LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Creating Text-Dependent Questions for Close Analytic Reading
Grade ___6____
Unit __3__ Week ___5__
This template is to be used to support alignment of our existing curricular
resources to the Common Core State Standards.
NOTES ON PROCESS
An effective set of text dependent questions delves systematically into a text, to
guide students in extracting the key meanings or ideas found there. The
questions typically begin by exploring specific words, details, and arguments, and
then move on to examine the impact of those specifics on the text as a whole.
Along the way, the questioning targets academic vocabulary and specific sentence
structures as critical focus points for gaining comprehension.
While there is no set process for generating a complete and coherent body of text
dependent questions for a text, this planning process is a good guide that can
serve to generate a core series of questions for close reading of any given text.
To really understand a complex text, the reader will have to read it more than
once, to make sense of what the author is saying and to glean the details at both
the explicit and implicit levels.
First and foremost, close reading demands a willingness to return to the text to
read part or even all of it more than once, ultimately instilling important habits of
mind in approaching text.
In working with CA Treasures as a tool to teach to the Common Core State
Standards:
LOOK AT WHAT THE T.E. and EL RESOURCE BOOK ALREADY HAVE FOR READING
THE SELECTION. They may already have some effective questions and
recommendations that you can use and supplement. Or, you may wish to take a
different approach.
The goal is to maximize student engagement with the learning in the text, as a
pathway to mastering the Common Core State Standards.
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
NOTES ON PLANNING STEPS
THOUGH STEP 1 IS ALWAYS THE STARTING POINT, AND THE STEPS ARE
NUMBERED, THE PROCESS FOR DEVELOPING A LESSON IS RECURSIVE.
Step 1: Identify the Core Understandings and Key Ideas of the Text
As in any good backward mapping process, teachers should start by identifying the key insights
they want students to understand from the text. Keeping in mind the major points to be made
is crucial for crafting an overarching set of successful questions.
This step is also critical for creating an appropriate task to check for understanding.
Step 2: Target Vocabulary
Locate the most powerful words in the text that are connected to the key ideas and
understandings. Craft questions that draw students’ attention to these specifics so they can
become aware of these connections. Vocabulary selected for focus should be academic words
and high-utility words that are abstract and likely to be encountered in future reading and
studies.
Needs of English Learners, SELs and SWDs should be a major focus in planning, e.g., contrastive
analysis, vocabulary strategy practice, cognate connections, tiering vocabulary, clarifying
common multiple-meaning words, vocabulary choices for particular registers, etc.
Step 3: Syntax & Text Structures - Tackle Tough Sections of the Text
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 or
text structure, use of the passive voice, particularly dense information, tricky transitions, or
places that offer a variety of possible inferences. This is another opportunity to engage
contrastive analysis strategies, e.g., L1-L2 phrasing, analyzing passive & active voice structures,
translation from home language(s) to school and academic language, contexts for use of
particular registers, etc.
Step 4: Create Coherent Sequences of Text Dependent Questions – Start Small to Build
Confidence
The opening questions should help orient students to the text, and be specific enough to
answer so students gain confidence. The sequence of questions should not be random but
should build toward more coherent understanding and analysis to ensure that students learn to
stay focused on the text to bring them to a gradual understanding of its meaning. Think of ways
to maximize student engagement.
Step 5: Identify the Standards That Will Be Addressed in the Whole Lesson
Take stock of what standards are being addressed in the series of questions and decide if any
other standards are suited to being a focus. Form additional questions to exercise those
standards.
Step 6: Create a Task to Check for Understanding
Develop a task around the key ideas or understandings identified earlier that:
Reflects mastery of one or more of the key objectives of the lesson, involves writing, and is
structured to be completed by students independently.
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Grade ___6____
Unit __3__ Week __5___
Step 1: Identify the Core Understandings & Key Ideas of Text
Selection Title:
Honus and Me by Dan Gutman Illustrated by Ron Mazellan
Original TE Big Question for Unit (Unit planning page 240/241):
What values are important to your culture?
Enhanced Big Question (if applicable):
Step 1 – Identify Core Understandings and Key Ideas of Text
How do values represent what people believe and guide the way people live?
Selection Concept(s) - Each selection builds to a larger understanding of the Big Question.
How does this selection connect to the Big Question?
Cultures have values and beliefs that guide behavior and the way they live their lives.
CCSS Focus Standard(s) ______________
What CCSS literacy standard(s) will you be addressing with this re-read of the selection?
RL6.1, RL6.3, RL6.4,
Selection Question - Connect the CCSS Focus Standard to the Selection Concept(s) in the
form of a question:
How does the main character’s response to a moral dilemma reflect his core values and beliefs?
