FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM: A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

Transcription

1 FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM: A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS Supporting Students in Close Reading Authors: Barbara Jones, Sandy Chang, Margaret Heritage, AND Glory Tobiason National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing University of California, Los Angeles Graduate School of Education & Information Studies Copyright 2014 The Regents of the University of California The work reported herein was supported by grant number #S283B050022A between the U.S. Department of Education and WestEd with a subcontract to the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). The findings and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of CRESST, WestEd, or the U.S. Department of Education.

2 ORGANIZATION INTRODUCTION... 3 CLOSE READING OF TEXT... 4 SELECTING TEXT... 6 PRIMING TEXT...9 TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TOOLS AND EXEMPLARS ADDITIONAL RESOURCES REFERENCES Our grateful thanks to Timothy Shanahan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, for his valuable feedback on an earlier draft of this resource.

3 INTRODUCTION This resource is one in a series produced by the Center for Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI). The series goal is to assist teachers and those who support teachers to plan teaching and learning for diverse learners from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This resource guides teachers in the process of instructional planning for close reading with students.1 The ELA & Literacy CCSS call for students to: undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews [and] reflexively demonstrate the cogent reasoning and use of evidence. (2010, p. 3) Specifically, through close reading students can accomplish some major interpretive goals of the ELA & Literacy CCSS: Key Ideas and Details: Understand a text s key ideas and details expressed and/or implied by the author Craft and Structure: Understand how the craft and structure of a text reinforces and supports the author s message/purpose Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Recognize how this text connects to others and be able to evaluate its quality or value The emphasis on close reading in the ELA & Literacy CCSS means that teachers in every content area will need to plan lessons that include increased instructional time working with text and engaging students in close reading of content-area texts. Organization This resource is organized as a series of steps that teachers can follow as they prepare for close reading. These steps include: (1) Gaining an understanding of close reading; (2) Selecting appropriate texts to use with students; (3) Priming text: Reading the selected text multiple times to (a) annotate text to gain increased understanding of the text and (b) extract and record relevant information from the text; (4) Developing text-dependent questions to stimulate student thinking and discussion of the text; (5) Using evidence gathered from the close reading process to inform instructional next steps (formative assessment). 1 Although this resource focuses primarily on analytical reading, there are other reading goals that teachers will have for their students, namely, to increase students capacity for sustained reading of longer texts over extended periods of time at their independent reading level. FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 3

4 CLOSE READING OF TEXT The goal of close reading is to enable students to deeply engage with challenging and high quality text. Eventually, through close reading, students will be able to read increasingly complex text independently, relying only on what the author provides in the text to support their comprehension and evaluation of the text. The CCSS Anchor Standard 1 in Reading states that students: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. (2010, p. 10) Furthermore, according to the National Education Association (NEA, 2013), percent of the [CCSS] reading Standards in each grade require text-dependent analysis (p. 18). Therefore, students successful and meaningful engagement with text necessitates teachers careful planning of close reading. Teachers and students have specific roles in close reading, which are described below. TEACHER ROLES STUDENT ROLES (1) Select challenging and appropriate text (2) Analyze the text s content and language ahead of time (3) Anticipate potential challenges the text may present for certain students (e.g., English Learners, students reading far above or below grade level) (4) Write text-dependent questions that engage students in interpretive tasks (5) Lead rich and rigorous conversations (through the use of text-dependent questions) that keep students engaged with the text s deeper meaning (1) Read the text more than once (2) Persevere in reading and comprehending challenging text (3) Analyze the text for purpose and/or levels of meaning (4) Use evidence from the text to ask and answer text-dependent questions (5) Increase comprehension of a text through multiple re-readings (6) Participate in rich and rigorous conversations about a common text (6) Ensure reading activities stay closely connected to the text SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 4

