Where Does Rigor Fit? - Kylene Beers
What is Close Reading?
Defining the Signposts
Explaining the Signposts
Wondrous Word: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom by Katie Wood Ray
Mini-lessons for Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke

Close Reading & Reading like a Writer

Say:
     "Those who attribute the downfall of Western Civilization in the US (and perhaps the shrinking of the polar ice caps) to lack of rigor in the classroom have seized the opportunity to renew their condemnation of education's past failure and express their dwindling hopes for the future" (Beers 20). Obviously more rigor is a great idea. Obviously raising expectations and standards is a good idea. Nobody is in favor of weakened the curriculum in anyway. The important thing to notice is that this doesn't mean what a large portion of the critics believe it to look like. Simply teaching "harder books" is not how you fix the problem. Beers explains elegantly that it "is not an attribute of a text but rather a characteristic of our behavior with that text" (20). Students who struggle with reading, and I say this thinking about Close Reading and student's ability to view text more than aesthetically, do so not because they didn't pass their vocabulary test. The struggle has to be productive-if the students are struggling with the meaning and response, then proper rigor is not achieved. Beers explains that rigor can be boiled down to how the student engages with the text, and the level of commitment put forth (22). Students need to be engaged and have meaning in order to commit rigor and work to a text.  
     What is close reading? Once students have committed to a text, after meaning is made and surface-level issues are resolved, it's time to dig-in. So how does this look in the classroom? Close reading is searching and interacting with the text in order to find and understand more meaning. "Meaning is created not purely and simply from the words on the page, but from the transaction with those words that takes place in the reader's mind" (What is 35). Close reading is said to deny lazy students the reliance on sole use of Reader Response to the story, which in-turn denies them one of their tools. Yet on the flipside, if students only gave reports and quotes from the text, then transaction is not occurring. Bring the two together.  
     Characteristics of close reading (for the footnoters) (38): 
          1. It works with a short passage
          2. The focus is intense 
          3. It will extend from the passage itself to other parts of the text.
          4. It should involve a great deal of exploratory discussion 
          5. It involves rereading 
     The Six Signposts
          1. Contrasts and Contradictions (a tough character crying)
          2. Aha Moments ("I realized..." "I suddenly understood..." "Now I knew..."
          3. Tough Questions (Questions the characters ask themselves)
          4. Words of the Wiser (A character receiving advice from an elder)
          5. Again and Again (repetition of certain diction)
          6. Memory Moment (interrupting of the plot flow for side information)
     So while, signposts may work better within a middle-school or seminar type context. They are important to know and introduce, despite what label or context you place them on or in. If you know the text that you're teaching well (as you should), and you are aware of an abundance of signposts within them, I'm all for teaching one or two as an intro to spotting and discussing literary devices. The explaining article goes on to explain basic maneuvers like modeling and gradual release. These being even more important with younger and less experienced textual interactors. 
     "So you've decided to write about how much your mother means to you. Great idea--it'll be such a special piece! Have at it! Let me know when you're finished" (Ray 8). Well this sounds familiar! First years of teaching much? Ray explains that this sense of verbal encouragement is but false. "How much power could my students' writing have to help them make waves or build bridges in the world if I only helped them to find good topics" (9)? We have to teach students how writing is done so that they can open up new possibilities for their own writing and communication.

     Important things to know: 

