2. CCSS set a new comprehension
goal
• Close reading is not a teaching technique
• It is a goal, a desired outcome: we want our children to be
able to read text closely; we want them to be close readers
3. Poor interpretations of close
reading
• Close reading is not a teaching technique or method
• Close reading is not a synonym for reading comprehension
• Close reading is not about thorough reading of text or literal
reading comprehension
• Close reading is not about annotation
• Close reading is not about citing text evidence
• Close reading is in your standards, but not where you think it
is
4. In close reading,the meaning is
in the text
• Close reading is a particular approach to reading that some
readers use or use some of the time
• Readers grasp meaning by reading and analyzing a text
• Close reading is heavily involved in determining the meaning
and value of a text through a deep reading of that text with
little recourse to other sources of information
• Close reading treats the text as a unity—that means it
considers not only the author’s message, but how the ways of
telling the message reinforce or extend its meaning
5. Close reading has a long history
• It starts with the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago
• Martin Luther dueled with the Church about whether priests
were the only ones who could read the Bible
• This argument reignites in the 1920s and 30s in English
Departments
• Scholasticism: professors/teachers taught the meaning of text
based on its creation (e.g., biography, literary movement,
historical period)
• New Criticism (I.A. Richards, C. Brooks & R. P. Warren, etc.):
The meaning is in the text and the text must be read closely to
get it to give up its meaning
6. History is important
• Close reading comes out of an effort to push back against
scholasticism/historicism
• Now that it is being promoted at elementary school level, it
appears that it is pushing back against ways that we have been
teaching reading
• There are contradictions between close reading and some
common instructional methods, but it is more complicated
than that—requires closer intentional analysis
• Remember: During the 1950s-1960s close reading was the
major way of reading literature taught in US secondary schools
and it was later dropped—let’s not make the same mistakes
7. Different historical antecedents
Scholasticsm Close Reading Guided Reading
College students/adults College students/adults School children
Authenticity, historical
social context, etc.
Hidden meanings,
doubleness, symbolism,
craft, juxtaposition,
Reading comprehension
Considering text in
context of other texts of
and the times/events
that produced this text
By focusing entirely on
the text as a unity—
which explanation
accounts for the most
information
By decoding, learning
vocabulary, learning to
connect the text with
prior knowledge,
attention focusing
strategies
8. Close Reading
Synonyms Not Synonyms
Deep reading Thorough reading
Analytical reading Literal reading
Critical reading Comprehension
Being able to answer good
questions
Annotating Text
Citing text evidence
9. Recent problems
• In many commercial programs, close reading seems to be
about answering discrete questions and identifying text
evidence that supports their answers (rather than on
developing a coherent interpretation of a text that is
dependent on text evidence)
• Just asking kids to find the source of evidence is valuable and
yet does not make for a close reading
• We’re overdoing text evidence
• Some close reading schemes seem to be mainly about
marking up texts and coding information (some of that can be
useful), but that doesn’t have much to do with close reading
10. Close reading and CCSS
• Only mentioned once in the standards:
Anchor standards: “Read 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 text.”
• But the three interpretive goals are built into the DNA of the
standards:
Key ideas and details
Craft and structure
Integration of knowledge and meaning
11. Many versions of close reading
• In all versions of close reading the meaning is hidden in the
text (e.g., through symbolism, irony, double meanings) and
needs to be acquired through careful and thorough analysis
and re-analysis (texts don’t just give up their meaning)
• Version presented by David Coleman, the architect of the
common core standards
12. Adler and Van Doren’s
Close Reading
• Great books (challenging books) need to be read and reread
• Each reading aims to accomplish a separate purpose
• The first reading should allow the readers to determine what a
text says
• The second reading should allow them to determine how a
text works
• The third (or fourth) reading should allow the reader to
determine the value of the text by evaluate its quality
connecting to other texts
13. Close Reading
• All focus on text meaning
• Limited background preparation/explanation
• Students do the reading/interpretation
• Teacher’s ask text dependent questions that guide student
attention towards key text points
• Multi-day commitment to texts
• Purposeful rereading (not practice, but separate journeys)
• Short reads
• Note-taking, notation
14. Planning for Close Reading
• Not all texts lend themselves to deep reading
• Select high quality text that is worth reading and rereading
• This means text that has valuable content or themes, layers of
meaning, symbolism, etc.