5 Lessons based on close reading of text have several distinct characteristics.2 Close reading often entails a multi-day commitment to re-reading a text. Each re-reading has a different purpose. Close reading focuses on short, high-quality text that is appropriate for reading several times (e.g., a text with complex ideas and structure). Text can be excerpted from a longer piece of work. Instruction for close reading involves scaffolding students meaning-making with the text. Students need to make sense of the text, engaging in productive struggle when necessary. To support this, teachers provide only a minimal amount of background knowledge or explanation to students prior to reading the text. For example, teachers might pre-teach some vocabulary that may otherwise block students access to the text or tell students something about the text genre (e.g., that it is a memoir or science article). A major role for teachers is to ask text-dependent questions. Text-dependent questions can only be answered by referring explicitly to the text. Answering these questions does not rely on any particular background information outside of the text. The questions engage students in interpretive processes, guiding them in how to think about the texts and enabling them to practice the type of attentive reading and thinking called for by the CCSS. (See section on Text-Dependent Questions on page 17 for more information.) Lessons created for close reading of text usually include a culminating task related to the core understanding, key ideas, or theme of the text. This task can help students consolidate their learning and demonstrate their understanding of the text. A culminating task will often engage students in a combination of ELA domains, such as reading, writing, and listening and speaking (e.g., giving an oral presentation to the class or writing an exposition about the text). Timothy Shanahan, an expert in literacy, teaching, and curriculum, recommends at least three readings of a text, in which the main purpose for each reading is aligned with the three main categories of the ELA Anchor Standards for Reading: Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. The guide, More on Planning for Close Reading & Text-Dependent Questions, in the Tools and Exemplars section of this resource provides a synopsis of Shanahan s approach. In close reading, teachers minimally introduce the text with the goal that students read and make sense of what the text says for themselves. However, Catherine Snow, a leading researcher in the field of literacy, cautions against what she calls cold close reading in which students read a text without any introductory activity that warms them to a topic or task, orients them, or cultivates enthusiasm. Snow (2013) writes that a collapse of motivation occurs when the selected text is too hard, too long, too full of unknown words or an unknown topic, and the reader quickly exhausts his or her initial willingness to struggle with it the reality of reading a text too hard is that it often results, not in productive struggle, but in destructive frustration (p. 19). Teachers will need to provide some motivator for students and an appropriate level of support (e.g., not too much, not too little) so as to engage them in close reading of challenging text. 2 For more information, visit Timothy Shanahan s blog at FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 5

6 SELECTING TEXT There are many factors to consider when selecting text for close reading, including reading purpose and text type.3 It is important to make sure that there is sufficient richness and complexity in a selected text to stimulate close reading. Students should read a variety of texts, but not every text can be, or needs to be, analyzed and examined in the deep manner required for close reading. Texts not selected for close reading can be used for other reading purposes, such as to help students increase reading fluency. Text used specifically for close reading should enable students to gain new insight into the text each time they read it, for example, because its structure and/or ideas are complex. According to Fisher and Frey (2012), texts that are instructionally worthwhile are those that: allow readers to reflect on themselves and their actions; invite them in the worlds of others; understand the biological, social, or physical world; or solve problems that are timely and important. Texts worthy of instruction also allow students to develop their literary prowess and become informed citizens. (p. 2) SELECTING TEXT TOOL An important step in selecting texts for close reading is to determine the level of challenge the text presents for students. The Selecting Text tool assists teachers in this process. 4 Factors to consider when determining the level of challenge for students include: age appropriateness of the text and likely interest of students, complexity of ideas, text and sentence structure, vocabulary difficulty, and length of the text. 5 A printable Selecting Text template for teacher use is included in the section, Tools and Exemplars. To illustrate what this tool might look like in use, an example from a narrative text Eleven (Cisneros, 1991) is provided below. An example of a completed Selecting Text tool for an informational text, Where Do Polar Bears Live? (Thomson, 2010), is also included in the section Tools and Exemplars. 3 The ELA & Literacy CCSS uses the term text type to categorize text into stories, poetry, and informational text. 4 This tool is adapted with permission from the Ministry of Education, New Zealand website, 19-April-2012/Framework-for-estimating-text-difficulty. 5 The writers of the ELA & Literacy CCSS have also developed a researched-based model of key dimensions to determine text complexity and appropriateness for students. For more information on these dimensions, see the Tools and Exemplars section of this resource. SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 6

