Audience: K-2nd Grade Teachers

Elaina Katz
April 17, 2019
OBJECTIVE: TO HELP MY COLLEAGUES
INCORPORATE THE USE OF CLOSE READING INTO
THEIR READING INSTRUCTION
 ISTE Standards for Educators
 2. EDUCATOR AS LEADER: I seek out opportunities for leadership to
support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching
and learning.
 ISTE Standards for Students
 6. CREATIVE COMMUNICATOR: As a student, I communicate clearly
and express myself creatively for a variety of purposes using the
platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their
goals.
 Teacher Leader Standards
 Domain 1: Fosters a Collaborative Culture to Support Educator
Development and Student Learning
 Domain 2: Accesses and Uses Research to Improve Practice and
Student Learning
 NBPTS
 Proposition 5: Teachers are Members of Professional Communities
 THINK ABOUT IT!
 What if you had your students
participate in a reading lesson without
front-loading them with information?
Would they be able to gather deep
meaning from the text more
independently?

Educational Hook
Animation
WHAT IS CLOSE READING?
 Close reading is reading a text more than once
in order to understand its deeper meaning.
 It is about getting readers to focus intently on a
text.
 The goal of close reading instruction is to foster
independent readers who are able to explore
the depths of a text by considering only the
text itself.
WHY USE CLOSE READING?
 There are many important features
of close reading. Close reading:
 is for all students, regardless of
reading ability
 addresses instructional standards
 involves complex texts from multiple
genres
 engages students in text annotation
and note-taking
 incorporates teacher scaffolds
 engages students in demonstrating
their knowledge through discussion,
writing, and other activities

Visual
Close Reading Is… Close Reading Is Not…
An integral part of your reading A substitute for shared, guided, or
program independent reading

Intentional, structured, and based Done on the fly or planned quickly

on preplanning between periods or at lunch

Done several times a week Done once a month

Done in all content areas Done only in English or language

arts class

Meant for all learners Meant only for advanced learners

Done with selected short complex Done with random texts

literary or informational texts

Carefully scaffolded, structured, Assigned as homework

and monitored
Table Organizer
THE GOALS OF CLOSE READING
 Close reading addresses the many Common
Core Reading Standards.
 Close reading is unique because it has three
interpretive goals. They are to read to find out:
-how the text
-what the text -how the text
compares to
says works
other texts
• Key Ideas and • Craft and • Integration of
Details Structure Knowledge and
• CCSS 1 • CCSS 4 Ideas
• CCSS 2 • CCSS 5 • CCSS 7
• CCSS 3 • CCSS 6 • CCSS 8
• CCSS 9

Smart Art Organizer

Dual-Coding
Dual-Coding
Visual
HOW TO IMPLEMENT CLOSE
READING IN YOUR CLASSROOM?
 Lessons can be delivered to whole classes of
children, to small groups, and even one-on-
one.
 Large group lessons are useful for exposing all
students to particular ideas.
 Smaller groupings encourage greater
participation and allow for more observation.

Whole Class Small Group One-on-One Smart Art Organizer

Visuals
Dual-Coding
ENGAGING STUDENTS WITH
CLOSE READING
 Asking students to read a text more than once can
be a daunting task.
 One of the most important parts of close reading is
selecting the right texts to use.
 Of course, not every text deserves a close read!
 Think outside the box to work to engage your
students.

Now You Try!

How can you get your students to want to
read a text multiple times?
Progress Monitoring Question
SELECTING A TEXT
 Not all texts are
appropriate for close
reading.
 Texts should be rich
and full of complex
ideas, but should be
short.
 You need to consider
the three components
of text complexity:
Qualitative measures, The above diagram shows three components that are
Quantitative measures, equally important when considering the complexity of
a text.
and the Reader and
the Task.
Dual-Coding
Visual
WHY READ A TEXT THREE TIMES?
 In close reading, the
text is reread with
different purposes in
mind for each read.
 The first reading will
focus on what the text
says.
 The second reading will
emphasize how the text
works.
 The third will engage
students in evaluating
the text, comparing it
with other texts, or
thinking about its
implications in their
lives.
Dual-Coding
Visual
CLOSE READING QUESTIONS
 When coming up with the questions you will ask
your students about the text, don’t forget the
purpose for each read.
First Reading
Determine what the text says.

Second Reading
Figure out how the text works.

Third Reading
Analyze and compare the text.
Now You Try!
What are some types of questions Smart Art Organizer
you could ask your students? Dual-Coding
Progress Monitoring Question
FIRST READING
DETERMINE WHAT THE TEXT SAYS
 What is the text about?
 What is the theme of the story?

 What was _____ (character) like, and what did

he/she do in the story?

Visual
SECOND READING
FIGURE OUT HOW THE TEXT WORKS

 What does _____ (a word from the text) mean

in this context?
 Who is telling this part of the story?

 What is the author’s purpose for this section?

Visual
THIRD READING
ANALYZE AND COMPARE THE TEXT

 What information do these illustrations add to the

text? Or, how does this picture differ from what the
author wrote?
 Compare _____ (an aspect of the text, such as
character or main idea) with the same aspect in
another text by the same author. (Readers can also
examine texts on the same topic or from the same
genre.)
 What reasons does the author give to support _____
(one of the ideas)?

Visual
 NOW LET’S TRY SOME
CLOSE READING!
The Circle of Life
(From Disney’s The Lion King)

In the circle of life

It's the wheel of fortune
It's the leap of faith
It's the band of hope
'Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life

Culminating Activity
 PURPOSE OF FIRST READ
DETERMINE WHAT THE TEXT IS ABOUT.

Text-dependent questions for First Read:

1. What is the song about?

2. What are the key ideas or major points in the

song?

Culminating Activity
 PURPOSE OF SECOND READ
FOCUS ON THE LANGUAGE USED BY THE AUTHOR
AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE TEXT.

Text-dependent questions for the Second Read:

1. What is the mood of the song?

2. What is the author describing?

3. What words or phrases are repeated? How

does the repetition add to the text’s
meaning?

Culminating Activity
 PURPOSE OF THIRD READ
LOOKING FOR MEANING BY MAKING INFERENCES.
THINK ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THE TEXT ANSWERS
THESE QUESTIONS.

Text-dependent questions for the Third Read:

1. What larger point or message does the lyrics
add up to?
2. What is the intended theme of the Disney
song?

Culminating Activity
 NOW, THINK ABOUT YOUR
OWN CLASS!
 Do you think an activity similar to the one we
did would work well in your classroom?
 Can you think of a text that you currently use in
your classroom in which you could use close
reading to have students more thoroughly
understand its meaning?
 Do you think you can incorporate close
reading into your lessons?
 Do you think you can engage your students
using close reading?

Culminating Questions
RESOURCES
 Burke, Beth. A Close Look at Close Reading: Scaffolding
Students with Complex Texts .
 “Introduce the 3 Phases of Close Reading to Students.”
Smekens Education Solutions,
www.smekenseducation.com/Introduce-the-3-Phases-
of-Close.html.
 Lapp, Diane, et al. Understanding the Basics of Close
Reading. Vol. 1, Sadlier School, 2018.
 Lynch, Erin. “Disney Songs Close Reading Lesson for
Grades 1–8.” William H. Sadlier, Inc., Sadlier Schools,
2018, www.sadlier.com/school/ela-blog/disney-songs-
close-reading-lesson-for-elementary-students.
 Shanahan , Timothy. “Common Core: Close Reading.”
Scholastic,
www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-
content/common-core-close-reading-0/.