What Is Close Reading?
"Close Reading is a central focus of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). It requires students to get truly involved with the text they are reading. The purpose is to teach them to notice features and language used by the author. Students will be required to think thoroughly and methodically about the details in a text." Learning A-Z
"Close reading isn't the old "students read, teacher questions and evaluates" model. While it is initially modeled and then guided by a teacher, over time the teacher releases the responsibility of close reading to the student. Teachers help students determine how a text is organized, and understand the effect of the author's word choice in a certain passage. Close reading goes "deeper than the text". It mines what is under the surface of the words. Students eventually evaluate or critique what is written." Learning A-Z
Why Is Close Reading Important?
"Close reading teaches students to seek out micro-levels of understanding. It's more than being able to retell a story or provide a main idea or supporting details from a text. When students are taught to read a text closely they become more skilled at locating evidence within a sentence or a paragraph or a page of a text or story. Then orally or in writing, they can justify answers to text-dependent questions based on evidence. These are basic close reading skills as outlined by the Common Core English language arts Standards that every student must know to succeed in college and career.
As educators, we're concerned about students' lack of comprehension, especially of informational text. Today many students are barely grazing the surface of the text they read. They typically don't take the time to understand and make connections to the text. Close reading is being emphasized by the CCSS to ensure today's students dig deeper into the text, and start making those connections." Learning A-Z
The week before school started my family and I spent a week in Top Sail Island, NC. We rented a house right on the beach. My parents drove up from FL and joined us for a few days. The first day, my mom and I decided to take a walk on the beach. Not a leisurely stroll, but a fast paced brisk walk. As we walked we talked and caught up on life. We could see a pier further down the beach and kept our steady pace as we walked toward it. Along the way we saw children playing in the sand, had to slow down once or twice to dodge a game of catch or runaway frisbee, and occasionally we expressed our opinions and commented on some of the houses we saw along the way. After finally reaching our destination, we stopped and turned around to head back.
On the way back the walk was much different. We slowed our pace and looked at things from a different angle. We noticed that there a was a huge sand castle built to resemble a table with benches. People were sitting at this sand table playing cards and enjoying drinks. We stopped to talk to the owners of the sand table as did others who marveled at their creative use of sand. Further up the beach we slowed our pace as we saw several people gathered together looking down at the sand. They were all looking with intensity toward the sand which was covered with sediment that had been washed up by the tide. We looked to for a while, not exactly sure what we were looking at. After several minutes we continued on. During the last part of our walk we continued to look down, noticing all the beautiful treasures that had been washed up and left along the beach. Every once in a while we would stop and pick up a rock or shell we were attracted to. Just before arriving at our destination we came upon another man looking intently down towards the sand. Like earlier, there was sediment that had been washed on shore. This time our curiosity got the best of us and we decided to ask what he was looking for. The man held out his handand showed it to us, it was full of small little black specs. Pieces of shell? What's so big about that?
What we learned that day was that those small black pieces were shark's teeth. We stayed for a few minutes and tried to look for some our selves. The first few I picked up were not actually teeth, but infact were shells. The man explained to us what to look for and how to check with a few simple tests, if it was a tooth or a shell. He handed me one to keep so I could use it as a reference. We stayed for a while until we felt ready to move on and look for them on our own down the beach.
As the week went on, we looked closer at the sand with purpose each time we walked the beach . Some days we found treasures hidden along the sand and dunes, other times we had to dig a little deeper into the sand for treasures. At the end of our vacation we had a bucket filled with rocks, shells, and pieces of sea glass. Before heading home, we sifted through the bucket to find the treasures that were worth keeping and tossed the rest back onto beach.
Close Reading resembles my walk along the beach. The first time reading through text, should be for pleasure, but If you read too fast you miss out on all the hidden treasures that are left for you to find. The second time through, students are asked to stop, look, and think about the text. Look for clues that the author has left, I call it reading between the lines. Students will start to see patterns, find treasures, and dig deeper into the authors craft, just as we did on the beach.
Close reading requires us to not only stop and think, but to ask questions. If I had not stopped to ask that man what he was looking for, I never would have learned about shark teeth. Students are encouraged to learn from each other, share their thinking with others, and prove it by citing evidence from the text. Just like the shells, we can not pick up and keep everything we find while reading. Students will need to learn how to sift through to find only the pieces that are important to the text. Each book is filled with hidden treasure left behind for them to find.
Learning how to dig deeper and read closer, will require lots of modeling and practice, but I am confident they will leave third grade with a bucket FULL of treasures and all the necessary tools they need to continue this task of Close Reading on their own.
Next summer, while you are at the beach, be sure to Look Closer and Dig a little Deeper. You may just find yourself a shark's tooth!
Happy Reading!