Close Reading with Helen Keller

A couple of months ago I posted a lesson using "close reading" with my fifth graders. You can find that lesson here. The Common Core really emphasizes challenging students with "complex" texts. This was the first time I had tried the "close reading" technique, and I really enjoyed the lesson structure. I still had doubts about how this type of lesson would work with younger grades. I decided to try "close reading" with my third graders using texts about Helen Keller.

To begin with, I chose three different texts about Helen Keller in a variety of reading levels. First, students read the most complex text: People Who Made a Difference: Helen Keller. Since I wanted students to write notes in the book, I made paper copies of the book. The first time students read the book, they read the entire book independently. The point of this "close reading" strategy is to allow students to attempt the reading on their own first, without frontloading any background knowledge. While they read, students filled out the graphic organizer below. (Click on the image for your own copy!) This graphic organizer has students fill out what they learned, hard words they knew, and hard words they didn't know.

When finished, students shared what they wrote, and I asked several discussion questions. Then we moved on to the "easy" text. I chose a paper book by Scholastic. With this book, I modeled underlining important parts and taking notes in the margins. Students did this along with me.

After this modeling, students read the "medium" level text independently and took their own notes. (They really wanted to use crayons to underline for some reason!)

When finished, students shared what they underlined and the notes they took. I also asked several discussion questions. By this point, students had gained a substantial amount of background knowledge about Helen Keller. Now they were ready to try the "complex" text again. Students reread the most complex text and added more information to the graphic organizer. 

Students shared what they added to their graphic organizers, and we discussed how much our knowledge had improved. Overall, the students did an amazing job. I now believe that the "close reading" technique works with younger graders. In fact, this lesson showed me that I am coddling my students way too much. They were very unhappy when I wouldn't answer any of their questions with the most complex text!

It also helped that my students were fascinated by Helen Keller. She truly is a remarkable woman, and my students developed a great appreciation for her. One thing they were unfamiliar with was Braille. I ordered some free samples from the Library of Congress for them to keep. (Click on the image for a link to order your own.)

After the close reading lesson, we also completed a cause and effect activity in our reader's notebooks. I gave students the causes, and together we identified the effects. If you would like your own copy of the activity and answers, click the images below.

Are there any particular historical figures that your students are fascinated by?

Adventures in Close Reading

For awhile now, I have been hearing the buzz words "close reading" being thrown around. Soon enough my curiosity got the best of me, and I figured I would get to the bottom of just exactly what this "close reading" is.

I have been playing around on Twitter and getting all setup with that, so I decided to tweet the International Reading Association and ask them for some recommendations. They told me to start with Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading.

The book focused primarily on explaining what a "complex" text is. They had this pretty neat graphic, which you may have seen in the Common Core.

Basically, to decide if a text is "complex" you look at quantitative elements - such as a lexile, qualitative elements - like story structure, and what you know about the reader.

The book showed a few examples of a "close reading" lesson. The big point here is that you need to let the students struggle, as opposed to giving them too much help. This is actually really hard, but I found that you get used to it. 

Now comes the fun part. Here is my first attempt at a "close reading" lesson. This lesson was used with a group of fifth graders. I decided to focus on the topic of hurricanes. For the first article I picked Taming the Storm. (Click to grab a copy if you have an ebsco login.)

Since this was a pretty challenging text for my fifth graders, I had them fill out the following graphic organizer to keep them focused on the information. (Click on the image below for a copy!) This form is based on a similar one designed by Diane Lapp, one of the authors of the book I discussed above.

After they read the text independently, I asked my students several questions. These questions focused on the author's writing style, questions requiring students to draw conclusions, and complex explanations of how hurricanes form. I took note of what students struggled with.

Next, I used a much simpler text about hurricanes to model how to analyze a text. For this part of the lesson I used Storms (National Geographic Windows on Literacy). As I read the text aloud, I underlined important concepts and took notes in the margins to demonstrate my thinking. 

Then, students independently read a "medium" level text. (in between the levels of the two other texts) For this part I chose After the Storm. (Click for a copy with ebsco login.) As they read, students were asked to underline key ideas and make their own notes in the margins. (Just as I had modeled with the previous text)

After reading this text, I asked discussion questions in the same style as with the first text. Students explained what notes they took in the margins and what important ideas they underlined. They did a great job really reading with a critical eye.

For the final part of the lesson, students reread the original, most challenging text, and I asked the same discussion questions from the beginning. We talked about how their thinking had changed and grown. I have to say, I was extremely impressed. "Close reading" is an extremely powerful technique, and I plan to use it much more in the future! Is anyone else using this technique? How do you implement "close reading" in your instruction?