Close Reading Chapter 6: Comparing Text-to-Text

1. My Ah-Ha Moment from Chapter 6

In Chapter 6 the authors talk about comparing two texts. I'm sure many of you have done this with your students on a Venn diagram or some other graphic organizer. You work together to compare two versions of the same story or two characters in a book. These are great practices & an outstanding way to model how this is done. Yay! 

 Then the authors encourage us as educators to let the students choose the books they will compare.

At this point I was thinking, "Hmmmmmmm.... Not sure my kiddos are ready for that." But as I thought about it more I realized some of our little ones already do this don't they!? As we're reading out loud a sweet child will say "Oh this book is like_____________". We, as teachers, are always super excited that they've remembered the story and listened close enough to be able to compare it to another text.

So my plan is to try to read stories that can be compared in some way. Maybe by asking "Does this remind anyone of another book we read?" The idea here is there is no wrong answer to that question as long as the student can say "Oh it's like the book we read yesterday because ______________."

 If I model enough the students will eventually begin doing this in their own reading.
We'll use a graphic organizer like this one to compare characters, settings, or passages.

Can you think of two related books that could be used?

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