CLOSE READING
Strategies for teaching students how to do a
“close reading” of a text.
WHAT IS “CLOSE READING”?
“Reading to uncover layers of meaning that lead to deep
comprehension” – Nancy Boyles
“Methodical investigation of a complex text through answering
text dependent questions geared to unpack the text’s meaning” –
Close Reading and the CCSS
“Critically examine a text, especially through repeated readings” –
Fisher & Frey
“Close reading is purposefully reading a text several times in
order to analyze and gain a deep understanding of the text” –
Genia Connell
WHY “CLOSE READING” AT THE
ELEMENTARY LEVEL?
Close reading has previously been associated with teaching reading at the secondary
level and higher. However, “close reading can’t wait until 7th grade or junior year in
high school. It needs to find its niche in kindergarten and the years just beyond if we
mean to build habits of mind that will lead all students to deep understanding of
text.”
The Anchor Standards for Reading found in the CCSS prioritize the close reading
skill. Close reading is a strategy that needs to be accessed and used by students in
order to address standards such as:
Standard 1: extracting evidence and making inferences
Standard 2: determine central idea of theme
Standard 9: building knowledge by comparing two or more texts
Standard 10: complex text
ELEMENTS OF CLOSE READING
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Focus on those portions of a text that pose the biggest challenge to
comprehension, confidence, and stamina.
Limit frontloading or pre-teaching…students need to “grapple” with a text to
learn how to persevere through reading a complex text.
Ask text dependent questions and assign tasks that…direct students to
carefully examine unique text in front of them for evidence.
Ask students to make inferences based on evidence beyond what is explicitly
stated.
Direct students to pay attention to a variety of text structures.
Channel students focus on a sequential integrated line of inquiry directed at
“unpuzzling” the text while keeping them actively engaged with what they read.
Synthesize the evidence they have gathered in an organized fashion and
demonstrate understanding both orally and in writing.
Become aware of nuances in word meaning as well as acquire knowledge of
general academic vocabulary to aid in understanding a wide range of complex
text.
WHAT DOES CLOSE READING
LOOK LIKE IN KINDERGARTEN?
Kindergarten Close Reading
As you watch…notice:
Level of questioning
How students remain “engaged” with the text
Listen for examples of academic vocabulary
WHAT DOES CLOSE READING
LOOK LIKE IN 5TH GRADE?
Close Reading Strategies with Informational Text
Notice the complexity of the text and how students attack the text
How did the teacher select the text? What criteria did he use?
Level of questioning
How students remain “engaged” with the text
Listen for examples of academic vocabulary
SELECTING TEXT
Selecting an appropriate text is a very important step in preparing a lesson using the
close reading strategy. Keep in mind the following criteria:
• Is the text worth reading?
• Is it related to the unit of study?
• Is it complex enough to push students?
If you have read a longer selection, have you singled out for rereading and
investigation a smaller section of the text for your text dependent questions?
• Shorter text can be very beneficial for several reasons:
Enables students a wide range of reading levels to practice demanding text
A wide variety of genres is available – folktales, legends, myths, fables, poetry, plays,
short stories.
Shorter text allows for students to complete the “rereading” step of the close reading
process with the entire sequence of the text.
CLOSE READING PROCEDURES
There is no ONE right way…but you will notice common steps!
Posters have been placed around the room for you to see! Each
one is an example of how a teacher has taught their students to do
a close reading.
Talk at your table…what steps do you see in common in each of
the processes / procedures? Have you taught a close reading
lesson? Share this at your table?
Pick one and make a poster! Adapt it to suit you!
“TEACHING IS ABOUT
TRANSFER” – NANCY BOYLES
The goal is that students take what they have learned from one text and apply it to
another. Coach students to ask these four basic questions:
 What is the author telling me here?
 Are there any hard or important words?
 What does the author want me to understand?
 How does the author play with language to add to meaning?
