First-Grade Close Reading

Teacher question:

I've been looking for online and workshop information on close reading and everything I've seen and heard has recommended doing close reading on material that is well above kids independent reading level. Your post talks about the futility of doing a close read on preprimer material, which I completely agree with. What do you think about using higher text, say second grade, with second semester first graders in a teacher-supported group lesson?

Shanahan response"

The reason why I challenged close reading with young children is because of the lack of depth of appropriate texts for them to read. Close reading requires a deep or analytical reading that considers not just what a text says, but how it works as a text (e.g., examining layers of meaning, recognizing the effectiveness of literary devices, interpreting symbolism). Beginning reading texts simply lack this depth of meaning (or are usually too hard for kids to read).

  The information that you sent me implies that the idea of close reading is simply to read a challenging text with comprehension (challenging in this case meaning hard rather than complex—a very important distinction). For example, the video shows students interpreting word meanings in a hard text. A good lesson, yes indeed, but not really a close read.

  I definitely would not assign second-grade texts to second-semester first-graders unless they were reading at a second-grade level (that is not uncommon, so if your kids are reading that well, go for it). For more typical first-graders (and those who are struggling), I would not do this. You can definitely engage kids in close listening activities with richer texts read by the teacher (a lot of the reading, by the way, seemed to be done by the teacher in the video that was included here), but that should not take the place of the children’s reading.

  I agree with the idea that phonological awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, writing, and reading comprehension (not close reading) should be the real priorities in grade one… so should oral language, of course, and close listening fits that idea nicely. You’ll have plenty of time to ramp this up when students are reading at a second-grade level.