7 EXAMPLE OF SELECTING TEXT TOOL Title and source: "Eleven" (excerpt of the short story from CCSS Appendix B) Author: Sandra Cisneros Grade Level and area: 7 th Grade, Reading Factors Affecting Text Challenge Age appropriateness Consider: word recognition demands (sight words & decoding) age of the main character(s) prior knowledge assumed by the text maturity required to deal with the themes familiarity of contexts, settings, and subject matter likely interests, motivation, and experiences of readers Notes The story uses mostly every day words, so there should be few issues with word recognition demands The narrator (main character) just turned 11, which is close to the age of the 7 th graders who will be reading this text Students will have familiarity with the idea of turning older (as they all have had birthdays), but they may not have considered what being older means as described by the narrator in the text The themes and content of the story are appropriate for 7 th graders; readers will likely be interested in the story, and some may have similar feelings and experiences compared to the narrator Complexity of ideas Consider: accessibility of the themes implied information or ideas (requiring readers to infer) irony or ambiguity abstract ideas metaphors and other figurative or connotative language technical information support from illustrations, diagrams, graphs, and so on The story s theme that a person is and can act all the years below her current age is an abstract idea; therefore: - Readers will need to infer what the narrator means as she describes her feelings of growing a year older Text is highly descriptive: The author uses figurative language (i.e., similes) to convey the narrator s thoughts and emotions There is some ambiguity as to who the narrator is and who she is speaking to (e.g., what they never tell you ) Structure and coherence of the text Consider: flashbacks or time shifts narrative point of view mixed text types connections across the text examples and explanations competing information length of paragraphs unattributed dialogue use of headings and subheadings The excerpted piece is a description of the narrator s thoughts and feelings, so it doesn t have a timeline of events (that will come later in the story) 1st person narrative point of view (i.e., narrator is speaking), but narrator occasionally addresses the reader/ audience by using the 2 nd person point of view (e.g., you ) The author uses many examples in her descriptions as a way to explain the narrator s thoughts and feelings Short paragraph lengths FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 7

8 Syntactic structure of the text Consider: sentence length the balance of simple, compound, complex, or incomplete sentences use of passive voice or nominalization repetition of words or phrases changes in verb tense There are a variety of sentence lengths found in the text, including sentence fragments The use/balance of sentence lengths is probably done to convey an informal tone (and perhaps to show the real time thoughts of the narrator) Repetition of words (e.g., "and" or "like") is stylistic and used to help set up the tone of the story as well as emphasize certain thoughts Vocabulary difficulty Consider: unfamiliar vocabulary technical and academic terms, non-english words, and proper nouns sentence-level and/or visual support contextual clues the use of a glossary or footnotes Overall, the story uses basic, everyday (social) vocabulary that most 7 th graders will know (no use of academic/ technical vocabulary, non-english words, or proper nouns) Some possible unique phrases (e.g., little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other or rings inside a tree trunk ) As mentioned, the author employs the use of figurative language to describe vividly the narrator s emotions Length of the text Excerpt is the first 5 paragraphs from the short story; this is a good chunk of text to use for close reading because the narrator is describing her feelings/emotions and reflecting on getting older (after the first 5 paragraphs, the story moves to events and dialogue) Estimated reading year level: 7 Notes: The text is written rather simply use of everyday vocabulary, relatively easy-to-understand sentence structure, and short paragraphs. However, the author employs figurative language and some ambiguity (in both the language and the ideas she is trying to convey). Also, the theme found in this excerpt is quite sophisticated. This combination simply written text with complex ideas makes this excerpt a good text to use for close reading. SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 8

