"Close Reading" and "Reading Like a Writer"

Where Does Rigor Fit?
What is Close Reading?
Defining The Signposts
Reading Like Writers
The Craft of Writing
Organized Inquiry

Say:

Rigor is not about increasing the reading level of the texts that are chosen for the units that we teach. No rigor has everything to do with what we do with those texts. It's the energy that is created and used while studying specific texts. We fail at adding rigor to a classroom if our interpretation of that is simply harder and more challenging texts, and we leave it at that.

Rigor is in the methods that we choose to facilitate learning. If we go all the way back to young adult literature (the first week of class), we can find rigor in those strategies. Allowing students to read young adult literature within the classroom, as they read the core texts chosen for our units, enhances their critical thinking skills. If we throw in book clubs and socratic seminars, the rigor is there.

Rigor brings forth the feeling of struggle. It's true any kind of rigorous work whether it be mentally, physically or emotionally brings forth a challenge. People all ages struggle through what is deemed as rigorous work. However, there is a difference between struggling immensely and struggling productively. If all you are causing is nothing but pain and turmoil for your students through the activities you facilitate, that is not productive. However, if the rigor is pushing them to create something, or think differently that is productive.

Rigor is often thought of to go hand-in-hand with close reading. I think that is an accurate assumption because close reading can be rigorous work, especially if a person hasn't been exposed to close reading before. Close reading asks the readers to look closely at a piece of text and to ask questions that reveal the motives behind the choices the authors have made. It works ideally with short passages of texts, which reminds me of a criteria for socratic seminars. Typically, teachers choose a short passage of text that all of the students read and are able to discuss in the seminar. So, you could have a seminar that walks students through close reading skills.

Signposts have become a method that can help students to further break down the close reading method. The signposts are as follows:
Contrasts and Contradictions-- Why would the character act/feel this way?
Aha Moments-- How might this change things?
Tough Questions-- What does this question make me wonder about?
Words of the Wiser-- What's the life lesson and how might it affect the character?
Again and Again-- Why might the author bring this up again and again?
Memory Moment-- Why might this memory be important?

These signposts, the close reading and rigor can all be present when we are teaching "author's craft". When we begin asking questions about the decisions author's made while writing their texts. We are begging ourselves to look at the author's craft. How did they write it? What language did they use? How is it formatted? What is the length of the piece? What were the subjects of their writing? How was figurative language used in the piece? What kind of experience was created for the reader? What is repeated and not repeated? Etc. The list could literally go on. When we begin reading like a writer we look at everything on the page as if it plays a very specific role. Because it does.

So what is craft? More specifically what does craft mean in the phrase, "author's craft"? Well, it simply means the way in which an author chooses to write his/her text. Every author has their own process to writing, and the craft is the way in which they carry out that process. Each author has a very unique craft that is distinguishable from other authors.

In order for students to figure out an author's craft they need to start at the very beginning: read like readers. They must engage with the text as they normally would as readers. Next, they need to understand the concept of reading like writers. A great method that we have talked about before is, "Say Something". You could change up the "Say Something" actions to be aimed at thinking like a writer. It would be a great way to get students thinking like a writer, then they could begin reading like a writer. Once reading like a writer has been broken down for them, then they can begin discussing author's craft and writing like a beloved writer.

Since we have been talking about author's craft and reading and writing like writers, I thought it would be appropriate to post an LP that reflects an author's craft lesson I created. The LP corresponds with my "Social Justice Unit" using "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by: Sherman Alexie. We study Alexie's craft in his memoir because it is a very unique craft compared to most memoirs. We begin to think like Alexie in order to write like him.

Do:

Title of Lesson: There's Just Not Enough to go Around

Subject: English I CP- 90 Minutes

Topic: Poverty

Objectives:

Students will analyze ideas and information from text and multimedia proposing interpretations and explanations, and considering alternative views and multiple perspectives (2.1).

Students will investigate how related media allude to themes and archetypes from historical and cultural traditions (7.2).

Students will engage in small group reading with purpose and understanding (13.1).

Students will write over a short time frame, for a range of domain-specific tasks, and for a variety of purposes and audiences (6.1).

Purpose:

It's important to analyze how a variety of texts portrays the effects of poverty over time because it may effect our perceptions of poverty. As a society, we should understand why we hold certain biases and opinions towards those effected by poverty because what we think controls how we behave.

Materials:

one-to-one iPad

Harvest of Shame video (Youtube)https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yJTVF_dya7E

NPR article: “The Changing Picture of Poverty: Hard work is just 'Not Enough'”http://www.npr.org/2014/05/07/309734380/the-changing-picture-of-poverty-hard-work-is-just-not-enough

“Poverty Across Time”Graphic Organizer on Padlet

Political Cartoon

Socrative App (SOC-16952207)

Make Beliefs Comix App http://www.makebeliefscomix.com

Procedures:

The students will walk in and get ready to watch two clips from the Harvest of Shame video. I will introduce the video (2 minutes), and then play the two clips back to back. The first clip will be from minute 4:31 to 6:50 and the second clip will be from 8:30 to 10:00 (5 minutes). This video will introduce our lesson on poverty. After we have watched the Harvest of Shame video, I will have them pull up, on their iPads, the NPR article“The Changing Picture of Poverty: Hard Work is just 'Not Enough'”(3 minutes). They will read or listen (if they brought headphones) to the article (8 minutes), then they will get into six groups of five to compare and contrast poverty from the 1960's to modern day (10 minutes). We will share each group's ideas about the similarities and differences between the 1960's poor population and the modern day poor population (10 minutes).

Then, I will pass out worksheets that display a political cartoon about poverty. They will look at the cartoon, individually, then they will get on to the Socrative app and and answer questions about the cartoon. This will ignite some interesting conversation amongst the students (10 minutes). Next, we will discuss Junior's comic strip about being poor, “How to Pretend You're Not Poor”(Page 120). We will talk about whether his piece is a political cartoon about his own poverty or not (10 minutes). After we have finished our “debate” over Junior's comic strip, students will get into six groups of five. They will get on the Make Beliefs Comix App and create their own comic strip about a positive attribute Junior has. Depending on the interpretation and presentation of a particular attribute, some that may seem “negative” can actually be positive, I will prompt students with that idea. They are to create a comic strip in the same format and style as the one found on page 120 in the novel (25 minutes). Then students will present their comic strips to the entire class (15 minutes). If there are still groups who haven't presented, they will present at the start of class tomorrow.

Total time: (90 minutes)