          1. What it means to read like a writer.
The student (and teacher) have to understand, when they are presented with a text, what they are looking for. While it's fun to just read for plot and immersion, fully understanding a text and being able to grow from and apply it to your writing personality requires certain knowledge of craft. These are where the signposts can come into play, and as you progress higher-level rhetorical devices. 
          2. The difference b/w writing as unique and writing as individual.
This means using unoriginal techniques, for instance Spinelli's use of italics and combining words, in order to achieve an actually unique voice for your characters and story (whatever it may be). "Writers can't help the vicarious learning, and of course it is this vicarious learning that keeps writing style from being unique and makes language use (written or spoken)" (19).
          3. The difference b/w a descriptive and prescriptive approach to teaching writing.
To be a quality and effective teacher, when teaching students to learn from writers it's important to hold a descriptive approach. Ignore "The List" of no-nos; engage in the author's choice and give the students that same choice to play with language. Also, the more exposure the students receive of different wordsmiths, the more tools and examples of crafting they will have under their belt--a simple idea, but very useful to think about models when teaching from them.
     Hmmm, connecting these across readings? Book clubs give the students different immersive language worlds that they can then discuss, and hopefully work with in some way more than response. Mentor Sentences are actually pretty incredible. Most students' weak spots include grammar and standard english conventions. My CT works heavily with Mentor Sentences (the same from BlackBoard) nearly everyday, in all his CP and struggling classes. It's an absolutely fabulous way to meet a Ton of standards, get grammar out of the way, while still relating it to whatever event, song, or text is popular in your unit or class. While they aren't thrilling--they do help. It's a good activity to set routine with. Oh you're learning from different authors and texts? What a great time to discuss different theoretical perspectives of the different authors. Not only can you read like a writer, but with the theory-lenses and response, Hey! Now we've got some great close reading going on! Unsure how to teach all these at once? Ever heard of a Socratic Seminar? Mix it up with some voice-heavy persuasion.

Do:
     Sample Lesson: Close Reading a Cartoon
Another simple way to begin to teach close reading is to read a cartoon. Before overwhelming students with craft of the written word, sometimes an easy model and scaffold can be done with a picture as well

   LESSON OBJECTIVE:
Reading a picture or an image Reading a cartoon provides different opportunities for discussion than the previous lesson provided. Students need to spend more time with the third and fourth readings to determine the meaning of the picture and accompanying text, as well as to examine their feelings and thoughts about the cartoon, to understand what it means to them.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
Projector for sharing the image with the class; projectable image ready

   GROUPING: Large or small group
   TIME: 10 minutes
          Step 1. Have Students Examine the Cartoon Begin with the first reading. Remember, you are asking students to consider the essential question, “What does the text say?” You might say: “Think about what this this cartoon says. [Pause, giving students a minute to examine the picture.] This is our ‘first read’ of the picture. I am noticing that the cat, obviously injured, is describing the suspect to the police artist and the police artist is drawing the suspect as the cat talks.”
          Step 2. Encourage Students to “Read” the Picture Again Give students a few more seconds to look at the cartoon after you share your thoughts. Invite students to share their thinking. You might want to write down their thoughts and ideas as they share. You can say: “In the second reading, we need to think about how the artist shows us what the text says. Remember, we focus on ‘How does the text say it?’ This author says it through the illustration’s details. Notice the cat’s hand waving in the air as he describes the suspect. Notice the injuries of the cat and the suspect he is describing, the dog. Look at the context of the room the two characters are in. It is sparse. Notice the look on the face of the police artist, and the ability of the police artist to capture what the cat is describing.”
          Step 3. Encourage Students to Examine the Picture and Evaluate Meaning Rally the class and get the students talking about the cartoon. Focus on students thinking about whether the cartoon is funny or not, and encourage them to explain why using details from the cartoon. You can say: “In the third reading, we ask the question, ‘What does the text mean?’ [Pause for a minute.] I want you to think about what the text means. In this simple cartoon, the artist is trying to get us to smile and to laugh. A process that is used in police work is made funny because it is a cat that is injured and describing the suspect, which is a dog. When considering the context of this cartoon, we know that it was written in the United States where the relationship between dogs and cats is considered adversarial. That is what makes us smile when looking at the cartoon!”
          Step 4. You’re Done! Your students just did a close reading with three “readings” of the cartoon. First they thought about literal meaning of the cartoon; after the third reading, they asked answered questions about text meaning; and they also evaluated the picture and accompanying text to determine the deeper meaning of the cartoon.