2. 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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3. PARTICIPATE IN A CLOSE READ
Read the lyrics to “Alone in the Universe” from Seussical the Musical
With the group in a circle read the lyrics aloud:
First read each person reads one line.
Second read, each person reads to the end stop.
Third read, each person points on the pronoun.
How many times do the characters use “I” or “me”?
How many times do they use “you” or “they”?

4. PARTICIPATE IN A CLOSE READ
Read the lyrics to “Alone in the Universe” to yourself.
Annotate the text
the central message
unclear words and phrases
BOX
CIRCLE
In your own words, write two notes about the song in the margins

5. GENERAL UNDERSTANDING
In the group, read the lyrics stopping at the end stop, choose the most important word in each complete thought (end stop punctuation):
Repeat the word
Physicalize the word with a movement or gesture
Repeat the word with the movement
With a partner discuss the following questions:
Who is singing these lyrics?
Where are they? Do you think they can see each other? What lyrics support your answer?
What do you think has happened to these two characters right before the song starts?
Write your answers in the margins.
How does the movement influence the sound?
In what ways do playing with sound and movement create new insights about the characters?

6. KEY DETAILS
This song is a duet! Read the lyrics with a partner, then discuss the following questions:
THE OBJECTIVE: What do the singers of this song want?
THE OBSTACLE: What is keeping the characters from getting what they want?
Each character’s objective or goal should be simple, basic, and active: to find love, to get power, to protect a loved one, to survive.
Write the objective and the obstacle in the margins for each character in the margins.
What lyrics in the song support your choice?

7. Reread: Deeper Focus Circle up in groups of 4-5.
Each person in the circle reads one stanza aloud. Add pauses, inflections, intonations, and emphasis to the text.
How does this change your initial understandings of the lyrics?
Are there any shifts in tone for the characters?
Your tactics should fit the following phrase TO ____ HIM OR HER
Strong tactics use strong verbs OR a strong image (to guilt versus to pluck on his heartstrings
Think of what reaction you want from your scene partner
With your group, brainstorm a list of tactics that these characters could use to overcome their obstacles.
Write down your list of tactics

8. Vocabulary With your table group, discuss:
What does Horton mean when he states, “I found magic, but they don’t see it”?
What does Jojo mean when he states, “My own planets and stars are glowing?”
What is the tone of the lyrics? What words and phrases support your claim?
Add to your annotations.

9. Structure With a partner, read the entire scene (song and dialogue).
At what point do you think Horton and Jojo see one another?
How would you stage their recognition?
With your partner act out the dialogue portion of the script. Add gestures and movement to show their discovery of one another.
There is no right or wrong—just more effective choices.
What do Horton and Jojo have in common? What are their differences?
What parts of the lyrics or script support your choices?
Add to your annotations

10. Inferences With your table group, discuss the following:
To whom is Horton referring when he states, “They all call me a lunatic”?
What does Jojo mean when he says, “sometimes my thinks are what get me in trouble”?
Add to your annotations. Make sure to include the text that supports your claims.

11. Inferences With your table group, discuss the following:
What does Horton mean when he says, “I go to strange places like Solla Sollew”?
What is the significance of Solla Sollew? Is it the same for Horton and Jojo?
Describe or draw your idea Solla Sollew.
Add your description of Solla Sollew to your annotations.

12. Opinion Working with a partner
Make a list of words that describe Horton.
Choose the lyrics that best support your description of Horton as a character.
Add to your annotations.

13. Culminating Task Working by yourself, answer the following prompt:
When you know something, how do you prove it to someone else? Do you have to prove it to know it’s true? Give an example of something you know but that you can’t justify with physical proof? How did you come to know that thing?
Share with a partner.

14. Reflect on the Model Consider the following prompt:
What changed in your ideas of the lyrics over the course of the close reading model?
Be prepared to share to the whole group.
There is no right or wrong, just more effective choices!

15. Creating a Close Reading
Choose a short, worthy passage
Plan for re-reading
Where’s the evidence?
Different foci for each read
Limit front-loading and preteaching vocabulary
Give students the chance to make their own choices
Design text-dependent questions
Part to whole
Require students to “read with a pencil”
Read aloud and independently and annotate
Incorporate after-reading tasks
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16. 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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17. 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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18. 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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19. 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
Perform a scene
Make a connection to another piece of music/play/movie
Write a song/poem
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