1. Close Reading Lesson Today’s Agenda:
Warm-Up (Share w/Shoulder Partner)
Close Reading Mini-lesson w/guided notes
Guided Practice– “The Boxing Controversy”
Station Rotation– Independent Practice
--Close Read a self-selected article

2. Share your thoughts with a shoulder-partner
Today’s Warm-Up:
Directions:
1. Observe the image to the right
2. One the front side of your post-it, write what goes through your mind
What do you see?
Reading a picture is something we do every day, especially when we look at advertisements in magazines, newspapers, or another venue, like a webpage. In fact, companies depend on us to read advertisements and bring meaning to the picture. Reading a picture is a great way to help students begin to look closely at an image and think about the embedded meaning.
Warm-up Time: 10 minutes
Step 1 (Students Examine the Image) =Tell your students to look at the picture of the boy and his dog for a moment. Then say: “As you look at the picture, what goes through your mind?”
Step 2 (Model Your Thinking Aloud for the “First Read”) = After the students have looked at the picture for a minute or two, model a think-aloud about the picture. You might say: “At first glance, after the quick reading, I am thinking, ‘Oh, it’s a boy and a dog.’ But then, I take a longer look, and I notice some details in the picture. I notice that the boy Boy and His Dog is talking to the dog, that he is leaning in and holding the dog’s leg firmly. It appears that the dog is in the boy’s lap. I also notice that the dog looks relaxed and somewhat content with the position he is in in relation to the boy. It also appears that they are in a park and that the dog has some sort of scarf around its neck.”
Step 3 (Encourage the Students to Share their Thinking) = Give students a few more seconds to look at the picture after you finish your short think-aloud. Invite students to share their thinking. You might want to write down
their thoughts and ideas as they share.
Step 4 (Encourage the Students to Probe Deeper with their Thinking) =After several students have shared, ask the class to probe deeper and read the picture more closely. A close reading should take them deeper into the context of the picture than what might be perceived at first glance. To get the conversation started, you could say: “We could wonder about the relationship between the boy and the dog. I wonder if the artist was portraying a utopia vision of what childhood should look like, where every child has a pet. You might find absolutely no connection to the picture as it might not show what you think of as an owner–pet relationship. Maybe we could also look at the picture and see if it is saying anything about our world. I think a bit of a stereotype is portrayed in the picture about how every child should have a pet and be in love with his best friend.”
We have just “read” an image and taken away it’s literal meaning (A Boy and His Dog) and dug deeper for a deeper/more inferential meaning (interpretation) of what the photographer’s purpose was for creating this image.
This is what our focus will be for the rest of the year, while reading our texts. **Introduce Close Reading
Share your thoughts with a shoulder-partner

3. Today’s Focus
Standard: Students will be able to cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Objective (today’s goal): 1. I can identify the purpose for, and process of Close Reading. 2. I can demonstrate the beginning process of a Close Read.

4. Close Reading Strategy
Today we will discuss the following:
What is Close Reading?
Why is Close Reading Important?
What strategies are used with Close Reading? (Process of a Close Read)
No…not this type of “Close Reading”

5. Share your thoughts with a Shoulder Partner
What is Close Reading?
Share your thoughts with a Shoulder Partner

6. Close Reading Definition =
Close reading is purposefully reading a text several times in order to analyze and gain a deep understanding of the text.
(It is a purposeful and careful re-reading of a text)
Allows the reader to “dig deeper” and analyze the text in a more precise way.
Allows the reader to make sophisticated opinions that can be supported by evidence (not just personal opinions).
Reading something enough times so you can understand it, explain it to someone else, and ask and answer questions about it using evidence from the text.

7. Why is Close Reading Important?
Close Reading sets a purpose (reason) for our Reading.
Close Reading allows us to…
Determine the Author’s purpose for writing a text
Think critically about the content of a text
(What the text says explicitly)
Create a deeper understanding of the inferred meanings embedded into the text.
(inferences drawn from the text)

8. What will our Close Reading eventually look like?
Annotations = Comments added to the text that help the reader with a better explanation & understanding of what they are reading.

9. Relates back to Pre-Assessment
Close Reading Process
First step = Understand the purpose for reading the selected and/or given text. Review Reference Sheet
Relates back to Pre-Assessment

10. Quick Check Turn to your Shoulder Partner and…
State the definition for Close Reading
State the purpose for Close Reading
Any Questions?

11. Guided Practice
Task: Read the article “The Boxing Controversy” Purpose: To practice the Close Reading Process Step 1 = Teacher Think Aloud/Students Follow Along Step 2 = Students Read Quietly and Annotate Left Margin = Questions Right Margin = Connections Step 3= Share with your Shoulder Partner

12. Independent Practice Sit at your designated station
Select an article of your choosing
Conduct a Close Read using the Reference Sheet given. Make sure to:
Circle unfamiliar terms
Write questions on the Left Margin
Make connections on the Right Margin
Exit Slip =
On the back of your article, select 1 paragraph to summarize in your own words.