Guided_Highlighted_Reading_MiddleSchool_final for IRA-1
1. Elaine M. Weber, Ph.D., Language Arts Consultant
with Macomb ISD
Cynthia L. Schofield, Ph.D., English Teacher,
Harper Creek Community Schools
Guided Highlighted
Reading: A strategy
to help students
navigate text for a
variety of purposes
2. Teaching students to read text close and
critically using the following 4 questions:
1.What does the text say? (Answer questions about
the text or Write a summary)
2.How does the text say it? (Identify
author’s craft, text structure, and purpose)
3.What does it mean? (Put into context of a big idea or
theme)
4.What does it mean to me? (Connections to the reader’s life)
How did it happen?
3. • The birth of Guided Highlighted Reading!
• Prompts NOT questions (Assumption that you can find
what is requested)
• Highlighters NOT underlining (Judith Willis’s research on
highlighting and the affect on the memory)
• It works: (Students like it. It scaffolds students to success.)
Smart, competent students could
NOT summarize the text passage!
And they
were
Seniors!
4. Highlight information that will
help students summarize and
answer the Close and Critical
Reading question, “What
does the text Say?”
“Hurricanes”
Great whirling storms roar out of the oceans in many parts of the world. They are called by
several names—hurricane, typhoon, and cyclone are the three most familiar ones. But no
matter what they are called, they are all the same sort of storm. They are born in the same
way, in tropical waters. They develop the same way, feeding on warm, moist air. And they do
the same kind of damage, both ashore and at sea. Other storms may cover a bigger area or
have higher winds, but none can match both the size and the fury of hurricanes. They are
earth’s mightiest storms.
Like all storms, they take place in the atmosphere, the envelope of air that surrounds the earth
and presses on its surface. The pressure at any one place is always changing. There are days
when air is sinking and the atmosphere presses harder on the surface. These are the times of
high pressure. There are days when a lot of air is rising and the atmosphere does not press
down as hard. These are times of low pressure. Low-pressure areas over warm oceans give birth
to hurricanes.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Your turn…
First do a text flyover and
then, armed with a
highlighter pen, respond
to the prompts.
5. • Prepare the text by numbering the paragraphs or lines in a text or the stanzas or lines in a poem.
• When reading for summary, write a short summary yourself to help you frame the prompts easily.
Prepare prompts that will scaffold students to be able to:
– Restate in their own words what the text says explicitly.
– Make logical inferences.
– Cite specific textual evidence to support conclusions drawn from the text.
– Determine central ideas.
– Summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
• Based on your summary, write prompts not questions in this format:
In line #1, find and highlight…the location, the reason, the size…
• Have students do a “fly-over” or skim to look for topic and big ideas. Briefly give students background
information needed to understand the text and to help them access their prior knowledge.
• As you read a prompt, students re-read the text to respond to the prompts. At first, you will read the
prompts fairly slowly; after multiple practices, you pick up the pace to build reading fluency and
prepare students for time-limited multiple-choice assessments. from Guided Highlighted Reading: A
Close-reading Strategy for Navigating Complex Text by Elaine Weber, Cynthia Schofield, and Barbara
Nelson to be published by Maupin House in 2012
How to prepare the text
6. Step One: Write a Summary
Step Two: Compose Prompts
Possible Summary:
This informational science
article identifies and
briefly explains the
conditions (“…low-
pressure over warm
oceans…”) necessary for
a hurricane to develop.
The article explains high
and low pressure in
relation to hurricanes.
Hurricanes are also called
typhoons or cyclones. The
article states that
hurricanes are destructive;
they have been called
“the earth’s mightiest
storms.”
In line #2, find and highlight the two other names for hurricanes. (“typhoon”
and “cyclone”)
In line #4, find and highlight where hurricanes develop. (“…in tropical
waters”)
In line #4, find and highlight what hurricanes feed on as they develop. (“…
warm, moist air…”)
In line #5, find and highlight where hurricanes do damage. (“…ashore and at
sea.”)
In lines #6 and #7, find and highlight what hurricanes are called. (“…earth’s
mightiest storms.”)
In line #10, find and highlight what happens when air is sinking. (“…the
atmosphere presses harder on the surface.”)
In line #11, find and highlight what these times of sinking pressure are called.
