1. Lesson 2: Close Reading & Analysis (Yes, we’re getting started this soon. No messing around here!)
Goals:
Create a process for finding textual evidence
Bridge textual evidence into making inferences
Develop a new understanding of a text

2. the music video—jot down
While you’re watching
the music video—jot down
a couple ideas of what you
NOTICE and what you FOCUS on

3. So…what did you notice and focus?
There’s a difference between noticing and focusing. Think about it.
Notice: Things I happened to see
Focus: Things I paid close attention to

4. But what is the deeper meaning of the song?
Now begins our close reading of the actual text.
We’re going to use a three step process to help creating connections and analyzing the text in closer detail.
Get out paper and writing utensils!

5. Step 1: Read through lenses
As you’re reading the text (whether it be song lyrics, a poem, a short story, or a novel), choose specific details to gather as your data.
What do people (or characters) say/think/do
Relationships (connections)
Setting descriptions
Time period
Recurring objects/ideas

6. Step 2: Look for patterns
Look for repetitions and connections in the information you gathered.
Which details fit together?
How do they fit together?
The actual question part is important: what/which  how

7. Step 3: Use the patterns to develop a new understanding of the text
This is where you take the information you’ve gathered and your connections and make inferences: a conclusion about your findings drawn from the evidence. This becomes your new understanding
Ideas to think about in drawing conclusions:
Character’s/People’s: feelings, traits, relationships, thoughts
Themes or Lessons from the text

8. First things first
Simply read the lyrics, now that you are not distracted by the video.
What do you notice, what do you focus on? Highlight the words/phrases that you focus on in detail.
Share out!
Moving on…remember to use the words as your evidence

9. Step 1: Read through Lens
Let’s put ourselves in the narrator’s shoes, and use his lens to read the lyrics.
What does he tell us first off?
What do these two details tell us about the narrator?

10. Next part… Who is the “you’re” the narrator refers to?
What does it mean if his “friends are turning green”?
Who is the “you’re” the narrator refers to?
What does it mean if she’s the “magician’s assistant in their dream”?

11. Before we look at the chorus…
Let’s break down the next verse.
So what is this verse comparing?

12. Left hand vs right hand man?
So based off of what we know about the woman from the verses, what is the chorus telling us about the relationship between the narrator and the woman? What is she doing, what is he trying to do?
Left hand vs right hand man?
Chorus

13. Last verse, to tie it all together

14. It’s a tedious process…
But when we get to larger pieces of text, and move toward whole novels second semester…it will help in making those connections and looking deeper into the meaning!