Close Reading Chapter Two: Text Evidence

 

"We only get good at the things we do." ~Lehman & Roberts

 

This statement is a perfect summary thought for chapter 2 of Falling in Love with Close Reading. Chapter 2 is about how to teach students to gather important details in a text, find patterns in those details, and then use those details to make interpretations. The key is modeling these steps and then letting students use the skills they've learned in their own reading.

 

There is a 3 step process the authors use to teach close reading. Each step helps the students get closer to a deep understanding of the text. Let's start with the first one...

 

1. Read Through Lenses

At first I had a hard time understanding exactly what the authors meant here, but after reading closely (yep- I just said that-haha) I realized reading through lenses meant identifying what you're focusing on in the text. Some examples might be character, setting, relationships, the central idea etc.

When students know what they're looking for they can better focus their energy.

 

2. Find Patterns

Okay you've gathered your details now what do they all mean? This step involves looking at the details and seeing if there are patterns or connections. The authors suggest having the students jot down the important details in step 1 and in step 2 to group the details. This can be done with different colored highlighters or circling details that are related. This is also a step where students might get rid of a detail because he/she realizes the detail isn't important.

 

3. Develop a New Understanding of the Text

In step 3 the reader uses those patterns he/she found to make interpretations about the character, setting, or central idea (whichever topic was the focus). This is also when students should be able to talk or write about the focus, details, and what the details meant. In this step it's important to encourage students to continue using the details from the text and stay away from the "maybe" thoughts. When I refer to "maybe" thoughts I mean those that our students come up with when they use too much of their own ideas & not enough text details. Both details are important for readers to use but we need our students to be able to use text evidence as support to their interpretations.

 

In non-fiction text this step would involve discussing vocabulary, and using the details to decide on a central idea. Then taking details and new vocabulary to make meaning of the challenging text.

 

My Interpretation of Chapter Two & An Example

Falling in Love with Close Reading seems to be more geared toward intermediate education however, there is a lot for primary teachers to learn from this book. So as I read I tried to relate it to a book a primary student would be reading. I decided on a Magic Tree House book because the kids love them and these books have enough details to carry a close reading discussion.

 

 

In many of the examples they used character as the focus so I'm going to use Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs before Dark as my example to explain what I could do with a group of 2nd graders.

I would have the students focus (step 1) on the main characters Jack & Annie. They could write details (step 2) on a sheet like this one.

 

Details About Jack:

 Jack worries a lot, he wants to go home, he uses the book to do research, he wears glasses, he takes notes, he's older than Annie, he looks for Annie a lot, he's smart, he gets away from the mean dinosaur, he gets Annie out of trouble with his research.

 

Details About Annie:

Annie makes Jack get out of the tree house, she's younger than Jack, she isn't afraid of the dinosaurs, she loves animals, she's excited to be in prehistoric times, she wanders off a lot, sometimes she gets into trouble.

 

After we gathered some details we would (in reading group or whole class) decide which details go together. It was my understanding (from the chapter) that you make generalizations based on the details in this step. So here is one way to group details...

 

Jack
These could "go together": Jack looks for Annie, and does research, he gets Annie out of trouble.

After putting the details together we could come up with a statement of what we know now. 

*These details tell us that Jack is a smart person and a good brother when he does research before going somewhere new to keep himself and Annie safe.

 

Annie
These could "go together": Annie isn't afraid, she's excited, she wanders off, she makes Jack leave the tree house, and she sometimes gets into trouble.

*These details tell us that Annie is adventurous when she makes Jack enjoy the trip, and goes off on her own unafraid of the dinosaurs.

 

There are some other interpretations that students could make from the details gathered too. The idea is that the students are using the details to support their interpretations. An activity like this would create a great discussion within your reading group. You could also do this with a read aloud and write details on a chart paper to help younger students read closely.

 

How would you implement this in your classroom?

 Leave a comment below & let's get a discussion going!

 

 



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An InLinkz Link-up

Falling in Love with Close Reading: Chapter 1

“We can teach our students how to read closely and fall in love with reading.”

 ~Donalyn Miller July 2013

This quote is from the foreword of Falling in Love with Close Reading and it really stuck with me. I’m so excited to be joining with this group of fabulous educators to learn more about this strategy and how it can be used to create lifelong, independent readers. So let’s get started on Chapter 1…

What is Close Reading?

“Close reading is something we teach students to do rather than something we just do to them.” page 4

Close reading is reading carefully. While you’re reading carefully you’re also analyzing the text so you can make interpretations about that text. It’s reading with purpose and thought.

What is Powerful Close Reading Instruction?

