2. Close Reading in Musical Theatre
Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening in the Arts
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3. Workshop Goals Today we will…
Understand the increased text complexity demands of the CCSS and the value of teaching students to read closely in ELA and the arts
Make connections between the CCSS, VAPA standards, and close reading
Experience a close read
Practice the steps for planning a close read
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4. CCSESA Arts Initiative’s Vision
“Visual and performing arts are an integral part of a comprehensive curriculum and essential for learning in the 21st century.”
CCSESA (2014)
Integrating Arts Learning with the
Common Core State Standards
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5. CCSESA Arts Initiative
Eight Principles
Enriched and affirming learning environments
Empowering pedagogy
Challenging and relevant curriculum
High-quality instructional resources
Valid and comprehensive assessment
(continues)
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6. CCSESA Arts Initiative
Eight Principles (continued)
High-quality professional preparation and support
Powerful family and community engagement
Advocacy-oriented administrative and leadership systems
CCSESA (2014)
Integrating Arts Learning with the
Common Core State Standards
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7. CCSESA Arts Initiative Website
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8. Warm Up What do the following books have in common?
Oliver Twist by C. Dickens
Little House on the Prairie by L. Ingalls Wilder
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by M. Twain
Record your thoughts and be prepared to share.
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9. Surprise! 640 L 760 L 680 L Lexile Measure Lexile Measure
Retrieved from
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10. College and Career Readiness
CCR Reading Anchor Standard 10
Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
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11. Three-Part Model for Measuring Text Complexity
Levels of meaning,
structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands
Readability measures and other scores of text complexity
© Copyright National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)
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12. Upward Shift in Lexile Ranges
Fisher (2014)
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13. What Makes Text Complex?
Qualitative Dimensions
Levels of Meaning or Purpose
Structure
Language Conventionality and Clarity
Knowledge Demands
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14. CCSS Appendix A: Text Complexity
Browse the four qualitative factors of text complexity from Appendix A.
Consider the continuum of difficulty within each factor.
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15. Close, Attentive Reading
“Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature. They habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally.”
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers (2010) Common Core State Standards for ELA/Literacy
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16. Study the CCSS for ELA/Literacy
Reading Standards
Study the CCSS for ELA/Literacy: Reading Standards for your grade level/span or content area.
Highlight standards that require close reading of text and/or citing evidence from text.
Calculate the percentage of reading standards that require close reading of text.
Share your highlights with a partner and “support your claim.”
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17. Integrating the Arts
“When the arts are integrated, learning is experienced in a variety of ways, allowing every student to be successful in various content areas.”
Donovan & Pascale (2012)
Integrating the Arts Across Content Areas
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18. Integrating the Standards
VAPA and CCSS Reading Strand
Read the VAPA Standards in the Component Strand 1.0 Artistic Perception—Theatre for your grade level/span.
Highlight the words and phrases that tell what students are expected to know and do for each standard.
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19. Quick and Easy Access to CA’s CCSS Standards
ELA/Literacy, ELD, and Math
On Your iPhone® or iPad® Available on the App Store
On Your Android™ Available on Google Play™ (Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc.)
At Your Desktop
On Your Smartphone
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20. eStandards Keyword Search
Launch the eStandards app
Select CCSS ELA & Literacy
Select Grade Level Standards
Select All Grades
Enter keyword, select All Strands
Keywords: vocabulary, plot, theme, pacing, mood, metaphor
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21. What Does It Mean to Read Closely?
“Close reading of text involves an investigation of a short piece of text, with multiple readings done over multiple instructional lessons. Through text-based questions and discussion, students are guided to deeply analyze and appreciate various aspects of the text, such as key vocabulary and how its meaning is shaped by context; attention to form, tone, imagery and/or rhetorical devices; the significance of word choice and syntax; and the discovery of different levels of meaning as passages are read multiple times.”
Brown & Kappes (2012)
A Primer on Close Reading of Text
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22. Close Reading in Drama
“One way to deeply study works of art in different disciplines is to examine multiple renditions of the same work. Perhaps the most obvious example is drama. Students can study closely a specific act or scene, and then observe how it has been played by different directors and actors. The Core Standards in Literacy require that students can compare the evidence they see in the script, and observe how different productions draw and interpret the script.”
David Coleman (n.d.)
Guiding Principles for the Arts, Grades K–12
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23. Features of Close Reading
Short, worthy passages
Students rereading
Limited frontloading
Text-dependent questions
Read and annotate
After-reading tasks
Fisher & Frey (2013)
Rigorous Reading
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24. Types of Text-Dependent Questions
Opinions, Arguments,
Intertextual Connections
Inferences
Author’s Craft & Purpose
Vocabulary & Text Structure
Key Details
General Understandings
Whole
Across texts
Entire text
Segments
Paragraph
Sentence
Word
Part
Fisher & Frey (2013)
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25. Types Defined
Browse the “Text-Dependent Questions” document from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Note the definition of each type of text-dependent question.
