1. Notice and Note Fiction Signposts: A Close Reading Strategy

2. What are signposts?
Signposts are features in a text that alert readers to significant moments in a work of literature and encourage them to read closely. This helps create attentive readers who look closely at a text, interpret it responsibly and rigorously, and reflect on what it means to them.
Really, the signposts help readers make meaning from text. They are text clues that show up in the majority of fiction texts.

3. The Analogy road signs : drivers signposts : readers
They direct your thinking.
They inform you of your surroundings.
They cause you to pause and pay attention.
They warn you of upcoming events.

4. There are 6 Fiction Signposts

5. We will study each signpost individually over the course of this week
We will study each signpost individually over the course of this week. You will have opportunities to practice identifying signposts in authentic texts and interpreting their meaning.
When you notice signposts in your IDR book, you can note them in your WART-Ups.

6. Again and Again

7. Again and Again Look for anything that keeps happening over and over.
You might see:
a single word that is repeated
a situation the character finds themself in again and again
an idea that keeps coming up

8. Again and Again Anchor Question:
Why might the author bring this up again and again?

9. Again and Again

10. Aha! Moment

11. Aha! Moment Look for the moment when the writer seems to:
interrupt the action
puts a character off alone to think
some realization occurs to him or her

12. Aha! Moment
Anchor Question:
How might this realization change things?

13. Aha! Moment

14. Contrasts and Contradictions

15. Contrasts and Contradictions
Look for ways a character acts that:
actions are opposite to how the character has acted in the past.
contrast with how you would act.
reveal a difference among the characters.

16. Contrasts and Contradictions
Anchor Question:
Why did the character act or feel that way?

17. Contrasts and Contradictions

18. Words of the Wiser

19. Words of the Wiser
Look for a scene in which an older or wiser character offers the main character advice.

20. Words of the Wiser Anchor Question:
What is the life lesson, and how could it affect the character?

21. Words of the Wiser

22. Memory Moment

23. Memory Moment Look for times when:
the character suddenly starts remembering something
a quiet moment when the character thinks back on an event from the past

24. Memory Moment
Anchor Question:
Why might this memory be important?

25. Memory Moment

26. Tough Questions

27. Tough Questions
Look for the moment when a character is confused or uncertain.
A character might say:
I couldn’t imagine what to do
I realized I …
I didn’t know what choice to make
How can I decide?

28. Tough Questions Anchor Question:
What does this tough question make me wonder about?

29. Tough Questions