Close Reading Strategies
S.C.O.U.T. and 3T
What is Close Reading?It requires the reader to get truly involved with
the text they are reading.
The purpose is to teach students to notice features and language used by the author.
Strategy 1 – S.C.O.U.T.S: Specifics
C: Comparisons
O: Organization
U: Unusual
T: Theme Examples
SpecificsLocations
Characters
Time
Words (Syntax)
Choice of Details
ComparisonsSymbols
Metaphors
Imagery
Allusions
OrganizationSequential
What comes first and what comes lastWhat was important enough to present first?What impact does leaving the last fact have on the
overall piece?
Spatial – Syntax RepetitionContrastQuestions like, “Why is this paragraph or sentence
so short or so long in comparison to others?”
UnusualNoticing when things are different than you
expected them to be
Glitches in the matrix that are the breadcrumbs that lead down a potentially interesting rabbit hole.
Theme ExamplesWhat adds to the development of or examples of
theme?QuotesSymbolsPlot eventsMotifsCharacters
“This is Just to Say”1. I have eaten the plums that were in2. the icebox3. and which4. you were probably5. saving6. for breakfast7. Forgive me8. they were delicious9. so sweet10. and so cold
SCOUT Practice
3 T TOPIC
TONE
THEME
TopicBasic comprehension (Lit and Art):
VocabularySettingSituationChoice of DetailsCharactersSubjectColorLineSubject
ToneTone: the author’s attitude towards the subject
and the audience
Examples:Tongue-in-cheekPlayful IronicDespondent
Leaves the audience with a palpable emotion
ThemeThere is a thesis made, a push back by the
audience and society, and then a synthesis of understanding
Topic is what the story is about, but Theme is what the story is REALLY aboutThe difference between the denotation and
connotation
“The Young Who Want to” by Marge Piercy
1.Talent is what they say you have after the novel is published and favorably reviewed. Beforehand what you have is a tedious delusion, a hobby like knitting. 2.Work is what you have done after the play is produced and the audience claps. Before that friends keep asking when you are planning to go out and get a job. 3. Genius is what they know you had after the third volume of remarkable poems. Earlier they accuse you of withdrawing, ask why you don't have a baby, call you a bum.
4.The reason people want M.F.A.'s, take workshops with fancy names when all you can really learn is a few techniques, typing instructions and some-body else's mannerisms 5.is that every artist lacks a license to hang on the wall like your optician, your vetproving you may be a clumsy sadistwhose fillings fall into the stewbut you're certified a dentist.6. The real writer is onewho really writes. Talentis an invention like phlogistonafter the fact of fire.Work is its own cure. You have tolike it better than being loved.
Practice