A Middle School Lesson

Since close reading is a strategy that uses a pencil to mark up the text as students read, I finally got wise and created folders for my students to use so they can write directly on the paper plus keep track of stories we've read. On the front of each folder I put a copy of the close reading procedure we are using. Inside is a simple system of a "To Do" side and a "Finished" side (it wasn't difficult :-). I don't think I've made this many copies of material for years but it's important that students are able to mark up the text as they read in order to really understand what they're reading. Here's a picture of the system we use.

As you can see, it's not complicated but it works well for the students. I'm hoping to incorporate a more advanced technique after we get really good at using this one. This method was something I found on TPT but I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of the teacher that created it.

So here's what we did:
Using the website Newsela.com, my students read an article titled "Schools a haven for kids who crossed border alone" following the three steps in the chart. During their first independent reading, they underlined phrases they thought contribute to the main idea of the story. For the second reading, I read aloud to the students. As I read, they put symbols on their paper that helped to keep track of what they were thinking as I read. The star symbol means it's important. The question mark lets them know they didn't understand something as I read. The exclamation point lets them know that something surprised them in the reading and a circle is used when they come across a word they don't know.

Once we read three times (which took two class periods to complete), I asked questions to see if the students understood the text following this close reading strategy. Here are the questions I asked:

1. Where did the majority of students come from?
2. Can you restate what is happening to students in their scary journey? Where in the article did you find this information.
3. Can you give an example of why children are making the journey alone?
4. How does this article compare to you or your families' journey?
5. What is the future like for students who make the journey successfully? How do you know?
6. Do you agree that life is better for these students in the U.S.? Explain using text examples and what you know.

It was interesting to see what concepts students underlined as we read the first time. Many of them underlined the key information we would need later to answer questions. I have some good thinkers in this class!

I know it's been a long time in between posts. I'll try to get better at posting some of our activities in the K-12 ESL classroom.

Elementary Attempt

Yesterday I completed a close reading activity with my kindergartners and first graders using the book Copy Cat by Olivia George.

Here is the sequence of steps I used as I tried to incorporate close reading with such young students.

1. I read the book aloud from cover to cover without stopping.
2. I reread the book but this time we discussed what was happening in the story.
3. A third read took us through looking at the illustrations carefully for clues about the story and more discussions.
4. Students drew a picture of when people copy them and then completed a prompt about their picture.

Before I used this book, I came up with a list of questions to ask students during our second and third reading of the story. The questions followed Bloom's Taxonomy. For better or worse, here are the questions I used:

• Knowledge: Who is the main character? Who are the other characters? How do you know?
• Comprehension: What was the bid idea in the story? How does the story change? What clues does the illustrator give about the changes?
• Application: What would've happened if Copy Cat kept following the big cats? Have you ever followed someone? How did that person react?
• Analysis: Why did Copy Cat decide to stop following the big cats?
• Synthesis: Can you think of something else copy cat could do that the big cats want to do?
• Evaluation: Did you like it that the author used cats in this story? 

Creating questions is by far the most time consuming part of the close reading strategy but I think following Bloom's really helps stretch students' thinking. 

Here are two examples of student work:

First Grader

Kindergartner

What I learned by doing this activity was that the questions I asked were easier for first graders to answer. They had a much better grasp on the concepts and were willing to have fun with the story. Kindergartners had a much tougher time understanding what I was asking without me giving more prompts. I can't wait to see their transformation as we continue using close reading!

Close Reading is all the Rage

Hello,

Yes, you've heard about it, read about it, and even Pinned it! But how do you incorporate such a worthwhile strategy like close reading into your curriculum in a meaningful way? I've dabbled with it but don't feel like I really use it correctly. I teach the most wonderful ESL students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. They come from all over the world and bring a lot of unique experiences with them. I need to reach them, excite them, and stretch them every day. I'm hoping that by incorporating close reading strategies into my lessons, I will be a better teacher and my students will become better readers.

My goal is to post at least one resource, idea, accomplishment, failure, or lesson on this blog each week. I hope you learn from me (my mistakes) and are able to incorporate some of my lessons into your own curriculum. Please comment about things you've tried with your students and resources that you feel work best for you. Let's start this journey!