9 Priming Text According to Shanahan, the main point of close reading is to situate the text at the center of the reading experience, focusing on what is important in the text in terms of what it says, how it works, and how it relates to other texts (personal communication, January 4, 2014). The purpose of priming the text is to enable teachers to become deeply familiar with what the text says; its purposes/themes, content, structure; and how these may relate to other texts. By priming the text, teachers can deeply understand the text themselves so that they can situate the text at the center of the students reading experience. The following sections present two tools to be used concurrently for priming the text. They are intended to help teachers gather information, summarize key features of the text, and identify their students abilities and interests in relation to the text. These tools are: Text Annotation Protocol Text Cover Sheet By using these tools, teachers are better able to clarify text meaning and formulate intended reading purposes, identify the different entry points into the text (anticipating challenges the text will pose to different students), think about ways in which to engage students with the important ideas and relationships described or implied by the author, and create text-dependent questions. TEXT ANNOTATION PROTOCOL Teachers use the Text Annotation Protocol in tandem with the Text Cover Sheet to gain a deeper understanding of the text they have selected to use with students during close reading and to guide their planning of the specific close reading process students will undertake during the lesson. 6 Like their students, teachers will need to read a text several times in the process of annotating it. This re-reading and annotating process can follow a few different procedures. Below is one approach to studying and annotating a text to prepare for students close reading. (This protocol is included as a handout in the Tools and Exemplars section of this resource.) The process delineated below is flexible; teachers should adapt it to their needs. 1) First, read to get the big picture of the text. Get a general sense of what the text is about, being sure to note aspects of the text that catch your attention. 2) Next, read through the text to note its major themes or ideas, levels of meaning, as well as the author s purpose (some of these concepts are more relevant to either literary or informational texts). 6 Information gathered in the Selecting Text tool may also be a helpful resource in priming the text. FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 9

10 3) On your third reading, annotate the text for types of language that the author uses, such as key words, types of sentence structures, visual components, and text cohesion strategies. 7 Note the reasons why the author uses these features in relation to the text s purpose or theme. Also annotate any images, or other forms of visual representation included with the text (e.g., data charts and diagrams accompanying science or social studies texts), noting the information they contain and the ways they may augment student understanding of the text. Look for the devices and features that stand out or are used repeatedly by the author. 4) Finally, read through the text a few more times with your students in mind. Based on what you have already noted and annotated, determine which aspects of the text you want your students to pay attention to. Also, make annotations about which aspects of the text may be challenging for specific individual students or groups of students (e.g., English learners). The annotations made in your final reading may end up being a synthesis of your earlier annotations of the text where you noted the author s use of language and sentence structure. ANNOTATION EXAMPLE To illustrate the Text Annotation Protocol, an example is provided below from an excerpt of the narrative text Eleven (Cisneros, 1991). The example shows annotations from a teacher s third reading in which she makes notes about the types of language that the author uses, such as key words, types of sentence structures, and text cohesion. The teacher also comments on the reasons why the author uses these features. Note that the information gathered from the teacher s first, second, and fourth readings of the text are recorded in the Text Cover Sheet (see page 12). Annotated examples (showing steps 3 and 4 from the Text Annotation Protocol) for an informational text, Where Do Polar Bears Live? (Thomson, 2010), are available in the Tools and Exemplars section. 7 For more information on text features and the annotation process, see the Text Study Guide for Teachers, which is found in the Tools and Exemplars section on page 27. SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 10

11 Ambiguous pronoun use (which refers to people); use of ambiguous pronoun adds to tone of passage Use of 2nd person point of view conveys an informal tone. Also, there is some ambiguity with its use: is the narrator addressing the reader, or is the narrator using "you" to talk about herself? Use of "like" here signals that narrator is giving (another) example regarding one of the main themes of the story (note the different use of "like" in Para. 5) Use of 1st person reveals narrator for the first time First 3 paragraphs lead up to one theme of the story (although theme may be obscured by analogies) Use of short sentences and fragments is stylistic use of sentence structure to help convey tone and emphasis Excerpt from Eleven by Sandra Cisneros (1991) (from CCSS Appendix B) What they don t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you re eleven, you re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don t. You open your eyes and everything s just like yesterday, only it s today. And you don t feel eleven at all. You feel like you re still ten. And you are underneath the year that makes you eleven. Like some days you might say something stupid, and that s the part of you that s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama s lap because you re scared, and that s the part of you that s five. And maybe one day when you re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you re three, and that s okay. That s what I tell Mama when she s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she s feeling three. Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That s how being eleven years old is. You don t feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don t feel smart eleven, not until you re almost twelve. That s the way it is. Complex sentence structure that contains several pieces of information Repeated use of and is stylistic (e.g., written to mimic oral language); conveys informal tone and pace as though character is speaking quickly Sentences in this paragraph support the details written in Para. 1 that a person is and acts all the years below her current age The use of "like" here is to signal the rhetorical device of similes (note the different uses of "like" in this excerpt; see first word in Para. 2) Variation in sentence structure in the paragraph makes it more (stylistically) interesting to read FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 11