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Steps 2 & 3: Target Vocabulary, Syntax, and Text Structure
TEACHER PROVIDES DEFINITION
Not enough clues provided in the text
STUDENTS FIGURE OUT THE MEANING
Sufficient context or word structure clues text
Step 2 - Target Needed Vocabulary
Step 2 - Target Needed Vocabulary
KEY WORDS ESSENTIAL TO
UNDERSTANDING THIS TEXT
Pg
348
348
348
354
Words
Clues/Supports
decades
Social Security checks
antiques
auction
Pg
347
349
Words
dilapidated
lathe
Clues/Supports
context clues
context clues
HIGH UTILITY WORDS FOR LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT – Words ELs & all students need, to
access this and other learning
Pg
Words
Clues/Supports
344
exhausted
345
vice
348
rooter
348
pore
homophone
351
deteriorated
351
rafters
351
register
353
instinctively
root word instinct
353
solemn
353
swiveled
353
discontinued
prefix means
‘opposite of’
353
mint
354
shakily
Pg
Words
Clues/Supports
343
fanned
all baseball terms
343
grounder
345
shortstop
348
Pittsburgh Pirates
348
Hall of Famer
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
“You’ll get ‘em next time, slugger.” Page 343, ‘em is used as a colloquial expression. It is characteristic of a
casual phrase, and is substituted for the word ‘them’.
“Ugh!” she replied, holding her nose. Page 344, the interjection ‘ugh’ is used to express a strong emotion.
“It’s just that Amanda Young is kinda weird.” Page 347, colloquial expression ‘kinda’ used for kind of to
express ordinary, realistic speech patterns.
Step 3 – Challenging Syntax & Text Structures
“There was this fella named Pete Browning.” Page 349, colloquial expression ‘fella’ used for fellow to express
ordinary, realistic speech patterns.
“It was dark, filthy, and it looked like a junkyard.” Page 351, ‘like a junkyard’ is a simile used to express the
messy attic.
Author uses incomplete sentences throughout the fictional story to create a mood of commonplace, informal,
everyday speech patterns. Examples on pages 344, 351, 355
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Step 4: Create Coherent Sequences of Text-Dependent Questions
Text-Dependent Questions
Evidence-Based Answers
Money, and the lack of it, is an issue in this realistic fictional
piece. What is evidenced in the text to support this?
On page 344 the text says explicitly,
“Money was always a problem. When I was
a little kid my folks used to argue a lot about
it. Dad always seemed to have a rough time
landing a job. When he found one, he never
seemed to be able to hold on to it very
long.” On page 344, the text describes
Joey’s belief that if his parents had more
money they wouldn’t have split up. He also
wished he had a million dollars, or “even a
half a million would have been nice.”
What does the author want the reader to infer about Joey’s
attitude about money?
Joey feels that life would be better if money
were not an issue. His parents would still be
together, and his mother wouldn’t have to
work so hard. He would be able to spend
more on his baseball card collection, and
not use the cards to prolong the life of his
shoes. He also wouldn’t have to do odd
jobs for the elderly lady, Amanda Young,
next door.
On page 347 the author using first person
narrative writes, “It’s just that Amanda
Young is kinda weird.” He goes on to
describe that she never smiles, “She seems
really sad, as if somebody did something
terrible to her a long time ago and she never
got over it.” Even though other kids think
she is a witch, Joey explains, ”I think she’s
just a lonely old lady. I feel a little sorry for
her.”
Miss Young and Joey have a conversation
about baseball. She says that, “I used to
root for the Pirates when I was a girl. Well,
one Pirate anyway.” She tells Joey about
poring over the newspaper to follow the
Pirates, and the manager who invented flipup sunglasses outfielders wear. She also
describes for Joey how the baseball bat was
invented right there in his hometown of
Louisville. All of this has Joey say, “For the
first time, she had my interest.”
How does the text describe Joey’s feelings about Amanda
Young?
How and why does Joey change his perception of Amanda?
What does the author want the reader to infer about Amanda?
Miss Young goes on to hand Joey an old torn
photo of a baseball player. She explains
emotionally that, “I was supposed to hold
onto this half of the picture until we say
each other again. I waited and waited. But
he never came back.” Joey notes she says
this with tears in her eyes.
Her emotional response tells the reader that
Miss Young had strong feelings for the
baseball player in the photo. She states that
she waited for him, and he never came
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Joey’s job at Amanda’s house is to clean out the attic. When
he sees the attic, he regrets accepting the job. What figurative
language does the author use to describe the setting? Why is
it appropriate?
The author uses the literary device of foreshadowing on page
351. What is foreshadowed? What does it indicate?
When Joey finds the valuable baseball card in Miss Young’s
attic, he is faced with a dilemma. What is it?
Based on what the author has presented about Joey’s values
and his character, what can you infer about Joey keeping the
card, or giving it back to Miss Young?
back. Perhaps that is why she never
married.
