1) Students should split a photograph into quadrants.

2) The students should focus on a quadrant at a time, listing the things they see in that quadrant of the image (what is referred to as observations).

3) The students should do the same thing for the remaining three quadrants, listing their observations.

4) From here, the students want to shift towards their interpretations, which are much different than their observations. Interpretations refer to the student’s reactions to the image, through questions like these:

• What do you make of the image?

• What do you think is going on here?

5) Students should then probe some deeper-level questions, such as:

● What does the photographer want you to see?

● Why do you think the photographer took this photo?

● What is the story beyond the image?

6) Once these questions have been explored, students should discuss their observations and interpretations with classmates and then the whole class.

7) Close looking can, and should, extend into writing with questions like the following:

● What does this picture inspire me to do or feel?  

● What in the picture caused me to do or feel this?

* An important note with close looking: it requires inferential thinking, and background knowledge is crucial.

With these points in mind, I am going to try close looking for the first time later this week as my students and I observe and interpret iconic photos from 9/11. It should be quite the learning experience, both on a human level given the mature subject matter and a professional level as an evolving teacher.

Source: Kathryn Mitchell Pierce
from 2014 NCTE Annual Conference lecture entitled “Supporting Close Reading Through Photography”
November 22, 2014

1) Frey confirmed some information that I have heard in professional development in the past:

Close reading should be done 2-3 times a week.

This doesn’t mean that close reading is exclusive to reading class; it should be done in other content areas, including math, science and social studies. Think about the opportunities if each content-area teacher did a close read at least once per week. Remember that literacy is a collaborative effort reinforced across all content-areas. 

2) Frey reminded us that we teach through story. Additionally, she emphasized how we must TEACH COMPLEX TEXT RATHER THAN JUST ASSIGN IT.

This point is really crucial as close reading does lend itself to students struggling with the text. With that said, students should not be left on an island. The teacher must break down the text with the students.

3) Use a short passage when doing close reading.

Frey’s rule: If it has a staple in it, it might be too long.

4) Have students read with a pencil.

I have to admit that this rule made me feel guilty. Having been educated from kindergarten to high school in Catholic schools, I was told to write in pen for reading and writing class and to only use a pencil in math (and sometimes science when doing lab work). Unfortunately, this outdated rule was imprinted on my brain and came into my teaching the first two years. I have slowly started to transition away from this, though I still feel students should write in pen.

So why should students use a pencil when close reading. Point five sheds some light (no pun intended).  

5) Close reading is not highlighting but annotating!

What’s the difference?

Quoting Frey, “Annotating is a note of any form while reading the text.”

We’ve all seen this as teachers, and I was certainly guilty of this as a student. When using a highlighter, students tend to highlight everything, which loses meaning making, even if it looks all nice and colorful.  

As Frey said, “annotation slows down the reader in order to deepen understanding.”

Annotation can be anything from students making connections with something they’ve read to writing  a follow-up question to summarizing the author’s main point.

6) Simplify annotation keys by having students follow this easy-to-remember model:

● Underline major points.

● Circle ○ keywords or phrases that are confusing.

● Annotate (including writing margin notes that restate the author’s idea).

Frey shared a funny anecdote detailing how she was observing classrooms where students were drawing out elaborate light bulbs when suddenly realizing something during a close read. While this looked good, it took away from the point of close reading, as do the elaborate annotation keys with a laundry list of close-reading codes (something I was innocently guilty of myself).

7) Have students re-read and give them time to struggle a bit.

Remember silence is thinking. Rereading doesn’t always mean reading from beginning to end. For example, Frey notes how you can do a second close read by having students listen to a speech of the text such as Chief Joseph from 1877 (“My heart is sad and sick”).

8) Foster critical thinking with text-dependent questions that foster discussion.

I will have to dig up and post a great handout that I have with some awesome text-dependent questions. Something that has helped in the pass is the Depths of Knowledge (DOK) Level 1-4 questions. Also, point nine provides some text-dependent questions from Frey.

9) Break up close reading into different phases.

● Phase 1 should focus on the literal meaning of the text (e.g., What does the text say?; What is going on in the poem? ). Do not skip phase 1, even if it is difficult for students. Tell them that you know it is difficult. 

● Phase 2 should focus on the vocabulary and structure of the text (How does the text work? How does it explain the character’s mood? What about the use of the word _____?).  

● Phase 3 should go much further, exploring the deeper meaning (What does the text mean?; How does the second text help you connect with the inner conflict of the first text?). Frey adds that as texts get complex, ideas are spread out beyond sentences. This reaffirms her point about how teachers should teach complex text, not just assign it.

● Phase 4 should be related back to students with this question: “What does the text inspire me to do?” This question serves as a great bridge to  incorporate student writing into close reading and even write from sources.

10) Last but not least, remember these rules when choosing a text.

□ Less complex text should be used to boost reading stamina.

□ More complex text should be used to build strength.

Phew! Got all of that? I know it’s a lot, but it’s game-changing stuff when teaching close reading. Actually, rewriting these notes has helped me better understand close reading and realize that it is a fluid, ever-changing process.