CLOSE READING
5 Strategies (but there are more!)
Key Words
students
highlight
what they
think are the
key words
and then
defend their
choices.
Pulled Quotes
requiring
students to
“pull quotes”
helps them
determine
significance
Shades of
Meaning
explores
subtle
differences
in meaning
between
similar words
or phases
Wrecking
A Text
*making
the writing dull
*another way
to say,
“summarize it”
Text-dependent
questions
high level
questions that
can only be
answered through
reading the text
EXAMPLES OF STRATEGIES
Pulled Quotes
K e y Wo r d s
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Students can highlight key
words.
Have students identify one or
more words they consider to be
central to the meaning of the
text.
Students must be prepared to
explain choices.
Why do you think the author
chose this word instead of
another?
How does this word capture the
centrality of the text?
1.
Have students select a quote (or you
select a quote depending on the
activity) for students to use to:
- Validate their opinion
- Paraphrase what the quote
means in their own language
- Select a quote that captures
the main message of the
selection
- Pull several important quotes. Put
them on chart paper and hang
them around the room. Have
students write response, questions,
thoughts, and/or reactions about
the quotes. You can guide this to
lead to ideas about main idea,
theme, character traits, etc…
EXAMPLES OF STRATEGIES
“Shades of Meaning”
1.
2.
3.
Give small groups or individual
students an envelope with 4-8
words or phrases that are similar.
Have them order the words in
terms of intensity….for
example: Put words in order of
most destructive to least
destructive.
Students must discuss and be
prepared to explain their
choices.
(Share thermometer and paint strip
examples)
Wr e c k i n g a Te x t
1. Highlighting the choices the author makes
in the text.
2. (Example): Then Mr. Fox chose three of the
plumpest hens and with a clever flick of his jaws
he killed them instantly. (Roald Dahl)
3. How could you rewrite this sentence?
4. How does your word choice change the
meaning?
5. Why do you think Dahl made the word
choices he did?
METACOGNITIVE MARKERS
(THINKING NOTES)
We teach our students how to highlight and underline important text, but are
we teaching students to evaluate WHY they selected that particular
information as being important?
This is where Metacognative Markers come into play….
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-annotated-reading-strategy
TEXT DEPENDENT QUESTIONS
Think about the questions you ask students to
complete after reading a selection. Are you
asking “Ho-Hum” Questions?
Questions can be good questions that require
literal and inferential thinking and still fall short
of building a student’s capacity for independently
comprehending a text.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
STUDENT TALK
Going back to the idea of transfer and application….
Ultimately what is our goal?
Students are able to work collaboratively with peers, having deep discussions, using
academic vocabulary from a selected piece of text that they have grappled with.
That our students will do this, in time, naturally and independently as they read
through a selection.
How do we make this happen??
• Model, Model, Model!!!
• Teach “what it looks like” in your classroom.
• Don’t assume they know how to have a conversation about a text.
Another benefit:
Student discussion will improve student writing as they will have had time to process
their thoughts before putting them to paper!
MAKE AND TAKE
The Reading Tool Kit!
• Materials: 2 folders, 4 sheets of color paper (4 different colors), one business
size envelope, sticky notes, glue, paper clip, and master copies of
folder inserts.
The “Reading Tool Kit” is to be used as you see fit in your classroom! It is
intended to be a resource that will allow students a collection of question stems,
prompts, graphic organizers, etc…at their fingertips so that they can more
independently apply close reading strategies during small group lessons and
discussions.
WEBSITES WITH CLOSE READING
LESSON PLANS
Science Close Reading Lessons – Boston Public Schools
Close Reading Lesson Plans that Align with Reading Street
Achieve the Core
Read Write Think
RESOURCES
Scholastic Books with Passages for close reading lessons:
Teachers Pay Teachers Close Reading Posters:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Reading-Anchor-Charts-Grades-K-1-2-336771 K-2
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Reading-Anchor-Charts-Grades-3-4-5-336884 3-5