12 TEXT COVER SHEET The Text Cover Sheet provides a space for teachers to identify and record for instructional purposes: (1) the standards addressed; (2) reading purposes and text content; and (3) text and language challenges and connections. Teachers concurrently fill out the Text Cover Sheet while annotating the text (using the process delineated above). After their first reading, teachers begin to fill in some fields of the Text Cover Sheet. It will likely take multiple readings to complete the Text Cover Sheet in order to come to a full understanding of the ideas or text structures presented in complex, advanced, or technical text (just like it would for students). If teachers have already completed the Selecting Text tool, this can also provide a valuable source of information for completing the Text Cover Sheet. AN EXAMPLE OF THE TEXT COVER SHEET To illustrate what a completed Text Cover Sheet might look like, an example is provided below from the narrative text, Eleven (Cisneros, 1991). Detailed descriptions of the fields included in the Text Cover Sheet follow the example. Available in the Tools and Exemplars section is a printable version of the template and a completed example for an informational text. Title of text: "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros ELA & Literacy Standards CCSS 7 th Grade Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.1) Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.2) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings. (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4) Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5) Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonym/antonym, analogy) to better understand each of the words. (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5b) Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions) (e.g., refined, respectful, polite, diplomatic, condescending). (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5c) Other Content-Related Standards Not Applicable Reading Purpose and Text Content Goals Understand the author s point the central idea of the text Analyze how the author structured the text and the effect of the text structure on conveying her point Analyze how the author communicates the point through imagery Understand the narrator s emotions and why she has those feelings Participate in collaborative discussions about text SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 12

13 Big Picture/Gist of text The narrator is a girl who just turned 11, but she doesn t feel 11 (or a year older). The excerpt describes the narrator s feelings about turning 11 and reflects on growing up. For the most part, the tone of the text is slightly melancholy, which may be somewhat surprising to a reader who may have a perception that birthdays are happy occasions. (Note: If students read the full text, the big picture will change slightly.) Text Purpose / Levels of Meaning Themes: (1) A person is and acts all the years below her current age (2) Reflections on growing up Birthdays are usually a happy/special day for people, but the narrator doesn t feel happy about her birthday as she should perhaps be; instead, she is reflective and a bit melancholy. The age of 11 has some meaning/significance in the story. It s the first year of a person s second decade of life, but it s still an age in which adults/society think is young (and somewhat not meaningful in terms of overall age). The narrator has feelings of being misunderstood, powerless, and not smart enough to be 11. (Note: If students read the full text, there will be more themes, main ideas, and levels of meaning to list in this section.) Text and Language Challenges and Connections Vocabulary Given that there are almost no academic words or technical words in this story, no vocabulary words need to be taught before students read the text. However, text-dependent questions should query students knowledge about the following words/ phrases: (Words/phrases that may be unfamiliar to ELs are noted with an *) Possible unfamiliar or unique phrases: little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other * rings inside a tree trunk * Stylistic use of familiar words (e.g., to convey uncertainty): maybe (repeatedly used) one day, some days Figurative language use: The simile like * Text Features and Structure Unconventional or stylistic use of varied sentence types conveys narrator s personality and voice and overall personal tone of the story, including: Short sentences or fragments, sometimes grouped together, such as: - And you don t feel eleven at all. You feel like you re still ten. - You don t feel eleven. Not right away." FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 13

14 Some complex sentences, including those: - Using and and or repeatedly for emphasis on the theme (i.e., a person is all the years below her current age), for example, when you re eleven, you re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. - Using like to extend a point by giving an example, such as you will need to cry like if you re three Related to complex sentences, words that extend sentence length, including: - Linking words like, because - what they, that s what Adverbial clauses, especially words that convey time, including: - when you wake up on your eleventh birthday - everything s just like yesterday, only it s today - underneath the year that makes you eleven - it takes a few day, weeks even, sometimes even months Discourse/text structure may seem informal and unconventional, but it can be typical of narrative texts, including: No clear paragraph structure or paragraphs that consist of only 1 sentence Plot structure Specific Knowledge Required Prior knowledge that will support the use of this text includes: Personal experiences: growing up/change Text Connections Texts related to content of the story: Birthdays (maybe a fictional narrative/memoir on happy memories of being a child around the age of 11 or a story about a child who is excited about her birthday) Texts related to the theme of the story: Growing up Texts related to style of writing found in the story: First-person narration (fictional and non-fictional [memoir]) vs. third-person narration SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 14