In my next post, I am going to share how close reading can extend beyond texts into pictures. Until then.

Topic: Ideas (e.g., the meaning and development of an author’s message)
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
That Is Not A Good Idea by Mo Willems
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
What’s Eating You? by Nicola Davies

·        Note all of these make great read alouds, even beyond the primary grades.

Topic: Informational Text
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
Anything by Nicola Davies, who Culham called an “informational text superstar”

Topic: Organization (i.e., the structure of a text)
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner (a great model for transition words)
Umbrella by Taro Yashima (a great model for sequencing and problem and solution)

Topic: Voice (i.e., the tone of the piece and the personal stamp the writer brings to the writing)
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
Snakes by Nic Bishop
Have I Got a Book for You by Melanie Watts
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

Topic: Word Choice (the specific vocabulary the writer uses to convey meaning)
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
The Word Collector by Sonja Wimmer
Telephone by Marc Barnett
The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak from The Office

Topic: Sentence Fluency (the way words flow)
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
Locomotive by Brian Floca
All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon (free verse poetry)
The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle (also great for learning to write in metaphor)

Topic: Conventions
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
Greedy Apostrophe by Jan Can
Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Eats, Shoots, Leaves by Lynn Rosenthal Truss

Topic: Presentation
Culham’s Suggested Mentor Texts:
Older Than the Stars by Karen C. Fox

One last thing that Culham adamantly mentioned: “Students learn to write well using picture books.”

With that said, here are some picture books she suggested as mentor texts.

The Book That Eats People by John Perry and Mark Fearing
If… (A Mind-Bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers) by David J. Smith

Quite honestly, Culham was my favorite presenter at NCTE and a great start to the conference. She was very engaging and personable when I briefly spoke to her after lecture. 

For more on Culham, check out her website: www.culhamwriting.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @WritingThief or Pinterest at the Writing Thief.

In my next post I am going to share some great insights on close reading, specifically how to simplify what has become a complicated process in some regards. Until then.

Source: Ruth Culham

As presented at the 2014 NCTE Convention during the lecture “Literary Models and Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing”

Friday, November 21, 2014

Before getting into the heart of her lecture, Culham framed an important question that could, and honestly, should be posted somewhere in any reading teacher’s room: What are you reading today?

This simple question has given me an enlightening idea for something that I am going to do in my classroom at the start of the school year. I will share more information on this idea as it develops in real-time.

Culham then made a huge but often forgotten point when beginning a story: Introductions kill anticipation!

In some sense, this can seem counterintuitive, especially if you are going to begin a novel with a classroom. However, what Culham seems to be getting at is that a teacher should let the students explore their reactions to a text first, with there always being time to provide more context.

So how the heck does this work?

From what I gleaned from Culham, this process is a feeling-out, experiential, hands-on endeavor.

Using “Bully” by Laura Vacarro Seeger for a kindergarten classroom, Culham talked about getting student reactions to everything from the cover of the book to the presentation of the words (e.g., “What happens to your voices when the words get bigger?”). Nonetheless, this process can both be planned-out (you should have guiding questions in mind) yet still reactionary as you read aloud to the students. Essentially, the point is to build student anticipation and thought rather than just lead them down some pre-ordained path at the start of the read aloud. 

With that said, Culham then provided a list of guiding questions that every reading teacher should have in his or her classroom after the first read (kind of like what happens during the first stage of a close read).

● What is the purpose of the piece (Narrative, Informational, Opinion)?

● What is the big idea?

● How is the idea organized?

● What are the different voices (think points of view)?

● What words are used accurately and specifically?

● What writing conventions are being applied?

● How does the story’s presentation help develop the main idea?

Of course, these questions will require different levels of instruction and elicit varying types of responses depending on grade levels, yet they are a good framework for any discussion of a text.

Relating this back to the idea of mentor texts, Culham asked where students could go from here in their own writing about bullying. Here were three interesting avenues she posed.

1) Students could write their own narratives (a story about a bully).

2) Students could write an informational piece based on guiding questions (e.g., What are the signs someone is a bully?; “What should you do when witnessing bullying?”)

3) Students can write an opinion piece based on guiding questions (e.g., "Do you think bullying is a problem?"; "How can you convince someone to be a better friend?"; etc.)

With this simple framework of questions and these three types of writing, it is truly exciting to see how mentor texts can help students take their writing to exciting avenues.

In my next post I am going to share some of the great mentor texts that Culham shared when teaching specific literary skills or conventions. Until then.  

Source: Ruth Culham
As presented at the 2014 NCTE Convention during the lecture “Literary Models and Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing”
Friday, November 21, 2014

1) Kids borrow topics from mentor texts, often via personal connections. As an example, Donald Graves’ “Baseball” was used as a foundation for one student to write about his own experiences playing baseball. Another student wrote about his dog Randy after reading a mentor text in which a dog was the protagonist.

2) Kids borrow literary techniques (e.g., similes). One student created her own simile, “My face is as green as the grass” after reading Lauren Leedy’s “Crazy Like a Fox: A Simile Story.”

3) Sometimes kids borrow characters or character traits (braveness, clumsiness). In a funny anecdote, Colwell described how one student tried to recreate the speech of Shaggy after reading “Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle” by using the word like in her writing.