• Teachers must closely read the text themselves before the
students do
15. Pre-reading
What counts as pre-reading?
• Explorations of “prior knowledge”
• Teacher purpose setting
• Contextualizing the text
• Text previews
What doesn’t count as pre-reading?
• Decoding preparation
• Vocabulary teaching*
16. What about Words?
• Teaching vocabulary or immediately relevant decoding skills is
usually not a problem
• These can be examined without taking over the reading from
the students
• Exceptions: words that are explicitly defined, or that can be
interpreted from context, or giving away the tone of the piece
17. Pre-reading (cont.)
The game has to be worth the candle
• Pre-reading can be/seem endless
• Limit pre-reading
• It should be no longer than the reading itself
18. Pre-reading (cont.)
Let the author do the talking
• Try not to reveal too much information from the text
• If an idea is explained in the text, then it ought not to be in the
pre-reading
• Students need to figure out what a text says by reading it and
analyzing the information from the text
19. Pre-reading (cont.)
Give students enough information that they have a reason to read.
• A brief blurb or tease is not harmful especially if it does not
repeat too much of the author’s message or method
• Title: Profile: You Belong With Me by Lizzie Widdicombe
Blurb: Taylor Swift’s teen angst-empire.
Caption: Swift hooked a previously unrecognized audience:
teen-age girls who listen to country music.
• Title: The Obama Memos by Ryan Lizza
Blurb: The making of a post-post-partisan Presidency.
Caption: Hundreds of pages of internal White House memos
show Obama grappling with the unpleasant choices of
government.
21. Text dependent questions
• Close reading requires close attention to the ideas expressed
and implied by the author and to the author’s craft
• Often comprehension questions allow students to talk about
other things besides the text (How do you think people felt
about the Emancipation Proclamation? If you were a slave
how would you feel about it?)
• Questions are text dependent if they can only be answered by
reading the text (the evidence must come largely or entirely
from the text and not from elsewhere)
22. Text Dependent (cont.)
• Text dependent questions are not necessarily low level
• “Low-level” questions are little more than memory tasks—
they ask readers to remember what the author has said
explicitly;
• “High-level questions” ask for answers that require logic,
inference, and/or analysis of the text information
• Text dependent questions can be low level or high level
• Past research indicates that a mix of question levels leads to
better comprehension
• The Common Core encourages both low level and high level
questions the answers of which depend on text evidence
23. Text dependent questions
• How did Frederick Douglass’ ability to read contribute to his
emotional struggle for freedom? Cite examples from the text
to support your answer.
• After reading Frederick Douglass’ narrative, in what ways does
America represent the hope for freedom that lived in the heart
of Frederick Douglass?
24. There are 3 criteria for close
reading questions
• They should guide readers to solve the three interpretive
problems
• They should depend on text information
• They should be important within the universe of the text
25. What does the text say?
• First reading
• Questions should help guide students to think about the most
important elements of the text (the key ideas and details)
• Stories are about significant, meaningful conflicts (between
man and nature, with others, and with oneself)
• Human nature and human motivation are central to the action
and the meaning
• Questions should also clarify confusions (in this case,
confusions about what the text says)
26. The Big
Orange Splot
by Daniel
Pinkwater
What was the street like at the beginning
of the story?
How did everybody feel about that?
What did they want?
What happened to Mr. Plumbean’s
house?
27. How did the neighbors feel about the splot?
Why?
What did they do about it?
How did they think Mr. Plumbean felt about
it? Why did they think that?
But what did he do?
Why does he do this?
33. What happened then?
What was the street like at the end of the story? How had the street changed? What changed it?
Theme?
--
34. Conclusion of First Reading
• My questions focused on key events and motivations
(particularly events that I thought might be confusing)
• The discussion led by these questions should lead to a good
understanding of what the text said and this discussion should
be coherent (aimed at developing a strong memory for what
happened)
• A good follow up would be to tell/write summaries or
retellings of the “story”
36. How does the text work?
• Second reading
• Stories are written by people to teach lessons or reveal
insights about the human condition in aesthetically pleasing
and powerful ways
• Questions should help guide students to think about how the
text works and what the author was up to (craft and structure)
• Awareness of author choices are critical to coming to terms
with craft and structure
37. The Big Orange
Splot by Daniel
Pinkwater
--Why is the setting important in this story
and what is important about it?
