Creating Text-Dependent Questions for Close Analytic Reading
Selection: The Night of San Juan by Lulu Delacre Grade: _5_ Unit _1_
Initial Planning
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 the major points to be made in mind is crucial for crafting an overarching set of successful
questions. This step is also critical for creating a means to check for student understanding.
Identify Lesson Focus: (Review Qualitative Measures)
Language Features: (Briefly describe the conventions and clarity of the language used in the text, including the complexity of the
vocabulary and sentence structures.)
Sentence Structure- Very Complex: There are many complex sentences and transitional words used throughout the text (p.80
“For this holiday, the tradition was to go to the beach, and exactly at midnight, everyone would walk backward into the sea.”).
Knowledge Demands: (Briefly describe the knowledge demands the text requires of students.)
Intertextuality & Cultural Knowledge- Very Complex: Throughout the text there are many references to cultural elements. i.e.
Language (Spanish) and cultural experiences (1940’s Puerto Rico)
CCSS Focus Standards:
RL5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RL5.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond
to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
RL5.3: Compare and contrast two or more characters, setting, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text
(e.g., how characters interact).
RL5.6: Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.
Use shorter text or excerpts of longer texts
Supporting Student Needs
Considerations for Reader and Task
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 habits of mind in approaching text. Planning
for multiple reads as well as multiple purposes for reads is essential in order to support all student needs.
Potential Challenges this Text Poses:
Strategies/Lessons to access complex text: Pre teach
Meaning: (Conceptual Understanding Examples, pg. #)
-Features of realistic fiction
-1st person point of view
- The complexity centers on background knowledge, place
and time, i.e.,: page 77 “Back in the 1940s, in Puerto
Rico’s walled city of Old San Juan, everybody knew
everybody else.”
Language: (Syntax, Vocabulary Examples, pg. #)
CCSS Focus Standards:
RL5.1
RL5.2
Explicit instruction on identifying the theme of a story
through using the details in a text
RL5.6
Explicit instruction in point of view
- There are many complex sentences and transitional words
used throughout the text (Example page 82 “With a squeaking
sound is slowly opened, and there stood Jose Manuel’s
grandma wearing a frown as grim as her black widow’s
dress.”)
- Language (Spanish words and phrases - For example,
sinverguenza, vendo yucca, platanos, tomates!)
- Vocabulary is conversational, but may not be the vocabulary
some students use
Pre teach
Activity/Lesson
Pre-teach Spanish vocabulary terms/phrases to make the
story comprehensible
- Build background about Old San Juan, Puerto
- Identify the overall theme(s) of the story
Created by Karina Barbier, Linda Kaye-Crowder, Noemi Ballester, & Venus Stovall
- Identify the point of view in which the story is being
told
- Sentence lifting to analyze and determine what is
the main clause
First Read: Read Aloud/Read through the text in 2 days. Pgs. 76-83 and pgs. 84-87. The theme(s) have been identified in the
pre-teach lessons. For the first read, have students summarize at the end of selected paragraphs and/or pages. Guiding
question: “How do the three sisters manage to get Jose Manuel to come out and be part of the celebration?
Setting the stage:
Close Reads
Create Coherent Sequence of Text-Dependent Questions
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.
Close Read I
Learning Focus: Identify the point of view Focus CCSS: RL5.3 & RL5.6
Text-Dependent Questions
Who is the narrator? What words are used in
the Night of San Juan to identify the narrator?
Use evidence from the text to support your
response.
How does the narrator compare herself to her
sisters?
Look through the text and find examples that
show how Evelyn feels about Jose Manuel.
Based on the words she shares with the
reader, how do you think Evelyn felt when
grandmother invited her and her sisters into
her home for a surullitos? Use evidence from
the text to support your response.
Reread page 84. Infer how Evelyn felt when
grandmother invited her and her sisters into
her home for a surullitos? Use evidence from
Evidence-Based Answers/Pg. #
p.77 “We neighborhood children...”
“It was only my lonely friend...”
‘“Look Evelyn,” whispered...’
“Aitza and I looked up.”
Amalia: courageous, daring, 7 years old
(mischievous grin”, “freckled”, “knocked
loudly”, “followed without a thought”)
Evelyn: narrator, excited (“stood nervously”,
“afraid”, “embarrassed”)
Aitza: reluctant (“stood nervously”, “afraid”)
Obedient (sorry they forgot to ask permission)
p.77 “It was only my lonely friend Jose
Manuel...”
p.78 “I couldn’t help but feel sorry for my
friend...”
p.80 “I thought of my friend Jose Manuel.”
p.87 ‘When my friend and I...”
p.78 “... so most of us were afraid of her.”
p.81 ‘“Evelyn, you know very well his
grandma will never let him go.”’
p.82 ‘“His grandma will not like it.”
p.84 “Somehow, sitting there with Jose
Manuel, his grandma seemed less
scary.”
Created by Karina Barbier, Linda Kaye-Crowder, Noemi Ballester, & Venus Stovall
the text to explain your response.
Decide if Evelyn’s feelings about grandmother
at the beginning of the story were valid.
