What Does The Text Say?:A VETERAN TEACHER Develops A New set of Tricks for Teaching Students to READ

Closely and Critically

Ronette Burnett

Creekside Intermediate School

Harris County Schools

ELA Summer Literacy Academy 2014

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Before CCGPS:Sailing Through the Standards!

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After CCGPS:The Old Dog Realizes the need for Some New Tricks

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2 . Literacy is a shared responsibility across all content areas.

1. Balancing informational and literary text

3. Students are exposed to increasingly complex texts.

4. text-based response and close reading.

5. Writing from sources

6. Academic vocabulary

Ccgps ELA Instructional shifts

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Shifts sounds GentleBut It Actually felt more like -

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THE REAL EQ (Exasperating Question) HOW DO I Change? (My classroom, my Teaching, MYSELF)

What Do I Need to Let GO?

What DO I Need to Grab On TO?

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The Essential QuestionHow Can I Help My Students read Complex Texts Critically

with The Level of Analysis Specified in our standards ?

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Part One: Close Reading

What It Is

and

(What It’s Not)

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Close Reading Is Not- NEWYou Might Have Called it “Marking My Book So I won’t Flunk Out!” Reading‘

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CLOSE READING Is Not- EasyClose reading is done with Complex texts.

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State Lexile LevelsLag BEHIND CRCT SCORES

Lexile BandsGrade Band Current Lexile Band “Stretch” Lexile Band

K-1 n/a N/A22-3 450L-725L 450_790L4-5 645L-845L 770-980L6-8 860L-1010L 955L-1155L9-10 960L-1115L 1080L-1305L11-CCR 1070L-1220L 1215L-1355L

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These “stretch” Lexile bands are the basis for determining at what text complexity level students should be reading—and at which grades—to make sure they are ultimately prepared for the reading demands of college and careers.

Close Reading Is NotThe Only Type of reading to use

Students Need A variety of Reading Experiences.

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CloseReading

Recreationalreading

Guided Reading

Read Aloud

Shared Reading

Close Reading IsA Skill Needed on The New GA Milestones

ELA Assessment

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From Assessment Update: Georgia’s Changing Assessment Landscape, GA Dept. of Ed. June 2014

Georgia Milestones English Language Arts [CC Georgia Performance Standards]– will require close analytic reading to construct meaning, make inferences, draw conclusions, compare and contrast ideas, themes, etc., as well as synthesize ideas and concepts across multiple texts – will require students to develop informative/explanatory responses or narratives, produce opinions/arguments – citing evidence from text(s) and using standard language conventions, etc.

Close Reading Defined

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Close, analytic reading stresses engaging with a text of sufficient complexity directly and examining meaning thoroughly and methodically, encouraging students to read and reread deliberately.(PARCC, 2011, p. 7)

Close Reading is Like

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Close Reading IsDeep Comprehension

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Authors thoughtfully select details, hoping that we, the readers, are listening. When we take the time to do so, as carefully as we listen to the people we love, we see the complexity of ideas that reach beyond the page and impact our lives.

A Closer Look At Close reading

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Close Reading Strategies from Notice and Note

Work with a short passage

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Poetr

y

Song Lyrics

Fiction Nonfiction

Opinion

Argument Life

Text Suggestions from: Lehman, C. and Roberts, K, (2014). Falling in Love with Close Reading. Portsmouth, NH , Heinemann.

Start with media20

photos

What do you observe in this Picture?

Based on your observations, What message Does This photograph convey?

You’re Ready to…

ELACC5RL2: 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.

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Song lyrics“Never Grow Up”

Country music is one of the last vestiges for soulful, introspective, clever lyrics. Harry Connick Jr. American Idol, March 5, 2014.

Poem“On Turning Ten”By Billy Collins

Focus intensely on The Passage Itself

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Involves Rereading25

#closereading

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Engagement isn’t A thing, It’s the only thing!

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Part Two – Close Reading:These are a few of my favorite Things

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Wikki StixUse with all ages For Finding Text-Based Evidence

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Pointers, Post-its, and projected text

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Highlighters and appsAnnotations, anyone?

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iAnnotate

Trash or treasure?Adapting a note taking technique to use with textual evidence.

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Although it might seem as though skimming is the opposite of close reading (and in a way, it is), it is also a crucial skill for pulling information out of a text. Sarah Tantillo. “Skimming: The Overlooked Close Reading Skill.”

So much dramaReader’s theater for close reading strategy instruction

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Reader’sTheater

Set it to musicWhat does the text Say?: A strategy lesson set to music

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Part Three: now what?Getting started

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Close reading confessions

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Close reading confession # 1

There’s more than one way to teach close reading (and apparently I am trying them

all!) My initial lessons were based more on the Beers and Probst Signpost lessons in

Notice and Note. Now, I am drawn to the close reading ritual found in Falling in Love

with Close Reading- Choose a lens, look for patterns, then develop new ideas.

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I’m still learning how to teach this.

Close reading confession # 2My students don’t actually read the text. Instead they ______ (fill in the blank with a reading avoidance behavior.)

So I tried monitoring silent reading. This is something I’ve always done during guided reading, and it’s

great to keep everyone on task during close reading. It involves walking around asking students to whisper

read a section of text to me. This helps me manage and support struggling and reluctant readers.

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Close Reading confession #3

My students can Talk about the close reading text, but the writing about the text is a real struggle.So now I teach sentence frames.

These sentence frames can help scaffold students’ thinking-literally giving their thoughts a

running start so that they can just focus on the content and not on the syntax of their ideas.

Falling in Love with Close Reading, p. 42

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One pattern Isee is _____ withwords like _____.

Sentence frames Point of view Brobow, R. (2011, October ). “Confessions of a teenage concussion queen.”Scholastic Scope, p.9

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I think the author wants me to think that . . .

If the author was debating this topic, they would say . . .

The author doesn’t say anything about . . . which makes me think . . .

Some feeling words the author uses are __________, _____________, and __________, which tells me that the author probably feels . . . about the topic.

The author seems to believe that . .

Close reading confession #4

Some of the Complex texts I need students to read Closely are beyond My students’ skill level so I _____ . ( What do you do?)

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Keep working on helping students read on a higher level, but I don’t abandon the suggested text because it is too hard.

THANK YOU!44