Close Reading Packs engage your students in structured, self-directed, collaborative discussions of high interest, grade appropriate, literary, and informational text to help them meet common core state standards.
The Close Reading Packs feature cross-disciplinary content that will help your students practice close reading of text to get at meaning, collaborate, and share ideas using evidence from texts they read, think critically about text, and answer essential questions that lead to life-long learning.
Each Close Reading Pack is organized around a key question. First, students read on their own one of four passages in a pack. Student's must read carefully to analyze or evaluate the text to answer the key question. Student response sheets with graphic organizers and text dependent questions support students as they come up with the best answer to the key question.
After reading their individual passages, students come together into groups to discuss what they read. They must find evidence from all the passages that support answering the key question.
Groups practice collaboration and teamwork using speaking and listening skills important for 21st Century careers and beyond to come to a consensus answer on the key question.
Finally, the teacher facilitates a whole class discussion and students read a connecting passage as a culminating activity to apply what they've learned. They discuss the connecting passages evidence for supporting or changing their class answer to the key question.
Teaching tips contain many lessons on valuable comprehension, author's craft, or critical thinking skills. These skills sharpen students focus with note taking and re-reading strategies to achieve a deeper understanding of the text.
The passages within each pack are level to help differentiate instruction within groups. Levels are represented by small dots. Generally, the low-level passages are one grade level below while the high passages can one grade level above.
Close Reading Packs are a terrific resource to help you differentiate your reading instruction, engage students in deep, lively discussions of text, and meet critical, informational text, literature, speaking, and listening standards key to achieving success with common core and 21st Century skills.