15 Detailed Descriptions for the Text Cover Sheet Fields ELA & Literacy CCSS The ELA & Literacy CCSS that will be addressed in the lesson using this text are recorded in this field. Recording the standards here also enables teachers to think of tasks that can be developed with the text to help students achieve the standards listed in this field. (Another resource in this series describes in detail the standard selection process.) Other Content-Related Standards There may also be content goals for the close reading lesson that are drawn from other standards. For example, teachers may want students to read a science text to expand their understanding of a science concept that is the current focus of their science learning. In this instance, the text-dependent questions a teacher creates will be guided by the science content standards. In this field, particular content standards that are addressed through the process of close reading would be included. Goals Reading and literacy goals for the close reading lesson are listed in this field. Lesson-level reading and literacy goals are derived from the ELA & Literacy CCSS. They address aspects of the Standards, define the close reading learning focus for the lesson, and, because they address goals at the lesson level, they are of a smaller grain size than the standards. For example, when reading a persuasive text, the reading goals may be to analyze the argument structure the author uses and how she uses evidence to support the argument; when reading a literary text, the goals may include examining paragraph structures and the role each paragraph plays in advancing the narrative. (Another resource in this series provides a detailed description of developing learning goals from standards.) In instances where a teacher has also identified other content-related standards for the lesson, she would also want to include content goals in this field (e.g., for science informational text). Big Picture/Gist of Text The primary purpose for filling out this field is to support teachers overall understanding of the text. Additionally, the information written here can help teachers think about what information to give to students that would promote their interest and enthusiasm about reading the text without giving away too much information. Text Purpose(s)/Levels of Meaning The information included in this field will be a helpful resource in creating text-dependent questions (see page 17 for information on text-dependent questions). The author s purpose(s) in informational texts may be explicitly stated or may be implicit, hidden, or obscured in the text. Literary texts can range from having a single meaning to having multiple levels of meaning. Vocabulary Teachers record the words/phrases in the text that may be: (1) challenging to their students or (2) critical for understanding the text. Teachers may want to categorize words/phrases in ways that inform their lesson, such as by words that: (1) are likely to block student access to the text and should, perhaps, be taught ahead of time; (2) are important and are defined explicitly in the text, so it would be good to query students about these words after a reading; (3) might be understood from context (another good questioning opportunity where teachers could ask why FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 15

16 these words were treated differently by the author); and (4) might be problematic for English learners. For literary texts specifically, teachers may want to note other categories as well, such as stylistic uses of familiar words and figurative language. Text Features and Structure Language features related to sentence and text structure (e.g., types of sentence structures, visual components, and text cohesion strategies) that may be challenging to their students and/or are features that are critical for understanding the text are recorded here. Teachers can note the reasons why the author uses these sentence and text structure features in relation to the text s purpose or theme. Understanding the sentence and text structure features may be critical to students comprehension of certain aspects of the text. See the Text Study Guide for Teachers for additional guidance. Specific Knowledge Required In this field, teachers can record specific knowledge that may be required of students to comprehend the text, such as familiarity with the text type, content, or context. While students should generally be able to make meaning of the text from only the content of the text (and any included graphics/images), there may be some information they need prior to, or during, reading to help them make better sense of the text and/or to increase their motivation to re-read the text. Text Connections Teachers ideas on how this text might connect with or relate to other texts that the students have read or will read later are recorded here. This information can be used to develop text-dependent questions, build or extend students schema (e.g., prior and/or background knowledge), and generate rich discussions among students. As mentioned earlier, the Text Annotation Protocol and Text Cover Sheet should be used in tandem so that together they inform teachers about the content and structure of the text and the purposes for using the text with students for close reading. The examples of these two tools in this resource show their interwoven nature. SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 16

