1. Close Reading: A Deliberate Downshift
Reference: Fisher and Frey
Jennifer McCarty Plucker, Ed.D. www.fisherandfrey.com
MRA President

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

3. The Australian Library Journal
August 1995
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.

4. Purpose of Literacy (reading and
writing)
“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.

5. A return to “what works”
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.

6. What do the experts have to say?
Handout:
Comparing Leading Authors Views of Close
Reading
Note Similarities/Differences across experts
Pair/Share

7. When to and when NOT to Read
Closely?

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)

11. Productive Struggle

12. Our goal with
complex text
is to slow
the reader
down.

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

14. Background Knowledge
&
Front Loading
“Activation alone, although important, doesn’t expand knowledge.”

15. Key Features:
Short Complex
Passages
Limited
Frontloading
Repeated
Readings—using
these multiple
opportunities to
model “strategic
reading”
Text-Dependent
Questions
Annotation

16. Let’s Try It
Purpose: What does Dr. Ablow believe is the psychological impact
of Gangnam Style?

17. Let’s Read it Again
Annotate considering:
What is Dr. Ablow saying?
Why is he saying it?
HOW is he making his point?

18. Text-Dependent Questioning
Text –Dependent Question Level of Complexity
What evidence does the author provide General Understanding/Key Details
to prove that Gangnam style is the “most
popular song ever on YouTube”?
What genre of writing is this article? How Text Structure and Vocabulary
do you know?
Why does the author repeat “I know” in
the last paragraph?
Return to the “purpose for reading”-- Author’s Purpose
What does Dr. Ablow believe is the
psychological impact of Gangnam Style?
What conclusion can we draw from the Inferences
comparisons the author makes between
Gangnam Style and Blues and Soul and
Rock n’ Roll?
What examples does the author use to Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual
suggest that our “culture is abandoning Connections
meaning and feeling?”

19. 1,239,333,913. . .

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