Close Reading Different Modes of Text

Inquiry Question
How do different modes of text--i.e. video, poem, music, and painting-affect students engagement in conjunction with close reading?

Findings
Students Emotional Engagement
I surveyed students to see how they felt. What type of text did you feel most engaged with? " Video and music tied for most votes with the vast majority of votes " Paintings had one vote and Poems had three votes for students who felt most engaged

Applied Strategies & Practices

! I gave a PowerPoint presentation on the concept of close reading: close reading for a texts central idea. Students took notes during the presentation. ! During the next class, I put an excerpt of William Wordsworths poem, Essay on Man, up on the overhead and gave each student a hard copy. I read through it once. Then, I started to give the poem a close read, while I said my thoughts/reasoning out loud. After examining several components of the text, I had students individuallymake three observations of the text. Students then shared in small groups what they found. Finally, I called on various students to share with the class what they found, while I marked the poem on the overhead. For homework, students were to use three pieces of textual evidence to support their interpretation of the texts central idea. ! Now that students understood how to conduct a close reading, for my next assignment, I designed a graphic organizer for a close reading of Henry Wadsworth Longfellows poem, The Tides Rise, The Tides Fall. Students marked up the poem and filled out the graphic organizer, which requires students to synthesize their findings into a central idea. Students finished the close read for homework. ! Next Day: Designed graphic organizer around a video close read. I chose a video without words. We watched the video three times. Once to fully watch through. Second and third watch were for students to conduct a close reading by looking at various components of the text: black and white images versus colored images, background music, contrast in colors, etc. (Video: Caldera, directed by Evan Viera) ! Next Day: Designed graphic organizer around a painting close read. (Paintings: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich and Steel Workers on the Factory Floor" by G. Brzhzovski) ! Next Day: Designed graphic organizer around classical/romantic music. (Songs: Passions:Largo by Hector Berlioz and The Surprise by Joseph Haydn)

Students Critical Thinking Engagement

Graphic Organizer Assessment findings " Close reading of music was found to largely possess the weakest responses: not answer all parts of the question, short / vague explanations, etc. " Close reading of paintings evoked the greatest and strongest responses: responded to each question in depth, noted very profound observations and analysis, etc.
" Close reading of a poem and

video were equal in quality of responses that fell a little lower than the paintings

Close Reading Different Modes of Text

Reflections
Students felt most engaged with close reading songs and a video. However, based on the fact that the majority of close reading responses over the songs were greatly lacking in quality, students were too engaged with the aesthetic appeal of the text to focus on forming an analysis about the text. After watching the video, many students stated how they thought the text was extremely weird and freaky. These initial responses reflected how students were at first more emotionally engaged than engaged in a close reading. When watching the video for the second time, students began to shout out various analyses that they made. Students are beginning to engage more in a close reading with the text. After the third viewing, many students wanted to share their argument of the texts central idea based on their close reading analysis. Now, students demonstrated a closer reading of the text. Thus, when giving a close read of different text, students must overlook the aesthetic appeal of a text before moving on to really pick apart the text. The students really enjoyed the music; however, I needed to directly address the issue of focusing too closely to the aesthetic appeal, so students understand the need to analyze the text more deeply: questioning why the text possess particular components and how they build a central meaning of the text.

Useful Resources
Mills, Kathy. Shrek Meets Vygotsky: Rethinking Adolescents' Multimodal Literacy Practices in Schools. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 54 (2010): 1. 35-45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2074 9074. 03 March 2014. Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder. The Thinker's Guide to How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading. Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2006. Print. Serafini, Frank. Expanding Perspectives for Comprehending Visual Images in Multimodal Texts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 54 (2011): 5. 342-350. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4103 8867. 03 March 2014.

Further Questions & Suggestions

! When close reading orchestra music, what are pieces of the text that students can focus on that would provide a closer reading? ! When having students close read a video, you should choose a video that does not include words. By removing words, students will be forced to focus on other components of the video, such as sound, colors, and images. Students become too distracted by the words in the video. ! When students practice a close reading of a different mode of text, you should provide time and space for students to discuss the aesthetic appeal of the text. You can have students generate responses: what aspects/components of the text making it pleasing to the eyes or ears?

Close Reading Different Modes of Text