CloseReading:Areadingstrategyusedtocomprehendandanalyzeatextclosely.Typically,studentswillreadthetextatleasttwiceforcomprehension,details,analysis,anddeepquestioningofthetext’spurposeandmeaning.
RESPOND:Nowthatyou’ve“closeread”thetext,WRITEaboutit.
Yourresponseshouldincludethefollowing:
a.Summarize:Whatisthetextabout?SummarizetheinformationpresentedinaRACEparagraph.b.Audience:Whoistheaudienceforthistext?Wasitwrittenforageneralaudienceorspecialaudience?Andhowdoyouknow?Isthereanythinginthetextthatprovidesclues?Forexample:specificvocabularyortypeofpublication?c.Purpose:Whatisthewriter’sprimarypurposeofthistext?Chooseoneofthefollowing:topersuade,inform,orentertain(p.i.e.)Howdoyouknow?d.Opinion:Whatisyouropinionaboutthetext?Doyouagree/disagreewiththeauthor’smessage?Why?Useevidencefromthetexttojustifyyouropinion.
Steps for Close Reading Strategy
Step1:Chooseatextthatwillchallengestudentstothinkdeeperaboutthetextandanalyzethepurpose. • Focusonnon-fictioninformationaltextorshortstories(makeitfun)
• Choosegradeleveltextorjustabovereadinglevel
Step2:Studentsreadtheentiretextfor:
• Comprehension:tounderstandwhattheinformationorstorymeans
• MainIdea:tounderstandwhatthetextisabout• Clarity:tounderstandthemessageorpurpose
Step3:Chunkthetext(bracketparagraphsthennumberthechunks).
• Thismakesiteasytoreferbacktothetextanddiscussdifferentparts(orchunks)ofthetext
Step4:Createtext-dependentquestionstoaskstudentsforcomprehensionafterthesecondread.(Refertoquestionsbelow)• Createavarietyofquestions• Ensurethatsomequestionsarehigherlevelthatrequiredeepthoughtandanalyzation
Step5:Readthetextasecondtime.Thistimehavestudentsannotate(makenotesandmarksonthetextastheyreadforclarityandunderstanding).• Readthetextinchunksandstopwherenecessarytomarkordiscussmeaning
• Usethemetacognitivemarkerstomarkthetextasyouread
Step6:Discussandrespondtothetext.• Answercomprehensionquestionsusingcompletesentencesandrestatingthequestioninanswer
• Studentssummarizethetext• Usetextualevidencetosupportyourideas• Drawconclusions(whatdoesthetextimplyorinfer)?