Close Reading Strategy: A Look into the Reading for Information Class
Since the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) development, a significant emphasis has been placed on teaching students to read informational text. The goal is to equip students with proficient reading skills necessary for academic and professional success. Over the last several years, I have used the Close Read Strategy in my classroom. In a nutshell, the Close Read strategy guides students to “look” at a text through three lenses, leading them to a deeper understanding of the text. Initially, the strategy requires guided instruction with scaffolded support, but over time, and with much repetition and practice, the strategy becomes instinctually.
Here are the steps:
CLOSE READ #1 – Text Features
Authors intentionally use text features such as title, pictures, images, caption, and graphs to deepen the text’s understanding, but unfortunately, students most often skip over or give little thought to these features. This “lens” guides students to begin intentionally looking at text features, allowing them to tap into their background knowledge and develop the article’s main idea. Students also start looking for words and phrases that provide them an insight into the text structure.
Before you Read – Text Features
- Read the title of the passage.
- Look at the pictures and the captions below each picture.
- Read the headings of each section.
- Pay attention to keywords that identify the article’s text structure (some articles have more than one text structure.
- Identify a guiding question using WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, and HOW and write it in your article.
- Set a purpose for reading: Why did the author write this article. Write this on the top of your article.
CLOSE READ #2 – Key Ideas and Details
Annotating, the act of engaging with the text by highlighting, underlining, circling, or jotting down notes/comment, allows students to focus and easily refer back to important information. Historically, it seems that students default to highlighting as the sole annotating tool. Students must engage with the text by writing notes and comments.
WHILE YOU READ – Annotate
- Annotate
- Highlight keywords and phrases according to text structure
- CIRCLE academic vocabulary words and transition words
- WRITE notes, comments, or questions in the margins
CLOSE READ #3: Text Structure
Text structure refers to how the information within a text is organized. Structured Strategy (Bonnie Meyer) involves knowing that authors structure text in predictable ways such as problem/solution, cause/effect, sequencing, compare/contrast. By understanding these different text structures, good readers can generate inferences, monitor their understanding, and use multiple strategies to construct meaning. Readers who use text structure can mentally examine how the text’s ideas are interrelated by using such relationships as sequence, comparison, causation, or problem and solution. Once a reader determines the article’s text structure, they can begin organizing the information in their minds, ultimately identifying the essential information.
AFTER YOU READ – Write a Summary
By writing a concise summary that includes the main idea, supporting details, and conclusion, students will remember more and learn more effectively, especially since they put information into their own words.
- Review annotation and identify the main idea of each section.
- Summarize the article