It is explicit, repeated instruction over time and throughout the subjects. It is giving students the opportunity to apply those close reading skills learned in the classroom.  I thought it was also important to note that this is only, “one piece of your reading instruction, not the only part of your instruction.” 

The authors stress the importance of student engagement and joy in close reading as well. I found this refreshing because many other sources make close reading sound boring and more business-like rather than a skill that could be utilized in reading for entertainment. I understand that a big goal of CCSS is to prepare students for reading at a college level. However at my level students need to learn to engage in a text and analyze it. More importantly I’d like them to engage & analyze because they want to interact with the text not just because I want them to answer comprehension questions once they’re done. Powerful Close Reading Instruction creates engaged, independent readers.

What are We Currently Doing in Our Close Reading Instruction?

This past year I used some MAX teaching strategies to engage my 2nd grade students in close reading with National Geographic Magazines.

The two I used frequently were the 3-Level Study Guide and Pre/Post Vocabulary.

The 3-Level Study Guide has 3 levels of statements. The levels are Right There on the Page, Reading Between the Lines, and Reading Beyond the Lines. You find a complex text and then choose some statements the students will be focused on in their reading. Some of the statements are true and some are false. The students read the statements before they begin reading the text. Then as they read the text they mark evidence (we highlighted in different colors) that either supports or negates the statements.  

The Pre/Post Vocabulary has 5-6 words in a list. Before the students read they mark their understanding of the words. Then they mark their understanding after we've read, analyzed, and discussed. The goal is for the students to improve their vocabulary skills.

Here is an example of how I altered the 3-Level Study Guide to fit the primary world. 

The Pre/Post Vocabulary strategy on top of the leveled study guide so we were using comprehension and vocabulary strategies over a couple guided reading sessions. You can see I only did two levels on the study guide. I used Right There on the Page & Read Between the Lines. My 2nd graders were just getting used to close reading so I didn't want to overwhelm them.  They did very well with these and it was awesome to hear the discussion that occurred. I would hear "Yes I agree with you because I see this sentence in the text." or "No, this one is wrong because..." 

It took a lot of modeling, but it was worth it. They were engaged in the reading, discussing it at length, and for my higher students I saw an improvement in their independent reading.  

I will be sharing the strategies I learn in Falling in Love with Close Reading in next week's post. I hope you'll come back. Thanks for stopping by...

An InLinkz Link-up

6 Months Until Christmas!

Hey everyone! I'm linking up with Learning Highway and so many other fabulous teachers for a 6 months until Christmas Sale! There are a ton of fabulous teachers that have marked down their TPT Stores June 24-25. Click HERE to enter for a chance to win some amazing products and see all the stores involved in the sale!
If you enter the raffle you have a chance to win my Walk & Solve Parts of Speech activity! This activity gets the kids moving while practicing those parts of speech!

  I hope you get some fabulous activities during the sale! :)

End of the Year Reflection

Well I made it! Wow, what a year! I started the school year, had a baby, was on maternity leave for about 3 months, returned for the last 3 months of the school year, and then got  moved to 3rd grade for next year! *Sigh* So yes I made it, and I'm pretty excited about it! :)
Now is the time to reflect on what went well and what needs improvement....

Success!
1. I'm so glad I taught math in small groups this year! The children made so much progress because I was able to teach them at their level.

2. Going along with Guided Math was Math Stations. I created Math Stations that could be done more than once but with slightly different practice of the skill. The kids loved them and I loved that I could set them up at the beginning of the month and leave them out. Yay for simplicity!

3. Writer's Workshop went well too. I improved my mini-lessons a bit and that really helped. I loved seeing the creative ideas in each child's writing. Do you use Writer's Workshop? What's your favorite genre to teach? My students came up with wonderful fairy tales this year so that unit was my favorite.

Room for Improvement... 
1. I'd like to make more math stations like this free place value sample station.

I'm starting 3rd grade in the fall and the main focus is multiplication. I'll need to adjust what I have to make it more challenging.

2. I need to make my reading block more structured. To accomplish this I'm reading The Daily 5 over the summer. Have you read it? I've heard great things and from what I've read so far it sounds like it can be successful if your students understand the expectations. Do you agree? I'd appreciate any advice!

3. My third goal is to blog and create more. It makes me so happy when I can share or find a new idea! There are so many outstanding teachers out there! I want to learn from them and work with them!

Thanks to Laugh Eat Learn  for having a Link-Up! Check out her End of the Year Reflections!

Happy Mother's Day!