(“high pressure”)
In line #12, find and highlight what gives birth to hurricanes. (“Low-pressure
areas over warm oceans…”)
7. Now to answer the second
Close and Critical Reading
question, “How does the
text say it?, use the same
passage, but with a different
purpose and different prompts.
“Hurricanes”
Great whirling storms roar out of the oceans in many parts of the world. They are called by
several names—hurricane, typhoon, and cyclone are the three most familiar ones. But no
matter what they are called, they are all the same sort of storm. They are born in the same
way, in tropical waters. They develop the same way, feeding on warm, moist air. And they do
the same kind of damage, both ashore and at sea. Other storms may cover a bigger area or
have higher winds, but none can match both the size and the fury of hurricanes. They are
earth’s mightiest storms.
Like all storms, they take place in the atmosphere, the envelope of air that surrounds the earth
and presses on its surface. The pressure at any one place is always changing. There are days
when air is sinking and the atmosphere presses harder on the surface. These are the times of
high pressure. There are days when a lot of air is rising and the atmosphere does not press
down as hard. These are times of low pressure. Low-pressure areas over warm oceans give birth
to hurricanes.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Your turn…
If you are using the same
copy of the text, use a
different color highlighter
pen. (exchange pens with
a partner.)
8. These prompts guide the reader to read the
passage for craft, purpose and structure.
In line #1, find and highlight the vivid verb that the author uses to describe how a hurricane or storm comes out of the
ocean. (“roar”)
When an author gives human characteristics to things that are not human, it is called personification. In line #3, find
and highlight the example of personification in line four. (“They are born…”)
In lines #3-#5, find and highlight the signal word that is repeated four times showing that hurricanes, typhoons, and
cyclones are alike or similar. (“same”)
In line #3, find and highlight the two phrases containing the word “same” that show that the storms are alike or similar.
(“…the same sort of storm.” and “…born in the same way…”)
In lines #4 and #5, find and highlight the two phrases containing the word “same” that show that the storms are alike
or similar. (“…develop the same way…” and “…do the same kind of damage…”)
In lines #6 and #7, find and highlight the words that repeat part of the title of this selection. (“…earth’s mightiest
storms.”)
In line #8, find and highlight the words the author uses to introduce more similarities or things that make storms alike.
(“Like all storms…”)
When an author compares two unlike things without using the words like or as, it is called a metaphor. (“Her hair is silk.”
is a metaphor.) In lines #8 and #9, find and highlight the metaphor that the author uses to give a definition for the
word atmosphere. (“…the envelope of air that surrounds the earth and presses on its surface.”)
When an author gives human characteristics to things that are not human, it is called personification. In lines #12 and
#13, find and highlight the example of personification. (“Low-pressure areas over warm oceans give birth to
hurricanes.”)
9. After identifying the author’s craft, purpose and
structure, you can compose a “craft analysis.”
Craft Analysis: How does the text say it? This informational science
article is organized by definition and comparison with domain-specific
vocabulary such as typhoon, cyclone, high pressure, and low pressure.
The author and date of information are identified revealing that the
information is relatively up-to-date and the author is a well-respected
writer of high-quality informational books for children. The title identifies
the topic. The author uses descriptive imagery to raise the readers
interest “Great whirling storms roar (vivid verb) out of the oceans….” The
author gives definitions in context of low and high pressure. The author
employs personification referring to these storms being “born.” The
author defines the word “atmosphere” with a metaphor “…the
envelope of air that surrounds the earth and presses on its surface.”
(Words in boldface refer to author’s craft, structure, and perspective.)
10. With a partner, read Where Do Polar Bears Live?
Compose a summary.
Compose one prompt for something in the text that will
help students write a summary.
This island is covered with snow. No trees grow. Nothing has green leaves. The land is white as far as you can see.
Then something small and round and black pokes up out of the snow.
A black nose sniffs the air. Then a smooth white head appears. A mother polar bear heaves herself out of her den.
A cub scrambles after her.
When the cub was born four months ago, he was no bigger than a guinea pig. Blind and helpless, he snuggled in his mother’s
fur. He drank her milk and grew, safe from the long Arctic winter.
Outside the den, on some days, it was fifty degrees below zero. From October to February, the sun never rose.
