Close Reading

The Common Core Standards demand that students, even little firsties, read closely to understand character development, setting, and central messages in texts.  We often talk about "close reading" as a whole group lesson that has kids reading and rereading a complex text with scaffolded questions.  However, the other day I had a discussion with one of my strongest readers that I think exemplified close reading.  This kiddo has been assessed on a third-grade reading level and his accuracy and overall comprehension were strong, but I've noticed that he still struggles with longer books.  We have been working on stopping at the end of each chapter to check in and make predictions.

Kiddo: "I'm finally on Chapter 6! It's called "Lawbreakers" so I think someone is going to break the law." (He was reading The Drinking Gourd.)
Me: "Hmm, breaking the law seems like something big to happen in Chapter 6, are you sure that no one has broken the law yet?"

I pulled him over to my table and flipped through the book with him, asking a few basic comprehension questions.  It was clear that he understood the big idea: an African American family is trying to escape from slavery with the help of a white father and his son.

Me: "There is another character too!  "The Marshall": who is he?"
Kiddo: "I'm not sure exactly. He might be the African American dad."
Me: "This seems important.  Let's confirm who the Marshall is before you move on."

I took a big Post-it and stuck it in the book on Chapter 6.  I wrote "Who is the Marshall? What is he doing?".  Then I asked the kiddo to go back to the story and find evidence in the text to help him answer the questions.  As he looked back through the book, he developed a few other theories about the Marshall.  Eventually he determined that the U.S. Marshall was trying to bring the African American family back to slavey.

Me: "What do you know about the setting of this book?"
Kiddo: "Well, it's in the past. When there was slavery."
Me: "How can that help you understand what's going on? What is the white family doing by helping the slaves?"
Kiddo: "Oh! Even though they were doing a good thing, it was actually breaking the law to help slaves get free! Tommy and his dad are the lawbreakers!"

Yes!  This insight was essential to really understanding the text, and this first grader was completely capable of understanding it.  He just needed a little support along the way to get there.  Although this wasn't a planned activity, or a whole class lesson, this is what I think of when I think of close reading.  The challenge is finding the time to check in with all of my readers during their independent reading to ensure they are really pausing, questioning, predicting, and making connections.  It's wonderful when it happens!