http://www.slj.com/2013/03/books-media/collection-development/on-common-core-nonfiction-as-mentor-text/ The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens Thu, 19 Sep 2013 00:20:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://www.slj.com/2013/03/books-media/collection-development/on-common-core-nonfiction-as-mentor-text/#comment-103968 SGP Thu, 19 Sep 2013 00:20:41 +0000 http://www.slj.com/?p=37963#comment-103968 I often get asked by other content teachers, I am a ELA teacher, what is this Close Reading thing? Isn't that when kids read a text and fill in the blanks to figure out the words I took out? I of course first say, that is what a lot of people think but what you described is Cloze Reading. Close reading is not new or some ground breaking technique that will make all students amazing readers, however if used regularly will make students more careful and purposeful readers. The ideas presented in your blog get at the heart of Close reading and really require students to analyze author's craft which is such an important skill. Reading between the lines, being a discriminating reader, seeing where ideas may be biased by the author's point of view are important life skills. However, if we are expecting this out of our students we must be more critical readers of the texts we utilize in our classes. The subheadings related to the texts on your blog unlock such interesting author's style techniques. I also think they are really interesting ways to look for key ideas in nonfiction texts. I'm not only excited about using them in my classroom, I'm excited about sharing them with my colleagues. I often get asked by other content teachers, I am a ELA teacher, what is this Close Reading thing? Isn’t that when kids read a text and fill in the blanks to figure out the words I took out? I of course first say, that is what a lot of people think but what you described is Cloze Reading. Close reading is not new or some ground breaking technique that will make all students amazing readers, however if used regularly will make students more careful and purposeful readers. The ideas presented in your blog get at the heart of Close reading and really require students to analyze author’s craft which is such an important skill. Reading between the lines, being a discriminating reader, seeing where ideas may be biased by the author’s point of view are important life skills. However, if we are expecting this out of our students we must be more critical readers of the texts we utilize in our classes. The subheadings related to the texts on your blog unlock such interesting author’s style techniques. I also think they are really interesting ways to look for key ideas in nonfiction texts. I’m not only excited about using them in my classroom, I’m excited about sharing them with my colleagues.

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