Now it is spring—even though snow still covers the land. The cub is about the size of a cocker spaniel. He’s ready to leave the
den. For the first time, he sees bright sunlight and feels the wind ruffle his fur
The cub tumbles and slides down icy hills. His play makes him strong and teaches him to walk and run in snow.
Like his mother, he cub is built to survive in the Arctic. His white fur will grow to be six inches thick—longer than your hand. The
skin beneath the cub’s fur is black. It soaks up the heat of the sun. Under the skin is a layer of fat. Like a snug blanket, this
blubber keeps in the heat of the bear’s body.
Polar bears get too hot more easily than they get too cold. They stretch out on the ice to cool off.
Your
turn!
11. With the same or a different partner, analyze the
story, Where Do Polar Bears Live?
for elements of craft including
1. genre
2. text structure
3. text features
4. point of view
5. mood
6. tone
7. figures of speech
8. writing techniques such as word choice
Select one and compose a prompt for the student
to find and highlight the example of craft.
Still
your
turn!
12. Someone suggested that GHR could help
students learn how to answer questions about
text and improve their performance on
tests….like the ACT and SAT.
Could GHR help
students understand
the patterns of
questions and answers
on test reading
passages?
13. NATURAL SCIENCE: Heredity and
Gene-linkage: A Possible Relationship
of every organism
The ability on earth to reproduce is the hallmark of
life. Reproduction can be either asexual, involving a
single parent, or sexual, involving two parents.
Sexual reproduction begets offspring that inherit half
of their genes from each parent. This trans-mission of
genes from one generation to the next is called
heredity.
Each hereditary unit, the gene, contains specific
encoded information that translates into an
organism's inherited traits. Inherited traits range from
hair color, to height to susceptibility to disease.
Genes are actually segments of the DNA molecule,
and it is the precise replication of DNA that
produces copies of genes that can be passed from
parents to offspring.
DNA is subdivided into chromosomes that each
include hundreds or thousands of genes. The
specific traits or characteristics of each offspring
depend on the arrangement and combination of
the chromosomes supplied by both parents
2. The passage states
that a hereditary unit
is called:
a chromosome.
a gene.
an organism.
a characteristic.
3. The passage states
that all of the
following are
examples
of
inherited traits
EXCEPT:
hair color.
and Fi
Find and
highlight a
word that
means
hereditary
unit.
Find and
highlight
what is
specifically
stated as
inherited
traits.
14. 1. Engage students in print
2. Develop fluent scanning
3. Highlight most important
information
4. Prepare text for substantive
conversation
AND
5. After 12 GHRs on ACT-like reading passages,
some students scored 2 points higher on their ACT
reading scores
Guided Highlighted Reading was found
to…
15. Then came the COMMON CORE STANDARDS.
The Reading Standards fit like a glove with the four questions and
GHR could be used to scaffold
Key Ideas and Details
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.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting
details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
What
does
the text
say?
Craft and Structure
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and
figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text
(e.g. a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
How
Does
the text
say it?
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and
quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as
well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare
the approaches the authors take.
What does
the text
mean?
17. Complex text is demanding and highly context-
dependent as in this excerpt from Cathedral
(grades 6-8)GHR comes to the rescue!
Grades 6-8 Informational Texts: Science, Mathematics, and Technical Subjects Macaulay, David. Cathedral: The
Story of Its Construction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973. pages 51–56 (CCSS Appendix B, p. 96)
In order to construct the vaulted ceiling a wooden scaffold was erected connecting the two walls of the
choir one hundred and thirty feet above ground. On the scaffolding, wooden centerings like those used for
the flying buttresses were installed. They would support the arched stone ribs until the mortar was dry, at
which times the ribs could support themselves. The ribs carried the webbing, which was the ceiling itself. The
vaults were constructed one bay at a time, a bay being the rectangular area between four piers.
One by one, the cut stones of the ribs, called voussoirs, were hoisted onto the centering and mortared into
place by the masons. Finally the keystone was lowered into place to lock the ribs together at the crown,
the highest point of the arch.