I know this is a teaching blog, but I'm going to share some thoughts really quickly & then I'll share what the kiddos did for their mommies...
 This year was my first Mother's Day. It was truly a great day. We hosted a brunch for my mom and all her siblings. The weather was perfect, food was tasty, and the time spent was a blessing. It's funny to me how your priorities and life change the instant you have a child. Your perspective shifts, your schedule becomes based on a tiny human's needs, and overall you feel like the parts of your life (home, work, family, friends) are only getting about 80% of the effort you used to be able to put towards them. But you know what you get in it's place? JOY... pure joy. I have my frustrated, overwhelmed, "OhMyWord I don't know if I can do this" moments sometimes, but I always have JOY. My baby & husband fill me with joy each and every day. I hope that's what your Mother's day was filled with-tons of joy. The kind that makes you feel like you'll burst with little happiness squiggle marks :)

Now onto what the kiddos did for their mommies! We made a little thumbprint necklace, which I forgot to photograph-Oops! I got the idea from here. The little flower themed card turned out great. I used the fabulous clipart from Creative Clips-Krista Wallden. and we created little folded flowers. Cutting things out was the most  involved part of the card.

On the inside of the flowers the kids wrote reasons they loved their mom. The sweetest ones were, "You're the only one I love mommy" and "Thank you for always taking care of me and making yummy food." Melt.My.Heart. I will definitely do these again next year. Kids loved them & I hope the moms did too.

What did you do with your class for Mother's Day?

Farewell to Winter

This past Friday we had a fun day before our spring break. Our winter has been just awful this year! So to give winter a message we decided to have a "Farewell to Winter." A day filled with winter themed activities so it heads outta here! Haha!
We did the "snowball toss". Which was Styrofoam balls from the local craft store, 3 baskets I had in class, number cards 1-9, and a tape line to stand behind. The number cards were just on cardstock and tucked under the front of the bucket so they could switch the numbers depending on their level. They all put the big numbers in the closest bucket, but that just meant they were adding larger numbers to get their score at the station. That's alright with me! ;)

We did snowman paint too, which is school glue & shaving cream. So much fun!! Use more shaving cream than glue otherwise it takes a super long time for it to dry (learn from me). Many of the kids made Olaf  and some made the giant snow monster from Frozen.

An ice cube experiment was done as well. We put one ice cube in a bowl with a scoop of salt and another ice cube in a bowl with a scoop of sugar. The kids observed while the melting happened and then we related it back to real-life by talking about how and why snow plows drop salt on the roads.

Some other fun activities were Pin the Nose on Olaf (a huge crowd favorite & so simple with a sketch of Olaf and orange triangles), playing Don't Break the Ice, and building an "ice castle" out of blue solo cups that had tasks on the bottom. We ended the day with popsicles! It was a fun day full of learning and laughs! Here's to hoping our "Farewell to Winter" is a success! :)
I'm so excited for spring! Aren't you!?

Math Stations

Hello all! Well, I'm back to work after my maternity leave and I finally feel like I'm getting back into the groove after two weeks. It is go-go-go all day but I'm getting much better at managing my time so I can spend as much time as possible with my family and still have engaging lessons for the kids! This week I introduced the new math stations for March. The kids really love the math stations. I put out 12 stations to be used for the entire month. The stations are open-ended so they can be completed more than once, but the practice is always different for the student. I use a lot of spinners, number cards, and dice. Before I let the kids use the stations on their own I have a "game day" where I put out the stations that I think will be the hardest to understand. I let the kids move through about 5 stations very quickly while I'm walking around asking if there are any questions. This gives me time to show the kids how to complete the station. It also gives me time to see if the station will work or if it needs any more supplies. I just started "game day" this year and I'm SO glad I did this. The kids have a much better understanding of the expectation & their practice becomes so much better during station time.

I put the directions in the lid of the stations box. All the stations are in plastic containers with latch lids (I got them from Wal-Mart). Putting the directions in the lid helps it stay organized and the kids always know where to find them.

If there are any manipulatives such as money or shapes  in the station I try to put them in small containers inside the station box so they stay organized. The little plastic containers with twist on lids are great for money

I try to include a lot of games that practice a skill. The kids are always more engaged in games which means they're more likely to choose it. My students have a checklist and a math station buddy (someone from their math group). They check off the station when they go to it and then they get a new checklist the following week.

I am able to meet with four math groups per day (for 15 minutes each). The first rotation is always a mixed practice math sheet and number of the day. When a student is finished he/she chooses a math station from the shelf. It took a lot of practice, but they all know they must talk about math and complete the activity while at stations. I think it has really benefited them. As I rotate through the math groups the children take different stations.
How do you have your math stations organized?