Overall, it was great seeing so many familiar faces today! I was really impressed with the sixth graders (specifically my homeroom 308) in the morning as all of the students showed up to listen, work and think. After sharing some of our summer happy moments, including canoeing trips to Michigan, water rides at Six Flags Great America and family reunions in Houston, Texas, and then diving into the many school-required forms, we were able to have a brief reading class.
In reading, I was happy to see that the majority of students did their summer reading of Tuck Everlasting and another required novel (Al Capone Does My Shirts; Zane and the Hurricane; Ninth Ward; or Summer of the Swans), and also turned in their required book reports. After I provided a very quick synopsis of what sixth-grade reading class will be like (there will be more information to come early next week), the students did a word association game to help familiarize themselves with close reading, a concept we will be exploring in relation to September 11th during the first week of school.
Essentially, the students worked in groups at their tables, dividing a shared sheet of looseleaf into four corners. For each corner, the students had to answer a specific question, as follows:
Corner 1: What do you first think of when hearing the term “close reading?”
Corner 2: How would you define close reading?
Come up with a group definition.
Corner 3: How does close reading work?
Describe the process.
Corner 4: What are the different close reading signposts?
List as many or all of the six as possible.
The results: students certainly remembered their close reading signposts but had some cobwebs when it came to what close reading was and how it worked, which we will cover in the coming days.
With that said, I have attached some of the student responses that really inspired me and showed that the kids were closer to close reading than they first realized.
My favorite response has to be this definition: "Close reading is like taking X-rays of a broken bone. You have to double check it and examine."
I never thought of close reading this way and love the analogy, which confirms to me how inspiring it is to be back around such great minds on a daily basis.
Here were the kids' thoughts, which we will review and clarify in class tomorrow.
Enjoy!
In reading, I was happy to see that the majority of students did their summer reading of Tuck Everlasting and another required novel (Al Capone Does My Shirts; Zane and the Hurricane; Ninth Ward; or Summer of the Swans), and also turned in their required book reports. After I provided a very quick synopsis of what sixth-grade reading class will be like (there will be more information to come early next week), the students did a word association game to help familiarize themselves with close reading, a concept we will be exploring in relation to September 11th during the first week of school.
Essentially, the students worked in groups at their tables, dividing a shared sheet of looseleaf into four corners. For each corner, the students had to answer a specific question, as follows:
Corner 1: What do you first think of when hearing the term “close reading?”
Corner 2: How would you define close reading?
Come up with a group definition.
Corner 3: How does close reading work?
Describe the process.
Corner 4: What are the different close reading signposts?
List as many or all of the six as possible.
The results: students certainly remembered their close reading signposts but had some cobwebs when it came to what close reading was and how it worked, which we will cover in the coming days.
With that said, I have attached some of the student responses that really inspired me and showed that the kids were closer to close reading than they first realized.
My favorite response has to be this definition: "Close reading is like taking X-rays of a broken bone. You have to double check it and examine."
I never thought of close reading this way and love the analogy, which confirms to me how inspiring it is to be back around such great minds on a daily basis.
Here were the kids' thoughts, which we will review and clarify in class tomorrow.
Enjoy!
| close_reading_review.docx |
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