Text Complexity and Close Reading

Doug FisherContact me at www.fisherandfrey.com

Videos on our FisherandFrey YouTube Channel

To identify the essential components of close reading (RL/RI 1) of complex texts (RL/RI 10) which includes collaborative conversations (S & L 1) and writing from sources (W 1), fostering language development (L 6) and deeper thinking.

Purpose

10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Assessing Texts

• Quantitative measures• Qualitative values• Task and Reader considerations

Assessing Texts

• Quantitative measures• Qualitative values• Task and Reader considerations

• Background• Prior• Cultural• Vocabulary

• Standard English• Variations• Register

• Genre• Organization• Narration• Text Features• Graphics

• Density and Complexity

• Figurative Language

• PurposeLevels of Meaning Structure

Knowledge Demands

Language Convention and Clarity

Levels of Meaning and Purpose

• Density and complexity

• Figurative language

• Purpose

Levels of Meaning and Purpose

Is it about talking animals, or the USSR?

Is it entertainment, or political satire?

Is it straightforward, or ambiguous?

1370LGrades 11-12

530LGrades 2-3

Author’s Purpose• Allegory for tolerance• Mirrored events of early Civil

Rights movement (1961)

“Now, the Star-Belly SneetchesHad bellies with stars.The Plain-Belly SneetchesHad none upon thars. Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so smallYou might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all..”But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly SneetchesWould brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!’And whenever they met some, when they were out walking,They’d hike right on past them without even talking.”

730LGrades 2-3

Complex themes • Relationship

between love and pain

• Masculinity• Loyalty and war

Structure

• Genre

• Organization

• Narration

• Text features and graphics

Structure

Changes in narration, point of view

Changes in font signal narration changes

Complex themes

560LGrades 2-3

870L (grades 4-5)

• Stream of consciousness narration

• Unreliable narrators

• Nonlinear structure

• Time shifts written in italics

Structure

Language Conventions

• Standard English and variations

• Register

Language Conventions

Non-standard English usage

“Out in the hottest, dustiest part of town is an orphanage run by a female person nasty enough to scare night into day. She goes by the name of Mrs. Sump, though I doubt there ever was a Mr. Sump on accounta she looks like somethin’ the cat drug in and the dog wouldn’t eat.”

(Stanley, 1996, p. 2) AD 660L (Adult-directed)

Knowledge Demands

• Background knowledge

• Prior knowledge

• Cultural knowledge

• Vocabulary

Knowledge Demands

Domain-specific vocabulary (radioactive, acidity, procedure, vaccination)

Background knowledge (diseases, safety risks, scientific experimentation)

1100LGrades 6-8

1010LGrades 6-8

Cultural Knowledge Demands

• Buddhist philosophy• Search for spiritual

enlightenment• Eightfold Path to Nirvana

1. 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.

Creating a Close Reading

Use a short passage

Creating a Close Reading

Use a short passage

Re-reading

Different Readings Have Different Foci

Initial reads of the textWhat does the text say?

After at least one readingHow does the text work?

Later readings of the text or related texts

What does the text mean?

Shanahan, 2013

Creating a Close Reading

Use a short passage

Re-reading

“Read with a pencil”

• Underline the major points. • Circle keywords or phrases that are confusing or

unknown to you.• Use a question mark (?) for questions that you have

during the reading. Be sure to write your question. • Use an exclamation mark (!) for things that surprise

you, and briefly note what it was that caught your attention.

• Draw an arrow ( ) ↵ when you make a connection to something inside the text, or to an idea or experience outside the text. Briefly note your connections.

• Mark EX when the author provides an example.• Numerate arguments, important ideas, or key

details and write words or phrases that restate them.

Creating a Close Reading

Use a short passage

Re-reading

“Read with a pencil”

Text-dependent questions

Types of Text-dependent Questions

Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual Connections

Inferences

Author’s Purpose

Vocab & Text Structure

Key Details

General UnderstandingsPart

Sentence

Paragraph

Entire text

Across texts

Word

Whole

Segments

Creating a Close Reading

Use a short passage

Re-reading

“Read with a pencil”

Text-dependent questions

Give students the chance to struggle a bit

General Understandings

• Overall view • Sequence of

information• Story arc• Main claim and

evidence• Gist of passage

General Understandings in Kindergarten

Retell the story in order using the words beginning, middle, and end.

Key Details

• Search for nuances in meaning

• Determine importance of ideas

• Find supporting details that support main ideas

• Answers who, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many.

Key Details in Kindergarten

• How long did it take to go from a hatched egg to a butterfly?

• What is one food that gave him a stomachache? What is one food that did not him a stomachache?

It took more than 3 weeks. He ate for one week, and then “he stayed inside [his cocoon] for more than two weeks.”

• Chocolate cake• Ice cream• Pickle• Swiss cheese• Salami• Lollipop• Cherry pie• Sausage• Cupcake• watermelon

Foods that did not give him a stomachache

• Apples• Pears• Plums• Strawberries• Oranges• Green leaf

Foods that gave him a stomachache

Vocabulary and Text Structure• Bridges literal and inferential

meanings• Denotation• Connotation• Shades of meaning• Figurative language• How organization

contributes to

meaning

Vocabulary in Kindergarten

How does the author help us to understand what cocoon means?

There is an illustration of the cocoon, and a sentence that reads, “He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself.”

• Genre: Entertain? Explain? Inform? Persuade?

• Point of view: First-person, third-person limited, omniscient, unreliable narrator

• Critical Literacy: Whose story is not represented?

Author’s Purpose

Author’s Purpose in Kindergarten

Who tells the story—the narrator or the caterpillar?

A narrator tells the story, because he uses the words he and his. If it was the caterpillar, he would say I and my.

Inferences

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.

Inferences in Kindergarten

The title of the book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. How do we know he is hungry?

The caterpillar ate food every day “but he was still hungry.” On Saturday he ate so much food he got a stomachache! Then he was “a big, fat caterpillar” so he could build a cocoon and turn into a butterfly.

Opinions, Arguments, and Intertextual Connections

• Author’s opinion and reasoning (K-5)• Claims• Evidence• Counterclaims• Ethos, Pathos, Logos• Rhetoric

Links to other texts throughout the grades

Opinions and Intertextual Connections in Kindergarten

NarrativeIs this a happy story or a

sad one? How do you know?

InformationalHow are these two books

similar? How are they different?

Differences Between K-2 and 3-12?In K-2, teacher

reads aloud initially,

annotates wholly or

guides student annotation.

Students may or may not

eventually read independently, depending on text difficulty

(e.g., Wizard of Oz in

Kindergarten.)

In 3-12, students read

independently beginning with

first reading, and annotate with

increased independence. Readers who

cannot initially read

independently may be read to,

or may encounter the text

previously during scaffolded small group reading instruction.

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