What the Student Does
Literature
3 Gist: Students say what happens in the story or what the poem is about based on evidence from the text. They ask and answer questions of the text to build literal understanding before, during, and after reading.
They consider:
• What happens in the story, play, or poem?
• What is the setting?
• Which words, pictures, and sentences help me know this?
• How can I find the answer to words and sentences that confuse me?
• Which details from the text can I point to in supporting my ideas?
4 Gist: Students explain — either verbally or in written form — the events of the story or what the poem says based on details and examples from the text. They provide specific examples from the text when making inferences.
They consider:
• What happens in this story, play, or poem?
• What is the setting? (time and place)
• What is the author’s central message?
• As I read, which details help me understand what is happening to these characters?
• What inferences can I make and what specific details from the text led me to make each one?
5 Gist: Students explain — either verbally or in written form — the events of the story or what the poem says using specific, accurate quotes directly from the text. Provide quotes from the text to support inferences.
They consider:
• What happens in this story, play, or poem?
• Which specific details are most important?
• What is the setting? (time and place)
• What are the main events in the story or poem?
• What direct, explicit quotes from the text support my understanding of the author’s meaning?
• What direct quotes from the text support my inferences from the text?
Informational Text
3 Gist: Students say what happens in the text or what it’s about based on evidence from the text. Ask and answer questions of the text to build literal understanding before, during, and after.
They consider:
• What happens or is said in this text?
• Which specific details help me understand the main topic?
• How can I look at words, pictures, and headings to help me understand?
• Can I read more slowly, reread, or skim the text to find specific details that support my ideas about the text?
4 Gist: Students explain — either verbally or in written form— what the text is about, providing specific details and examples from the text. Provide specific examples from the text when making inferences.
They consider:
• What is the purpose for reading?
• What is the topic/subject—and what does the text say about that?
• Which specific details are most important?
• What is the setting? (time and place)
• What evidence or examples support what I understand about the text?
• What inferences can I make and what specific details from the text led me to make each one?
5 Gist: Students explain — either verbally or in written form— what the text is about, using specific, accurate quotes directly from the text. Provide quotes from the text to support inferences.
They consider:
• What is the purpose for reading?
• What is the topic/subject—and what does the text say about that?
• Which specific details are most important?
• What is the setting (time and place)?
• What textual evidence supports my account of what the text says?
• What evidence — a detail, quotations, or example — can I cite to support my inference or explanation of the literal meaning of the text?
Common Core Reading Standard 1
What the Teacher Does
To teach students how to “read closely”:
• Think aloud your close reading process as you share fiction and informational short texts and picture books. When reading shared novels as a class, plan ahead a chapter opening or passage you want to model with. Track thinking with sticky notes placed directly on the text, big chart paper and/or highlighting, displaying text on a screen.
• Pose questions about the text’s words, actions, and details that require students to look closely. Don’t do the answering for them!
• Display a text via tablet or computer and ask students to select specific words, sentences, or paragraphs they think are essential; ask students to explain how it contributes to the meaning of the larger text.
• Draw students’ attention to text features and structures, and think aloud how you combine information in these elements to understand the page/section/text as a whole.
• Provide short pieces of text for students to practice “reading closely” for specific purposes.
• Have students respond to their reading and their thinking about texts. This could be accomplished in response journals or other reading notebooks.
To teach students how to ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding:
• Using picture books, ask a question and think aloud how it helped you understand. For example, when a fiction reader muses, “I wonder why she acted that way towards him?” it puts the reader on high alert, looking for the answer in the text. Readers of nonfiction also pose questions when their comprehension falters or as a way to cement understandings, sentence by sentence. For example, “What does hibernation mean? I sort of think it has something to do with winter, but I’ll read on to see if the author explains it.”
• Use chart paper to record students’ questions about a shared text as you read. Then, after reading, go back and answer these questions. Encourage students to pose analytical (how, why) questions along with literal (who,