On page 351, the author describes the attic,
“ It was dark, filthy, and it looked like a
junkyard.” Like a junkyard is a simile that
describes how messy the attic is.
On page 351, Joey picks up a single piece of
cardboard and the author writes, “I felt a
strange tingling sensation.”
Given all the background on Joey’s passion
for baseball cards, Miss Young’s interest in
baseball, and the description of the item he
picks out of a stack of papers, the reader is
left to imagine this is a valuable baseball
card that causes the tingling sensation.
Joey knows the card is worth “thousands of
dollars”. He says that all his problems are
now solved. “Or so I thought.” His feelings
of overwhelming joy, happiness, and that
nobody could “touch me, hurt me or tell me
what to do” (page 354) gives over to, “A
bad feeling. The baseball card wasn’t mine
to take, really. It was Miss Young’s card. If
anybody deserved to get rich from it, it was
her. She had been nice enough to pay
double for cleaning out her attic, and I had
stolen her fortune.”
But his thoughts go back to why he should
keep the card. “She told me to throw all the
stuff away. If I hadn’t found the card, she
wouldn’t have found it. It would have
ended up buried in a landfill someplace,
worth nothing to anyone.” Joey feels mixed
up, but admits, “Deep inside I knew the
right thing would be to give Miss Young
back her baseball card.”
In the last line the author seems to indicate
that Joey will not necessarily do the right
thing.
Joey feels that money is the cause of many
of the problems in his life. Extra money
could solve his parents’ unhappy marriage,
could allow his mother to not work so hard,
and allow him to buy new shoes when
needed. But, on page 347, the author
writes that Joey “feels a little sorry” for Miss
Young. His mother is a positive influence in
his life. The illustrations on page 342 and
346 support this. Also, the way they greet
each other when the mom comes home
from work indicates a warm and positive
relationship. The fact that Joey accepts the
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
jobs his mother arranges for him, and that
he shares his earnings with her also shows
that they respect and are supportive of each
other. All of this tells the reader that Joey
and his mother have a home that has strong
values. If Joey brought home thousands of
dollars from the sale of the card, his mother
would most definitely want to know where
the money came from. All that is presented
in the text about Joey and his mother’s life
style doesn’t support her allowing Joey and
herself to keep this new-founded wealth.
Their values of good, honest work will most
likely guide their behavior.
Step 5: Standards Addressed in the Whole Lesson
Step 5 – Identify Standards Being Addressed in Lesson
A single lesson can cover multiple standards
RL6.1, RL6.3, RL6.4,
W6.3 a-e, W6.4, W6.5, W6.6
SL6.1a-d, SL6.3, SL6.4,
L6.1a-e, L6.2a-b, L6.3a-b, L6.4a-d, L6.5a, L6.6
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Step 6: Create a Task to Check for Understanding
Describe task and steps students will take to achieve them.
Prompt = Teacher instructions to students:
The author has chosen to leave the dilemma Joey faces in Honus and Me open ended, with no resolution
of the problem clearly described. Based on what the author has presented about the characters, the
setting and the plot, write an ending as best you see fit. This completion should be organized around
several clear ideas and plausible possibilities that build on Joey’s situation. Maintain the author’s first
person narration.
Task & Steps:
Step 6 – Task to Check for Understanding









Write a first person narrative completion for Honus and Me using descriptive details and wellstructured plausible sequences of events
Maintain the author’s first person narration and the existing plot, setting and characters
Use narrative techniques of dialogue, pacing, and description to develop the events and/or
characters
Use transition words, phrases and clauses to describe sequence shifts from time or setting
Use descriptive details and sensory language to convey characters’ experiences or feelings
Provide a conclusion that follows from the text’s selection.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
With support and guidance from peers and adults strengthen the writing through the editing process
Use word processing skills to produce and publish
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
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LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Additional Tasks – (optional) Ex: to supplement or build toward culminating task; provide additional
depth, complexity, novelty or acceleration for advanced students; make content connections; etc.
Notes to Teacher Ex: Which sections of text to focus on for particular teaching points; considerations
for grouping; content connections, supplemental resources or links
Student Engagement – What format or strategies will give students the opportunities to
actively engage with the learning?



Use post-its to chunk or to break up the text into smaller sections, which makes the character
development more easily understood.
Use post-its to number the paragraphs, making it easier to cite and refer to the text.
Have students be responsible to create Right There and Think and Search questions from the QAR
protocol. Allowing time to formulate and write questions and responses to ask classmates allow the
plot and character development to be processed.
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
10
LAUSD 2012-13 – CCSS PD K/1/6 – Text-Dependent Question Template (DRAFT 1/18/13)
Adapted from Student Achievement Partners
11