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26. Instructor Model
“We are going to continue in our study of ‘Transformation’ by closely reading lyrics from the musical Wicked.”
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27. Participate in a Close Read
Read the lyrics to “Defying Gravity” from the musical Wicked.
Annotate the text:
Underline major points
Circle unclear words and phrases
In your own words, write notes in the margins restating the author’s ideas
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28. General Understanding
With a partner, discuss:
Who is singing these lyrics?
Based on the first and third stanzas, what do you think has happened?
Without yet knowing who Glinda is, what can you say about her character’s role in what has happened?
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29. Key Details With a partner, discuss:
What concerns does Elphaba have about venturing out on her own?
What details in the lyrics support your answer?
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30. Reread: Deeper Focus Circle up in groups of six.
Each person in the circle reads one stanza aloud. Add pauses, inflections, intonations, and emphasis (prosody) to the text.
How does this change your initial understandings of the lyrics?
Add to your annotations.
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31. Vocabulary With your table group, discuss:
What does Elphaba mean when she states, “Some things I cannot change; But till I try I’ll never know”?
What is the tone of the lyrics? What words and phrases support your claim?
Add to your annotations.
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32. Structure Read the lyrics within the context of the script.
With your table group, discuss:
How does this change or strengthen your understanding of what is happening to the main character, Elphaba?
Add to your annotations.
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33. Structure
Read the stage directions within the script and consider Elphaba’s point of view.
How do the stage directions help make the lyrics in the final stanza so memorable?
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34. Inferences With your table group, discuss:
To whom is Elphaba referring when she states, “To those who’d ground me; Take a message back from me”?
What other parts of the lyrics or script support your claim?
Add to your annotations.
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35. Opinion
Choose one line from the lyrics that best conveys what you know so far about Elphaba as a character and her transformation.
Be prepared to “perform” that line for your group.
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36. Diverse Text Types Video: The Wizard of Oz, 1939
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37. Diverse Text Type
Using your knowledge of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, explain the juxtaposition between the film version of the Wicked Witch of the West and Elphaba from Wicked.
Add to your annotations.
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38. Intertextual Connections
Video: Dr. Maya Angelou recites “And I Still Rise”
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39. Intertextual Connections
What comparisons can you make between the poem, the lyrics, and Elphaba’s character?
What contrasts can you make?
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40. Culminating Tasks What is the role of choice in transformation?
After reading and discussing the lyrics to “Defying Gravity,” create a tableau, collage, or monologue that defines the consequences, positive and negative, of Elphaba’s decision to transform herself.
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41. Reflect on the Model Consider the following prompt:
What changed your idea of the lyrics over the course of the close reading model?
Be prepared to share.
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42. Extension Ideas Read an accompanying excerpt from the book Wicked.
Listen to the song “Defying Gravity”
Watch the Tony Awards performance of “Defying Gravity” on YouTube
Closely read other related text with same theme
Closely read other parts of the script that support theme and give deeper meaning
Compare/contrast a unit of study when transformation is not a choice
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43. Key Considerations Different readings have different foci
Questions we ask the readers during the readings are a scaffold
Direct students to update annotations
Include collaborative conversation
Listen to students to figure out how and when to move on with lesson
End with a task aligned to the big idea of the text/unit
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44. Creating a Close Reading
Choose a short, worthy passage
If there’s a staple, it’s too long!
Plan for re-reading
Where’s the evidence?
Different foci for each read
Limit front-loading and preteaching vocabulary
Give students the chance to struggle a bit
Design text-dependent questions
Part to whole
Require students to “read with a pencil”
Independently read and annotate
Incorporate after-reading tasks
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45. Annotation: Some Suggestions
Underline the major points.
Circle words 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.
(continues)
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46. Annotation: Some Suggestions (continued)
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.
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47. Ideas for After-Reading Tasks
Connected to the Arts
Write a monologue
Create a piece of visual art
Represent the topic/subject through a tableau
Reenact a scene
Make a connection to another piece of music/play/movie
Write a song/poem
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48. Support for During- and After-Reading Tasks
Literacy Design Collaborative— Writing task templateswww.ldc.org/how-ldc-works/modules/what-task
Musial Theatre Internationalhttp://
CCSESA Arts Initiative Websitehttp://
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49. Connect to the Classroom
Opinions, Arguments,
Intertextual Connections
Inferences
Author’s Craft & Purpose
Vocabulary & Text Structure
Key Details
General Understandings
Whole
Across texts
Entire text
Segments
Paragraph
Sentence
Word
Part
Fisher & Frey (2013)
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50. Planning for Your Classroom
Review the 5-day lesson Plan for Wicked.
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51. Planning for Your Classroom
Locate the scripts for West Side Story and The Little Mermaid.
Choose one of these songs to plan a close read for your classroom:
West Side Story, “Something’s Coming”
The Little Mermaid, “Part of Your World”
Participate in a guided planning process.
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52. CCSS Resources
Common Core State Standards Initiative
California’s Common Core State Standards
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
Achieve the Core