concept?
• How do the words or phrases shape
the meaning or tone?
• What feelings did you have while
reading this selection?
• What caused you to feel this way?
• What feelings did the characters
have?
• How did the characters develop over
the course of the text?
• How does the setting affect
mood/plot?
…What is the connection between
feelings and the concept?
…How do the words reflect the
concept?
Images/Symbols
•
•
•
•
How did the author use
description/imagery in the text?
What sensory images came to your
mind?
How did the author use symbols?
What evidence is provided in the
text to interpret the imagery
and/or symbols?
…How do the symbols and images
relate to the concept?
Adapted from: Center for Gifted Education. (1998). Literary reflections a language arts unit for high-ability learners. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.
Close Reading is…
• Reading 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 complex text.
• Reading of complex texts involves engaging with and
examining facts and details about the text.
• The ability to notice features and language used.
• When students think thoroughly and methodically
about what the details mean.
16
Text-Dependent Questions
Expects students to construct a well-written essay to demonstrate
analysis of the text, moving beyond answering and generating
questions about explicit and implicit information, summarizing, and
being aware of vocabulary or text structure.
Text Dependent Questions are best answered if students use
• Answers through close reading
• Evidence from text, not information from self or outside
sources
• Understanding of basic facts and recall
What are Text-Dependent
Analysis Questions?
• specifically asks a question that can only be answered by
referring explicitly back to the text being read
Text-dependent questions requires close reading of a
text.
• do not rely on any particular background information nor
depend on students having other experiences or knowledge
These questions require students to provide evidence from the
text and to draw inferences based on what the text says in
order to support an analysis.
• uses the text and what students can extract from what is
presented to them in the text
This is different from reading comprehension questions which
require students to read to get the “gist” of the text.
Three Types of Text-Dependent
Questions
When you're writing or reviewing a set of questions, consider
the following three categories:
•
•
•
Questions that assess themes and central ideas
Questions that assess knowledge of vocabulary
Questions that assess syntax and structure
Text-Dependent Questions
Hierarchy
Whole
Opinions,
Arguments,
Intertextual
Connections
Inferences
Across
texts
Entire text
Author’s Purpose
Segments
Vocab & Text Structure
Paragraph
Key Details
Sentence
Word
General Understandings
Part
Text- Dependent Analysis
Sample structure of Text Dependent Questions
Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
Text Dependent writing includes
• A literal check for understanding but must also require
analysis, synthesis, evaluation
• Emphasizes the use of explicit and implicit information from
the text to support reasoning and analysis (detailed
examination of the elements or structure of something,
typically as a basis for discussion or interpretation)
• Focus on the word level, sentence level, paragraph level,
segment, whole text, or across texts
Center for Assessment and Pennsylvania
Department of Education
Creating Questions for Close
Analytic Reading Exemplars
• Think about what you think is the most important learning to be drawn from the text. Note this as
raw material for the culminating assignment and the focus point for other activities to build toward.
• Determine the key ideas of the text. Create a series of questions structured to bring the reader to
an understanding of these.
• Locate the most powerful academic words in the text and integrate questions and discussions that
explore their role into the set of questions above.
• Take stock of what standards are being addressed in the series of questions above. Then decide if
any other standards are suited to being a focus for this text. If so, form questions that exercise those
standards.
• Consider if there are any other academic words that students would profit from focusing on. Build
discussion planning or additional questions to focus attention on them.
• Find the sections of the text that will present the greatest difficulty and craft questions that support
students in mastering these sections. These could be sections with difficult syntax, particularly
dense information, and tricky transitions or places that offer a variety of possible inferences.
• Develop a culminating activity around the idea or learning identified in #1. A good task should
reflect mastery of one or more of the standards, involve writing, and be structured to be done by
students independently.
Non-Examples and Examples
Not Text-Dependent
Text-Dependent
In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out.
Describe a time when you failed at
something.
What makes Casey’s experiences at bat
humorous?
In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr.
King discusses nonviolent protest.
Discuss, in writing, a time when you
wanted to fight against something that
you felt was unfair.
What can you infer from King’s letter
about the letter that he received?
In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln says
the nation is dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created
equal. Why is equality an important
value to promote?
“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the
year 1776. According to Lincoln’s
speech, why is this year significant to
the events described in the speech?
www.achievethecore.org
Checklist for Evaluating
Question Quality
Samples of Close Reading and
Text Dependent Analysis
Samples of work are included in the live binder
• Eleven by Sandra Cisneros- 5th grade
• Wonder by R.J. Placcio- 6th grade
• Chief Joseph Speech- 6th grade
• MLK Speech- 8th grade
• Gift of the Magi- 8th grade
Additional Resources
Achieve the Core: www.achievethecore.com
Engage NY: www.engageny.org
PA SAS Website:
http://www.pdesas.org/module/content/search/
ReadWorks: www.readworks.org
ReadWriteThink: www.Readwritethink.org
Reference List
Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, Heather Anderson, and Marisol
Thayre. Text-dependent Questions, Grades K-5: Pathways to
Close and Critical Reading. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, Heather Anderson, and Marisol
Thayre. Text-dependent Questions, Grades 6-12: Pathways to
Close and Critical Reading. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Gallagher, Kelly. Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12.
Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2004. Print.
Lehman, Christopher, and Kate Roberts. Falling in Love with Close
Reading: Lessons for Analyzing Texts--and Life. N.p.: n.p., n.d.
Print.
Pennsylvania Department of Education, Center for Assessment
Susan Winebrenner: Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Clasroom, (2012)
Falling in love with Close
Reading and Analysis