Day 1: Close Reading with Joy

[Notes from a session with Christopher Lehman]

Twitter Chats:
#angchat (Monday nights twitter chat)
#FILWCloseReading  (Conversation around the book Falling in Love with Close Reading)


Philosophical Stance: Don't just start with asking what it is and how to do it, start by asking, "Why?"

Things that we care about deeply, we tend to study very carefully. We study loved ones very closely, and we know things about them that others don't know.

When we are working with kids, we need to make sure we show the purpose behind close reading--really caring about something.

This is a really natural thing to do. Our little ones use their whole bodies to explore things. If we do it right, be can build on to the natural curiosity in the world. Hold on to purposes that are bigger than ourselves (and bigger than career, college, and life readiness and bigger than performance standards).

Close Reading is when a reader independently stops at moments in a text (or media or life) to reread and observe the choices an author has made. He or she reflects on those observations to reach for new understandings that can color the way the rest of the book is read (or song heard or life lived) and thought about. [From Blog-a-thon Post 1: What Close Reading Isn't (Or At Least Shouldn't Be)]

There are some versions of close reading where it is so teacher-heavy that no kid could ever learn to do this. 7 steps of close reading can result in nothing happening!

Google: close reading blog-a-thon

You are rereading a part of a text, such as a small part of a chapter in a novel, then read on keeping any new ideas in mind.

Bottom Lines for Close Reading:

• If you are worried about test scores, one thing that is helpful to bring back to policymakers is that the #1 indicator of test performance is reading level. (If you are far below grade level, there is a 90% chance that you won't pass the test.)  Read level REALLY REALLY matters.
• In the research community, there are several established practices that can move reading levels up:
• Reading. You only get good at the things that you do. To remain on-grade level, research shows an hour of independent reading (in books that you can read well) per day is required. For kids that are far below, that time changes to two hours per day. We have to work to find ways to give kids MORE time reading.
• Time in texts you can read well. In the example we read where 20% of the words were unknown, we were unable to talk about the text. Imagine what your relationship to reading would be if this is how you read all the time. Kids need access to texts they can read with high percentage of accuracy. If kids stay in a book they can read with only 80% accuracy, their reading level will actually drop.
• Research shows there are several times reading levels drop:
• 1. Summer.
• 2. Reading levels dropped during nonfiction studies. (It's not because of NF. It's often because NF is too hard for kids to read, or kids weren't reading with enough volume.)
• 3. During test prep. (This is actually anti-test prep!) During test prep, we have kids practice reading at levels that aren't just-right. Test preparation is the good reading and writing work that will prepare kids to be prepared.
• Engagement. It's not just a thing, it's the ONLY thing. If you don't care about the thing you are working on, you won't try that hard. Give kids choice around the types of text they are reading and can read well.
• Being able to show your thinking. This is critical for reading instruction. This might look like partner conversations. It might be having kids write about their reading.

Structures:

• Some control over what we do with the time we have. We show what we value by decisions we make with the time.
• National average: 42 minutes for reading workshop
• Mini lesson: 5-10 min.
• Independent reading: (Some kids might need more emergent structures, meaning the reading might be broken up more, including shared reading, guided reading, partner reading, etc.)
• Teacher: 1-on-1 conferring, Small group instruction (guided reading, strategy lessons, assessment, etc.)
• Time for kids to get feedback on their work
• Teaching share/partner time
• Another time in the day: Read aloud and/or Word Work: 20 minutes
• There should be a sense of urgency. It should feel like there is way too much to do with the time they have. They should have several books.

What Close Reading Shouldn't Be

• Using close reading in a way that ends up torturing kids. 
• Rereading a book to the point that you kill it. It can't be something we do TO kids just because. It needs to be in response to what kids need. It needs to be something kids can choose to use (or not to use). 
• Nowhere in the standards does it say that you need to do close reading. Nowhere.

What Close Reading Could Be

• Highly engaging and joyful as possible
• MUST lead to student independence. It must be transferrable. (The goal is to get them to NOT need us as much).
• Part of a balanced diet of reading instruction.
• Considered a method in your--and your students'--toolbox.
• Include both school life and real world. 
• Transfer not just to reading, but to writing too. 
• A set of skills we need to bring to media. Help kids be better consumers of media.
• A set of skills that can help us interact better with others.

Teaching Close Reading to Kids

• Upper grades: Help kids independently analyze (text, media, and life)
• Early elementary: Help kids build emergent close reading habits. One that could make a big difference: pausing. Stop! And think!

Ritual: Goal is to help kids hold on to some steps that they could apply themselves.

Teach kids to have that "hold on" moment, that moment of curiosity or wonder where kids stop to look closer.

Early Elementary	Upper Elementary
A “HOLD ON!” Moment	A “HOLD ON!” Moment
1. Pick a Lens to reread	1. Pick a Lens to reread
2. Use lens to Notice details	2. Use lens to find Patterns
3. Wonder        …or…	3. Develop an Understanding

Early Elementary: (Young kids are great at taking on a persona. "I'm a pirate!" And suddenly, they are a pirate!)

Purposes	Personas (with props?)
Figure it Out (ex:I don’t know what these words mean, what is going on, etc.)	Investigator (magnifying glass)
Want to Make That (If you are trying to make your own picture book after reading a picture book)	Engineer
Compare	Friend

Have built-in purpose and make it joyful!

Foundational Lenses to read closely: 

Read for...

• Text Evidence
• Word Choice
• Structure

Foundational Lenses lead to...

• Argument
• Point of View
• Cross Text Analysis
• Fluid Close Reading

Try it Out! (Early elementary example)

Read like an Investigator.

Song: Everything is Awesome (through the first rap).

Investigator
Let’s look closely
I notice	Details other might miss
I wonder/understand	Why? What is it?

We have to be careful that we are balancing difficulty of the text with the difficulty of the strategy.

Let’s look at “Everything is Awesome!” from the Lego movie.

1. Let’s listen to the song. What are parts of this that you want to look at closely? Notice things we could return to. (On purpose, he doesn’t show lyrics the first time.

2. Look at the lyrics. Find the part you were interested in, and try to find something that others might not notice.

Upper Grades Example:

Text Evidence
Lenses	text evidence
Patterns	comparisons
Understandings

1. Read with a Lens: Things that are awesome (according to the song, not just to us)

Look for evidence, pull it outside of the text and list it. Pull out only the lens we are looking for.

Running list of things that are awesome (according to the song)

• everything
• part of a team
• living our dream
• side by side
• win forever
• party forever
• being the same
• harmony
• lost my job
• dipping in chocolate frostin'
• stepping in mud

2. What fits together? Describe them in some way.

living our dream, win forever, party forever, harmon  (These are over the top wonderful)

part of a team, side by side, being the same (These relate to cooperation)

being the same, lost my job, chocolate  (Negative things that are trying to be positive; insane)

Weird conflict between very positive things and weird things.

There might be more going on with this text. What messages are they sharing? Is this narrator trustworthy or not?