Did grandmother allow Jose Manuel to leave
the house and go with strangers? Use
evidence from the text to support your
response.
p.78 “... so most of us were afraid of her.”
p.81 ‘“Evelyn, you know very well his
grandma will never let him go.”’
p.82 ‘“His grandma will not like it.”
---------------------------------------p.84 “... said she would let us know.”
p.86 “She had just hung up the phone with
Jose Manuel’s grandma.”
p.87 “But this time was special, for we had
Jose Manuel with us.”
Close Read II.
Learning Focus: Identify the theme in a text
Focus CCSS: 5RL2
Text-Dependent Questions
Reread page 77. Why doesn’t he play with
them? Cite evidence from the text to support
your answer.
Why doesn’t Jose Manuel’s grandmother want
him to go outside and play? Cite evidence
from the text that explains your answer.
After rereading pages 78 – 80, explain why
Evelyn wants Jose Manuel to go to the beach
with them for the Night of San Juan festivities.
Cite evidence from the text to support your
response.
Reread page 82. Cite evidence from the text
that shows how the sisters plan to go to Jose
Manuel’s apartment to speak with his
grandmother.
Evidence-Based Answers/Pg. #
His grandmother would not let him play out on
the street.
Pg. 77 “No matter how hard Jose Manuel tried,
he could not convince his grandma to let him
play out on the street.”
It was too dangerous.
Pg. 77 ‘Too many crazy drivers! Too hard, the
cobblestones! Muy peligroso!’ His grandma
would shake her head and say, ‘Too
dangerous!’
They felt sad/sorry for him.
Pg. 78 “I couldn’t help feel sorry for my friend
as we left him behind.”
Pg. 80 “I thought of my friend Jose Manuel.
Perhaps if he did this with us, his luck would
change, and his grandma would allow him to
play with us outside on the street.”
They sent Jose Manuel a note telling him to
drop something so that they would have an
excuse for going to his apartment and then
they would speak to his grandmother.
Pg. 82 ‘But what excuse could we use to go up
there?’ said Aitza.
“…Amalia said jumping up and down
“We’ll tell him to drop something. Then we’ll
go up to return it.”
“He had just sat down to play when
suddenly the ball fell from the balcony.”
“With Jose Manuel’s ball in hand we
climbed up the worn stairs of his pink
Created by Karina Barbier, Linda Kaye-Crowder, Noemi Ballester, & Venus Stovall
How do the sisters feel when they first meet
his grandmother?
Why do their feelings change about the
grandmother?
How did the sisters and Jose Manuel feel at
the end of the story? Cite evidence from the
text to support your response.
What is the author’s message? Cite evidence
from the text to support your response.
apartment house.”
They felt scared.
Pg. 82 “…there stood Jose Manuel’s grandma
wearing a frown as grim as her black widow’s
dress.”
Pg. 84 “Aitza and I looked at each other. She
looked as afraid as I felt.
Their feelings changed because she invites
them inside and offers them something to eat
and they were with their friend.
Pg. 84 ‘Come inside for a surullito de maize.’
“Somehow sitting there with Jose
Manuel, his grandma seemed less scary.”
They were happy.
Pg. 87 “…Aitza joyfully splashed back and so did
I as I let go of…”
Determination
Pg. 82 ‘But what excuse could we use to go up
there?’ said Aitza.
“…Amalia said jumping up and down
“We’ll tell him to drop something. Then we’ll
go up to return it.”
“He had just sat down to play when
suddenly the ball fell from the balcony.”
“With Jose Manuel’s ball in hand we
climbed up the worn stairs of his pink
apartment house.”
Friendship
Pg. 78 “I couldn’t help but feel sorry for my
friend as we left him behind.”
Pg. 80 “I thought of my friend, Jose Manuel.”
Pg. 87 “When my friend and I took out third
plunge into the sea…”
Checking for Understanding
How will you know that learning has occurred? Planning for a means to check student understanding is crucial. Refer back to
the Lesson Focus to plan intentionally to check for student understanding.
Describe how you will check for student understanding: What is the story about? Cite evidence from the text that supports
your response.
Created by Karina Barbier, Linda Kaye-Crowder, Noemi Ballester, & Venus Stovall
STUDENTS FIGURE OUT
THE MEANING
sufficient context clues
are provided in the text
TEACHER PROVIDES
DEFINITION
not enough contextual
clues provided in the text
Vocabulary
KEY WORDS ESSENTIAL TO
UNDERSTANDING
Words addressed with a question or task
WORDS WORTH KNOWING
General teaching suggestions are provided in
the Introduction
p.77 forbidden
p.78 daring
p.78 elegant
p.84 scowled
p.87 irresistible
p.87 special
p.77 wrought iron railing
p.78 lace-trimmed slips
p.78 curtsied
p.80 tradition
p.82 personally
p.87 swarmed
p.87 plunge
p.78 mischievous
p.81 gossiped
p.82 reluctant
p.82 purchased
p.84 hesitation
p.77 peered
p.77 convince
p. 77 walled city
p.78 scolded
p.82 triumphantly
p.84 proudly
p.86 upset
(All Spanish terms/expressions)
Created by Karina Barbier, Linda Kaye-Crowder, Noemi Ballester, & Venus Stovall