The carpenters then installed pieces of wood, called lagging, that spanned the space between two
centerings. On top of the lagging the masons laid one course or layer of webbing stones. The lagging
supported the course of webbing until the mortar was dry. The webbing was constructed of the lightest
possible stone to lessen the weight on the ribs. Two teams, each with a mason and a carpenter, worked
simultaneously from both sides of the vault – installing first the lagging, then the webbing. When they met in
the center the vault was complete. The vaulting over the aisle was constructed in the same way and at the
same time.
When the mortar in the webbing had set, a four-inch layer of concrete was poured over the entire vault to
prevent any cracking between the stones. Once the concrete .had set, the lagging was removed and the
centering was lowered and moved onto the scaffolding of the next bay. The procedure was repeated until
eventually the entire choir was vaulted.
1
2
3
4
18. Vocabulary Tiers in the Common Core State Standards (Appendix A, p. 33)
Tier One words are the words of everyday speech usually learned in the
early grades, albeit not at the same rate by all children. They are not
considered a challenge to the average native speaker, though English
language learners of any age will have to attend carefully to them.
Tier Two words (what the Standards refer to as general academic words) are
far more likely to appear in written texts than in speech. They appear in all
sorts of texts: informational texts (words such as relative, vary, formulate,
specificity, and accumulate), technical texts (calibrate, itemize, periphery),
and literary texts (misfortune, dignified, faltered, unabashedly). Tier Two
words often represent subtle or precise ways to say relatively simple things—
saunter instead of walk, for example.
Tier Three words (what the Standards refer to as domain-specific words)
are specific to a domain or field of study (lava, carburetor, legislature,
circumference, aorta) and key to understanding a new concept within a
text. Because of their specificity and close ties to content knowledge, Tier
Three words are far more common in informational texts than in literature.
Recognized as new and “hard” words for most readers (particularly student
readers), they are often explicitly defined by the author of a text,
repeatedly used, and otherwise heavily scaffolded (e.g., made a part of a
glossary).
G
HR
specifically for
these
words
G
HR
specifically for
these
words
19. Prompts for the two kinds of vocabulary
Guided Highlight Reading for
Academic Vocabulary(Tier 2 words)
Paragraph 1: Find and highlight the
word that means built. (erected)
Paragraph 2: Find and highlight the
word that means lifted. (hoisted)
Paragraph 2: Find and highlight the
word that means foundation.
(keystone)
Paragraph 3: Find and highlight the
word that means stretched across or
bridged. (spanned)
Paragraph 3: Find and highlight the
word that means at the same time.
(simultaneously)
Paragraph 3: Find and highlight the
word that means domed. (vaulted)
Guided Highlighted Reading for Domain-Specific (Tier 3)
Vocabulary
Paragraph #1: Find and highlight what the wood scaffold does. (“…connecting the two
walls of the choir…”)
Paragraph # 1: Find and highlight what the wood centerings do. (“…support the arched
stone ribs until the mortar drys.”)
Paragraph # 1: Find and highlight the description of a bay. (“…the rectangular area
between four piers.”)
Paragraph # 2: Find and highlight the name of the cut stones of the ribs. (“voussoirs”)
Paragraph #2: Find and highlight what masons do with voussoirs. (“…were hoisted onto
centering and mortared into place…)
Paragraph #2: Find and highlight the purpose of the keystone. (“…locks the ribs together
at the crown…”)
Paragraph #2: Find and highlight the name of the highest point of the arch. (crown)
Paragraph #3: Find and highlight what lagging are. (“…pieces of wood…”)
Paragraph #3: Find and highlight what laggings do. (“…span between two centering
and support the webbing until the mortar is dry…”)
Paragraph #3: Find and highlight the reason that laggings are made of the lightest
possible stone. (“…to lessen the weight on the ribs.”)
20. An option for vocabulary…
Vocabulary could be handled with summary if there are only a few
potentially troublesome words. The academic vocabulary is rarely
defined in context and needs to be addressed before the student can
do the close reading required. In this case, identify the words, find
content-appropriate synonyms, and build prompts.
21. Begin with a big question that will reveal evidence
of something that is privileged, marginalized,
hidden, distorted, disguised, overlooked, or
misrepresented. Ask the reader to find and
highlight the evidence so that what was once
“invisible” becomes “visible.”
Guided Highlighting to make the
invisible ---visible for Critical
Reading!
