1. Close Reading: A Deliberate Downshift
Jennifer McCarty Plucker, Ed.D.
MRA Past President
http://Jmplucker.blogspot.com
Reference: Fisher and Frey
www.fisherandfrey.com
2. Today’s Targets
We can consider why we need
to redefine text/literacy
We can define Close Reading
We can examine strategies to
support our students in their
rereads
We can consider a “thinking
curriculum” through the use
of multiple texts.
3. To be literate an individual must recognize
when information is needed and have the
ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively
the information needed
Ultimately literate people are those who
have learned how to learn....
Jennifer McCarty Plucker, Ed.D.
The Australian Library Journal
August 1995
4. “Think of literacy as a spine; it holds everything
together. The branches of learning connect to
it.”
~Phillips and Wong, 2010 cited in Focus by Schmoker
Jennifer McCarty Plucker, Ed.D.
Purpose of Literacy (reading and
writing)
5. For centuries,
• Close reading/underlining and annotation of text
• Discussion of the text
• And writing about the text informed by close
reading, discussion, and/or annotation
have been the heart of both what we learn and
how we learn, the key to acquiring both the
knowledge and intellectual acumen that transform
lives and overcome poverty like no other factor.
~Schmoker, 2011
Jennifer McCarty Plucker, Ed.D.
A return to “what works”
6. What do the experts have to say?
Handout:
Comparing Leading Authors Views of Close
Reading
Note Similarities/Differences across experts
Pair/Share
8. 1. 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.
9. 10. Read and comprehend complex
literary and informational texts
independently and proficiently. As well
as select texts for personal enjoyment,
interest, and academic tasks.
10. “Standard 10 defines
a grade-by-grade
‘staircase’ of
increasing text
complexity that rises
from beginning
reading
to the college and
career readiness
level.” (CCSS, 2010, p. 80)
13. How can we use Close Reading to
provide this staircase of complexity.
Opinions, Arguments,
Intertextual Connections
Inferences
Author’s Purpose
Vocab & Text Structure
Key Details
General Understandings
16. Let’s Try It
Purpose: What does Dr. Ablow believe is the psychological impact
of Gangnam Style?
17.
18. Annotate considering:
What is Dr. Ablow saying?
Why is he saying it?
HOW is he making his point?
Let’s Read it Again
19. Text-Dependent Questioning
Text –Dependent Question Level of Complexity
What evidence does the author provide
to prove that Gangnam style is the “most
popular song ever on YouTube”?
General Understanding/Key Details
What genre of writing is this article? How
do you know?
Why does the author repeat “I know” in
the last paragraph?
Text Structure and Vocabulary
Return to the “purpose for reading”--
What does Dr. Ablow believe is the
psychological impact of Gangnam Style?
Author’s Purpose
What conclusion can we draw from the
comparisons the author makes between
Gangnam Style and Blues and Soul and
Rock n’ Roll?
Inferences
What examples does the author use to
suggest that our “culture is abandoning
meaning and feeling?”
Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual
Connections
25. Your Turn. . .
In Pairs or Triads, when I pause, ask each
other:
What are you thinking/wondering?
What else?
Tell me more about that. . .
26. Stay informed and connected at
www.mnreading.org
Like us at facebook.com/mnreads
Follow us on Twitter @MNReadAssoc
Editor's Notes
If vocabulary is used in a way that students couldn’t figure it out from context or structural analysis.Frontloading should not remove the need to read the text.Frontloading should not take readers away from the text to their own experiences. Kids get caught up in their own stories, they forget to believe the author.