17 Text-dependent questions Text-dependent questions are a central component of close reading. When developing text-dependent questions, teachers should draw on the knowledge they have gained from completing the previous tools in this resource: Selecting Text, Text Annotation Protocol, and Text Cover Sheet. The use of text-dependent questions is intended to guide students in how to think about what s important in the text in the message/information, in the style and structure, and how the text connects to other texts. Text-dependent questions are not simply literal questions about information and facts from the text. While these questions should be asked to ascertain students basic comprehension, text-dependent questions go beyond just asking about the surface ideas and details by also tapping into the craft, structure, and theme/purpose of the text as well as students evaluation and judgments of the text. Text-dependent questions require students to draw inferences from and make connections among the details and ideas of the text. Furthermore, it is important that text-dependent questions are based on important, not trivial, ideas from the text. According to the NEA (2013, p. 19), typical text-dependent questions will ask students to engage in the following tasks: Analyze paragraphs on a sentence-by-sentence basis and sentences on a word-by-word basis to determine the role played by individual paragraphs, sentences, phrases, or words Investigate how meaning can be altered by changing key words and why an author may have chosen one word over another Probe each argument in persuasive text, each idea in informational text, each key detail in literary text, and observe how these build to a whole Examine how shifts in the direction of an argument or explanation are achieved and the impact of those shifts Question why authors choose to begin and end as they do Note and assess patterns of writing and what they achieve Consider what the text leaves uncertain or unstated As there is no single, best way to develop text-dependent questions, teachers should use and adapt a process that works for their purposes and contexts. The next section describes one process that can help teachers think about and create text-dependent questions for any given text. Text-dependent questions guide There are various types of text-dependent questions that are aligned to different purposes in the close reading process. Here is an example of general text-dependent questions from Timothy Shanahan s What is Close Reading? article. 8 These questions can help guide teachers in creating more specific text-dependent questions for students to use during their close reading of a particular text. 9 A printable handout of these questions is available in the Tools and Exemplars section. 8 See 9 For more detailed information, see the handout More on Planning for Close Reading & Text Dependent Questions in the Tools and Exemplars section. FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 17

18 1 st reading: What is says. What is the text saying? 2 nd reading: How it says it. How did the author organize it? What literary devices were used and how effective were they? What was the quality of the evidence? If data were presented, how was that done? If any visual texts (e.g., diagrams, tables, illustrations) were presented, how was that done? Why did the author choose this word or that word? Was the meaning of a key term consistent or did it change across the text? 3 rd reading: What it means. What does this text mean? What was the author s point? What does it have to say to me about my life or my world? How do I evaluate the quality of this work aesthetically, substantively? How does this text connect to other texts I know? General follow-up questions for any of the text-dependent questions are: How do you know? What in the text tells you that? What s the evidence? As noted earlier, when creating text-dependent questions, teachers should refer to their previously completed tools from this resource. The goals of the lesson (from the Text Cover Sheet) should guide teachers in creating a coherent set or sequence of effective questions that facilitate students close reading. An Example To illustrate the use of the Text-Dependent Questions Guide, an example is provided below with the narrative text, Eleven (Cisneros, 1991). Text-dependent questions for the first reading are based on key ideas and details of the text. For the second reading, the questions focus on the style and structure of the text. Lastly, in the third reading, the questions are based on the theme and the students evaluation of the text. In this example, the teacher wrote down all the questions she thought could be used for this text. In a lesson, she may select a subset of the questions based on knowledge of her students, the context, and the purpose of the lesson. If the teacher needs more evidence of student thinking, she should ask one or more of the follow up questions listed above. SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 18