4) Kids borrowed literary themes like bullying. One student used the mentor text “The Tequila Worm” as a bridge to tie in his love of baseball with the theme of bullying.

5) Kids borrowed genre elements. In other words, Colwell observed students writing genres (e.g., biographies) similar to those of the mentor texts.

6) Kids borrowed elements of an author’s style. As one example, a student used a Shel Silverstein mentor poem to incorporate rhyme and sense of humor in her own writing.

If Colwell’s findings confirm anything it’s that students can write quite creatively when having wonderful models as a starting point, whether it’s mentor texts or a wonderful teacher like the inspiring one in this study.

Source: “Exploring the Literary Borrowing of 5th Grade Writers”
Ryan Colwell, Ph.D.
Fairfield University
As presented at the 2014 NCTE Convention during the lecture “Literary Models and Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing”
Friday, November 21, 2014

●   Students drove the process. In other words, while the teacher scaffolded the literary skill, it was the students who led the exploration, discussion and writing of the skill. This will make a little more sense below.

Here is what the teacher did when using a mentor text to teach a literary skill.

1) The teacher explained the specific literary strategy.

2) The teacher demonstrated the literary strategy in specific children’s literature.

3) The teacher modeled the literary strategy (e.g., she would write her own similes).

4) The students then tried it.

Sounds good, right? But what does this really look like?

Colwell used the example of conveying feelings in writing. 

1) The teacher began by posing intriguing inquiry questions (e.g., How would you show that a character was feeling sad?). The teacher then created a semantic web with the word “sad” at its center, with the children providing examples like “crying” and “hunched over.” This appeared to be a whole-class discussion, though it could easily be done in groups and then pulled out to the whole class.

2) Students then investigated literature full of big feelings. In other words, the teacher blanketed the room with great mentor texts showing big feelings. In groups, the students noted how the authors conveyed big feelings on anchor charts.

3) The students shared what they learned from the mentor authors and texts via the anchor charts.

4) The lesson then ended with an invitation by the teacher for the students to create their own writing showing big feelings. As an example, Colwell noted how one student used dialogue as a means to show big feelings.

            Once Colwell laid out how mentor texts were modeled in the classroom, he provided some interesting findings on how students were using this “literary borrowing” in their own writing, which I will detail in my next blog post.

Source: “Exploring the Literary Borrowing of 5th Grade Writers”
Ryan Colwell, Ph.D.
Fairfield University
As presented at the 2014 NCTE Convention during the lecture “Literary Models and Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing”
Friday, November 21, 2014

Besides offering exposure to new books, the Illinois Reads program provides opportunities to participate in book clubs, online blogs, Skype visits and author events. For more information about participating, visit Illinois Reads.

Here are the age bands and title selections for Illinois Reads. Even if you are not formally participating in the program, checking out the title selections may spark some curiosity at the very least. I have officially put Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football on my reading list.

Birth - Age 4

• Classic Bedtime Stories - il Scott Gustafson

• hello! hello! - by Matthew Cordell

• If You Were a Panda Bear - by Florence Minor, il Wendell Minor

• May There Always Be Sunshine - by Jim Gill, il Susie Signorino-Richards
• Pugs in a Bug - by Carolyn Crimi, il Stephanie Buscema
• Toes, Ears & Nose - by Marione Dane Bauer, il Karen Katz
  

Kindergarten through Second Grade

• Ben Franklin's Big Splash - by Barb Rosenstock, il D. Schindler
  
• Carnivores - by Aaron Reynolds, il Dan Santat
• Edward Hopper Paints His World - by Robert Burleigh, il Wendell Minor
• Little Lucy Goes to School - by Ilene Cooper
  
• Lion, Lion - by Miriam Busch, il Larry Day
  
• Tales for Very Picky Eaters - by Josh Schneider
  

Third Grade through Fifth Grade

• Iggy Loomis, Superkid in Training - by Jennifer Allison
• On the Wings of Heroes - by Richard Peck
• Rump - by Liesl Shurtliff
• The Sixty-Eight Rooms - by Jeffrey Brown
  
• Star Wars Jedi Academy - by Jeffrey Brown
  
• What the Moon Said - by Gayle Rosengren 
  

Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

• 33 Minutes - by Todd Hasak Lowry
  
• The Art of Secrets - by James Klise
• The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia - by Candace Fleming
  
• Inhuman - by Kat Falls
  
• The Mark of the Dragonfly - by Jaleigh Johnson
  
• The Ugly One - by Leanne Stratland Ellis

Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade (High School)

• Boundaries - by Sally M. Walker
• Fault Line - by Christa Desir
• In the After - by Demitria Lunetta
• Looking for Alaska - by John Green
  
• Rotters - by Daniel Kraus
• Wicked Girls - by Stephanie Hemphill
  

Adult

• The Borrower - by Rebecca Makkai
• The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted - by Elizabeth Berg
  
• Heroes Are My Weakness - by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• Identical - by Scott Turow
  
• Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football -               by Rich Cohen
• While Beauty Slept - by Elizabeth Blackwell