Ne
w
22. ”The first three word of the Constitution are the most important. They clearly state that
the people—not the king, not the legislature, not the courts—are the true rulers in
American government. This principle is known as popular sovereignty. But who are “We
the People”? This question troubled the nation for centuries. As Lucy Stone, one of
America’s first advocates for women’s rights, asked in 1853, “We the People”? Which
‘We the People’? The women were not included.” Neither were white males who did
not own property, American Indians, or African Americans—slave or free.
Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the Supreme Court, described
the limitation: For a sense of the evolving nature of the Constitution, we need look no
further than the first three words of the document’s preamble: ‘We the People.’ When
the Founding Fathers used this phrase in 1787, they did not have in mind the majority of
America’s citizens . . . The men who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 could not . . . have
imagined, nor would they have accepted, that the document they were drafting would
one day be construed by a Supreme court to which had been appointed a woman
and the descendant of an African slave.
Through the Amendment process, more and more Americans were eventually included
in the Constitution’s definition of “We the People.” After the Civil War, the Thirteenth
Amendment ended slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment gave African Americans
citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment gave black men the vote. In 1920, the
Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote nationwide, and in 1971, the
Twenty-sixth Amendment extended suffrage to eighteen-year-olds.
Monk, Linda R. Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the
Constitution. New York: Hyperion, 2003. (2003) From “We the People …
23. Go through
the text,
Words We
Live By and
highlight who
were NOT
“We the
People”
at the writing
of the
constitution.
24. Using a different
color highlighter
pen, go through
the text, Words
We Live By and
highlight who
became “We
the People,”
and when they
became “We
the People.”
.
25. 25
Depth of Thinking (Webb)
+ Type of Thinking
(Revised Bloom, 2001)
DOK Level 1 Recall &
Reproduction
DOK Level 2 Basic
Skills & Concepts
DOK Level 3 Strategic
Thinking & Reasoning
DOK Level 4 Extended Thinking
Remember -Recall, locate basic facts,
definitions, details, events
Understand -Select appropriate words
for use when intended
meaning is clearly evident -Specify, explain
relationships
-summarize – identify
central ideas
-Explain, generalize, or connect
ideas using supporting evidence
(quote, text evidence,
example…)
-Explain how concepts or ideas specifically relate to
other content domains or concepts
Apply -Use language structure
(pre/suffix) or word
relationships
(synonym/antonym) to
determine meaning
– Use context to identify
word meanings -Obtain
and interpret information
using text features
-Use concepts to solve non-
routine problems
-Devise an approach among many alternatives to
research a novel problem
Analyze -Identify the kind of
information contained
in a graphic, table,
visual, etc.
– Compare literary
elements, facts,
terms, events –
Analyze format,
organization, & text
structures
-Analyze or interpret
author’s craft (e.g., literary
devices, viewpoint, or
potential bias) to critique a
text
–Analyze multiple sources or texts -Analyze
complex/ abstract themes
Evaluate –Cite evidence and develop a
logical argument for
conjectures based on one
text or problem
-Evaluate relevancy, accuracy, & completeness
of information across texts/ sources
Create -Brainstorm ideas,
concepts, problems, or
perspectives related to
a topic or concept
-Generate
conjectures or
hypotheses based on
observations or prior
knowledge and
experience
-Develop a complex model
for a given situation
-Develop an alternative
solution
-Synthesize information across multiple sources
or texts -Articulate a new voice, alternate
theme, new knowledge or perspective
Look
where
GHR can
take your
students
28. 1) What does
the text say?
2) How does
the text/artist
say it?
3) What does it
mean?
4) So, what?
Try it yourself and then
share with partner…
Kaddish in Warsaw
Saying Kaddish for the 7,000
Jews daily deported to
Treblinka. pigment ink on
rag paper
28.5" x 24"
29. Six Word Story - Message
•Entrance
through the
Gate, exit from
the Chimney.
30. Give it a try…
• Joseph Bau (1920-2002)
was a Polish Jew from
Krakow who, because of
the Holocaust, wound up
as one of the Jews
working for Oskar
Schindler. He immigrated
to Israel in 1950 and
spent the rest of his life as
an artist there. Bau was
the author of Dear God,
Have You Ever Gone
Hungry?
31. Intertextuality…
Now apply the four
questions with this political
cartoon.
Use the mining map for
political cartoons to get you
started…