19 Text-Dependent Questions 1 st Reading What they don t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you re eleven, you re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don t. You open your eyes and everything s just like yesterday, only it s today. And you don t feel eleven at all. You feel like you re still ten. And you are underneath the year that makes you eleven. Like some days you might say something stupid, and that s the part of you that s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama s lap because you re scared, and that s the part of you that s five. And maybe one day when you re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you re three, and that s okay. That s what I tell Mama when she s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she s feeling three. Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That s how being eleven years old is. You don t feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don t feel smart eleven, not until you re almost twelve. That s the way it is. Who are they? Who does "you" refer to? Why doesn t the narrator feel like she s 11? What makes the narrator feel like she s still 10? What makes the narrator feel like she s 5? When does the narrator think that you act like you re 3? What does the narrator think being 11 is like? When does the narrator feel like she s really 11? How does the narrator feel about turning 11? Text-Dependent Questions 2 nd Reading What they don t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you re eleven, you re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don t. You open your eyes and everything s just like yesterday, only it s today. And you don t feel eleven at all. You feel like you re still ten. And you are underneath the year that makes you eleven. Like some days you might say something stupid, and that s the part of you that s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama s lap because you re scared, and that s the part of you that s five. And maybe one day when you re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you re three, and that s okay. That s what I tell Mama when she s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she s feeling three. Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That s how being eleven years old is. You don t feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don t feel smart eleven, not until you re almost twelve. That s the way it is. Why does the author use they without telling you exactly who they are? Why does the author use "you" throughout the text? Why does the author use the word and to begin these sentences? Why is and used so many times? What s the purpose of using this like at the beginning of the sentence? How is the word like being used in Para. 4? What s the author s purpose in using tree trunk and wooden dolls? Why does the author sometimes write short sentences here (and elsewhere in the passage), then sometimes write really long sentences? FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 19

20 Text-Dependent Questions 3 rd Reading What they don t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you re eleven, you re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don t. You open your eyes and everything s just like yesterday, only it s today. And you don t feel eleven at all. You feel like you re still ten. And you are underneath the year that makes you eleven. Like some days you might say something stupid, and that s the part of you that s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama s lap because you re scared, and that s the part of you that s five. And maybe one day when you re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you re three, and that s okay. That s what I tell Mama when she s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she s feeling three. Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That s how being eleven years old is. You don t feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don t feel smart eleven, not until you re almost twelve. That s the way it is. What are the themes of this text? What does this last sentence mean? How do you know that? How does this paragraph support the themes? How does the use of similes support the themes? What does being smart or stupid have to do with growing up? Do you agree with this point that the author makes? Text-Dependent Questions Cover Sheet For teachers who would like to have all their text-dependent questions organized together, they can write their questions on the Text-Dependent Questions Cover Sheet. A printable template of the cover sheet is provided in the Tools and Exemplars section. An example of an informational text using the Text-Dependent Questions Cover Sheet is also provided in that section. SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING CSAI 20

21 formative Assessment Formative assessment is the process in which teachers and students use ongoing evidence of learning to adjust instruction or learning tactics during a lesson or in immediate subsequent lessons. 10 Below is a synopsis of the formative assessment process: (1) Establishing clear Learning Goals for the lesson and associated Success Criteria; (2) Sharing Learning Goals and Success Criteria with students and making sure they understand what goals and criteria entail; (3) Planning strategies to elicit evidence of learning during the lesson (what students will say, do, make or write); (4) Interpreting the evidence as close to the actual time of the lesson as possible to make judgments about where students are in relation to the lesson Learning Goals; (5) Deciding on appropriate pedagogical action to move students learning closer to the desired goal; (6) Involving students in the process through peer and self-assessment. In close reading, student responses to text-dependent questions are the primary source of evidence teachers use to gauge how students are engaging with the text and the degree to which they are accomplishing the reading goals. For example, to gain information about where students are in relation to one of the goals for close reading of the text Eleven understand the narrator s emotions and why she has those feelings teachers will pay attention to student responses to the questions: Why doesn t the narrator feel like she s 11? What makes the narrator feel like she s still 10? What makes the narrator feel like she s 5? How does the narrator feel about turning 11? Interpreting responses will provide teachers with an indication of students current learning status with respect to the goal. With this information, teachers can decide on what deliberate act of teaching 11 to employ so as to move students closer to the goal. For example, modeling through a think-aloud, providing feedback, and prompting are some of the deliberate acts of teaching that teachers can use in response to evidence of student learning. When students are aware of the learning goals, they can also assess how well they are meeting the goal or provide feedback to their peers about their responses to the text-dependent questions. Of course, students need to be taught how to engage in both self-assessment and peer feedback. 10 The formative assessment process and its inclusion in lesson planning are introduced and explained in detail in earlier resources from of this series. 11 The deliberate acts of teaching are addressed in more detail in an earlier resource of this series. FROM THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM A SERIES OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 21