(Settings are not always important, but in this
case it helps establish the conflict—the street is
a certain way at the beginning and it is going to
be altered in important ways that instigate
actions on the parts of the characters—the
author uses it to tell WHY the actions take place,
not just WHERE it takes place).
------What was he thinking?
(The conflict starts here, but the author doesn’t
beat you over the head with it… Plumbean has decided
something or is about to.)
38. How did he say this… bright and happy? Reluctantly?
(There is more going on here than is on the page.
When is Plumbean transformed—when does he decide
to be different?)
Why does the author explain why he painted at night?
(Character motivation is important. Was he painting
at night so he could get it done before anyone saw it
or was he beating the heat? He is a different kind of
man depending on what you think is happening?)
--
39. .
How does the author describe Plumbean’s
house? Why does he compare it to a rainbow,
a jungle, an explosion?
(The author describes the house three times…
each time in colorful metaphorical language, a
technique he uses throughout the story when
he wants to emphasize the feelings of the
neighbors?)
--
40. What do you notice here?
Why does the author tell you the neighbors’ feelings in
this way?
(I want to make sure the students see the repetition of
this literary device and that they try to make sense of it.)
--
41. What’s going on here?
(The repetition of this literary device should be evident by
now. By saying the same thing over and over again
with colorful language we get a sense of how strong the
emotions are).
--
42. The author describes Plumbean differently here than in past pages. What’s the change and how does
the author reveal it?
(Plumbean has been silent and non-committal up to now. He doesn’t describe the change, but shows it
through Plumbean’s own words. To me this shows that Plumbean has no grand plan, he is feeling his
way along not trying to dictate to everyone else. The author’s choice here makes Plumbean more
sympathetic ).
--
43. Why didn’t the author reveal this conversation?
(I think not showing this leaves Plumbean a bit ambiguous… if he tried to convert the man we
might not like him. However, if he just had Plumbean tell about his own transformation that
might have been enough to pull the man along. Plumbean leaves this up in the air and we
have to collaborate with him as a result—what could be said that would move you to action?.)
--
44. “
What did you notice about how the man expressed himself? Why would the author have
him say it this way?
(Although the man claims to be unique—and he is in terms of the specific dream his is
pursuing—but ultimately he states his individualism in a way that mimics Plumbean’s.)
--
45. Why does the author have the people say this?
(The whole neighborhood is now caught up in Plumbean mania. They are pursuing their individual versions
of their dreams, expressing themselves identically to Plumbean. They wanted conformity at the beginning and they
end up with conformity at the end).
--
46. Conclusion of Second Reading
• My questions focused on why and how the author told
his story (particularly focusing on literary devices, word
choices, structural elements, and author purpose)
• The discussion led by these questions should lead to a
good understanding of how the text works and to a deeper
understanding of its implications
• A good follow up would be a critical analysis of the story
or some aspect of the story (Mr. Plumbean changes from
the beginning to the end. Do the neighbors? Compare and
contrast how Plumbean and the neighbors change?)
48. What does the text mean?
• “Third” reading
• Questions should help guide students to think about what this
text means to them and how it connects to other
texts/stories/events/films
• Stories relate to other stories and to our lives
• Evaluations of quality (placing a text on a continuum based on
quality standards) and connecting to other experiences is an
essential part of the reading experience
49. Striving for Meaning
• What did the story mean to you? What does it say about how
you should live your life?
50. Evaluation & Synthesis
• Do you know other stories like this? (e.g., The Butter Battle
Book, Ferdinand) How were those stories similar and
different?
• Which of these stories did you like best? Why?
• What did you think about how the author used literary
devices? How effective were these?
51. Kindergarten and Grade 1
• Not many texts lend themselves to close reading
• Limits on children’s decoding skills are the problem (not their
intellectual limits)
• CCSS emphasizes the role of pictures in telling the story at
these levels
• It is also possible to handle this as a listening activity (teachers
can read texts that have enough depth to allow a worthwhile
close analysis of a text)
