Close Reading/Informational Text

Informational Text: Close Reading

An instructional routine in
which students critically
examine a text through

rereading.

WHAT IS CLOSE

READING?

KEY FEATURES OF
CLOSE READING

Short Passages

● Short stories, articles, excerpts of text (paragraph, page or

small section)

● Narrative or Informational

● Hard above independent level

● Complex

■ Vocabulary

■ Syntax

■ Structure

■ Text feature

Multiple Choice

When selecting a text for close reading a teacher should NOT choose:

• A Short Passage

• An Independent Level Passage

• A Passage that has "rich" vocabulary

• A passage that has multiple text strutures

Rereading Deliberatively

● Slows down the reading process

● Helps the reader to notice details

● Teaches problem solving

● Different Purposes – revisit the text with a different lens

■ Key Ideas
■ Craft and Structure
■ Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Noticing Things That Are

Confusing

● Students need to become proficient in noticing

what is causing the confusion.

● Students mark confusing parts.

● Teacher uses this information to make decisions

about what to turn into a think aloud as
students return to the text.

Reading with a Pencil

● Keeps the reader active

● Helps the student remember their thoughts

●Writing on the text

● Needs to be explicitly taught

● Annotations/Think Marks/Coding

● Use annotations to formulate arguments,

analyze information and make connections

Multiple Choice

What is NOT a reason to have students Read with a Pencil?

• to doodle

• to keep the reader engaged

• to remember their thoughts

• to mark questions

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension
for Understanding and Engagement. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Modeled
Annotation
in Second

Discussing Text

● Students engage in purposeful talk, using

academicvocabulary and citing evidence
from the text.

● Students need time to practice and

scaffolding to be good at this.

○ Think Pair Share

○ Small groups, then share

with the class

Responding to Text Dependent

Questions

● Hierarchy of questions that force the reader back into

the text.

■Question Answer Relationship (QAR)

■Questioning the Author (QtA)

Questions cannot be answered without using the text.
Students need to dig deeply into the text to answer them.

Teach students to “touch the text” – physically touch the
portion of the text that proves their answer.

Can use a variety of texts.

● Folktales, legends, myths,

fables

● Short stories
● Poetry
● Scenes from plays
● Short articles
● Biographies
● Personal narratives
● Easier primary sources

● Picture books

Close reading can be
done with the entire
class in a large group

setting or it can be done

with a small group.

Planning a Close Reading - Preplanning

● Choose text

■It should be short, complex and worthy of a close read.

●Determine the complex ideas in the text that require close reading

■Language – word choice, vocabulary, reading complexity

■Craft and structure – text structure

■Context – authorʼs background

■Syntax – order of words, repeated phrases

●Generate text-dependent questions

■ Questions should require the students to revisit the text and use the authorʼs words.

■ Students should also use text evidence to answer the question(s).

Literal and inferential

Comprehension w/evidence
Vocabulary

Context Clues

Summary, Big Ideas Topic,

Main Ideas, Details

Text Structures

Text Features

Connectedness between
people, places, and things

Point of View

Sources of Information

Text and Visual

Integration

Text Analysis
Compare and

Contrast
9
7

6

5

4

3

1

2

What
does
the
text
say?
Key
ideas
and

Details

How
does
the

author
say it?

Craft
and

Structure

What does the text mean?

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Evaluate Author’s Claims and Reasons
8

Teach Students to Ask Themselves Questions

●Key ideas and details

■ What is the author telling me here?

●Craft and Structure

■ Are there any hard or important words?

■ Are there structures that I need to pay attention to?

■ How does the author play with language to add meaning?

●Integration of knowledge and ideas

■ What does the author want me to understand?

■ What inferences can I make?

Close Reading involves
multiple days:

•Building Background – this

changes as students learn to build
background knowledge on their
own

•Step 1 – Read for the gist – key

ideas and details

•Step 2 – Look at craft and

structure

•Step 3 – Integrate knowledge

and ideas

Building Prior Knowledge

Teach an instructional routine:
�

Read the title. “What do you know about this topic?”

�

Nothing=slow, thoughtful reading and rereading

�

Something=Compare what you read with what you know

�

Read the first paragraph

�

Skip to and read the last paragraph

�

Think to yourself about everything you learned. (Tell a
partner)

�

Jot down in your own words what you learned…this is
your prior knowledge.

�

Set a purpose for reading. Think about questions you
have. Create one question or statement to describe your
purpose.

Step 1 – First Read
Key Ideas and Details

Select a text that is close-read
worthy.

Read aloud (partner read or
independent read) and ask students
a question about the big ideas in the
text:
• What is the text mostly about?

• Summarize the text.

• What message is the author

sharing?

Key Ideas and Details

● What are the key ideas in this text?
● What key details and/or examples support the main idea of ______?
● Who, what, where, when and how questions
● What message was the author trying to share?
● What is the main idea of this text?
● What are the 2 or more main ideas in this text?
● What key supporting details did the author cite?
● Explain connections between ______ and _____ (ideas/details)
● What conclusions can you draw from the text? Note text evidence to support your conclusion.
● What have you learned from the text?
● What message was the author trying to share?
● Explain key details that support the authorʼs message.

Beth Burke – “A Close Look at Close Reading”

Step 2 – Second Read Craft and Structure

Select a portion or chunk of the text that includes ideas that require digging deeper.

Select a text-dependent question that looks at how the author
presents information
• Explain what (vocabulary word) means.

• How does the author feel about the topic?

• What is the text structure of this

text?

Craft and Structure

● What does ____________ mean?

●Vocabulary word
● Phrase
● Figurative language

●How do the (sections, paragraphs, chapters, stanzas) fit together to provide overall

structure?

● How did the author organize the ideas in the text?
● Explain how you know that the author used a _______ text structure.
● What text features did the author include to help the reader?
● How does the author feel about the topic?
● How does your own point of view compare to the author of ____?
● How did the graphics help you understand _____________?

Beth Burke – “A Close Look at Close Reading”

Step 3 – Third Read
Integration of Knowledge
and Ideas

Require the students to synthesize
or analyze information from several
sections of the text or multiple
texts.
• What text features did the author

include? How did they help the
reader?

• How did the pictures help the

reader understand the story?

• How did the visual elements

contribute to the text?

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

● What was the tone of this text?
● What does the text mean?
● What is the textʼs value?
● How does the text connect with other text we have read?
● Explain connections between specific sentences and paragraphs.
● Identify the reasons the author gives to support his key points.
● Explain how the author uses reasons and evidence to support the main idea of _________.
● Compare and contrast this text with ____________. Identify similarities and differences.
● Compare the text to: a movie, webpage, piece of art, music, video game, etc.
● What text features did the author include to help the reader?

Beth Burke – “A Close Look at Close Reading”

​What is being taught?

Open Ended

What words (with definitions) would be placed in the content section?

Open Ended

After reviewing close ups, students will ___________ and ___________how close ups help the reader understand the text by ____________________.

Open Ended

What would be the process?

Open Ended

What would go in the content section?

Open Ended

What are 3 things you learned today about close reading?