Falling in Love with Close Reading- Chapter 6: Comparing Texts



Chapter 6 was all about close reading and comparing two texts.  The author gives a great example of introducing this using sitcoms- it would be great for older students, but not very conducive to my littler guys.  One thing that I they pointed out in this chapter was that when Marzano compiled research on effective instruction, he found that some of the "strategies with the greatest effect on student ACHIEVEMENT were those that pushed students to compare texts and ideas."  After reading this I really thought that made sense because, after all, to really be able to compare you have to understand and comprehend in the first place.  So, obviously, comparing texts would really be the deeper thinking that we want our students to be able to delve into.  It makes sense that this would be one of the later close reading ideas since students will want to have practiced close reading for text evidence, word choice, structure, etc. to really prepare them for comparing two texts or ideas.

They stick with the 3 steps for close reading here too:
1. Read through lenses.
Choosing one thing to hone in on and compare- characters or subjects, themes, settings, authors...
Then, you have to choose your texts.
2. Use lenses to find patterns.
Decide how you're going to compare.  Using text evidence, word choice, structure, point of view?
3. Use the patterns to develop a new understanding of the text.
Have new ideas about the lens you looked through, the author's choices, the messages these texts send...

They suggest when choosing the texts to compare to have different reminders to your students about the books you have read as a class.  Maybe a list somewhere in the class or copies of the book covers, to help jog students memories.  But, also have students consider their own independent reading books to compare as well.

On of my favorite little tidbits that they included to help students with their own in analysis was to guide them using a sentence frame.  I love using sentence summary frames in reading!  (One of my fave CRISS strategies!) Here's the one they suggested:

Both texts have in common ________________________.  But some differences are that ________________________________.  This makes me think ___________________________.

Click here to see some of the CRISS strategies and then click on One Sentence Summary Frames to see a document that list all of the different summary frames that you may want to use in other areas of reading instruction.

  Don't forget to enter to win your own copy of Falling in Love with Close Reading using the Giveaway Tools below!  Then, check out what the other bloggers thought of Chapter 6.  I know there's some other freebies to go along with what we learned that you can use in your classroom from some of them!

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