As we work through Part I of Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the skills I am attempting to drill is analysis through close reading. Because I know that students will be faced with excerpts of text on standardized tests, I want them to be armed with the close reading skills necessary to respond appropriately to the types of text-based questions that will most likely be in front of them. We are painstakingly going through certain chapters with a fine tooth comb and pulling every single dollop of meaning that we could possibly ascertain from those passages.
Is this the best way to read a novel? No. That is why we are not doing this activity for the entire book; we’d be working with Atticus and Scout till next Christmas at that rate! However, given the types of questions provided on these standardized tests based on short passages, it is in the students’ best interest to introduce them to the concept of “close reading.”
I did this by breaking the class into six groups for the entire unit. We do a LOT of cooperative group work anyway, but this works best for close reading and analysis. For both Chapter One and Chapter Nine, I broke the chapter into six sections for close reading. Each group was assigned about a page and a half to read very closely and to do the following:
– come up with three main ideas that are being expressed in that section ONLY (for example, direct or indirect characterization through dialogue/dialect/idioms, introduction or development of a theme, indirect characterization through analysis of a particular aspect of the setting or use of symbols, etc)
– select three strong quotations from that section and fully explain their significance
The breakdown of the chapters and instructions to the groups are included in the following documents:
The groups were given 20-25 minutes to discuss and complete the close reading work. After that, each group had to be ready to go under the hot lamps, so to speak. They had to share what they gleaned with the rest of the class, while everyone took notes. I had each group begin with a brief summary so that everyone was together about what was going to be discussed/analyzed, and then the intense grilling of the text began.
Although this is a painful approach to text, particularly for those who have never been forced to read closely before and to make inferences based on what they’ve read, this activity will go a long way in helping to prepare them for getting through successfully on standardized Common Core tests.
Binders Full of Evidence 14-15 