Are you looking for ways to improve your students’ comprehension, critical thinking, and reasoning skills all while meeting the Common Core State Standards? If so, you will not want to miss this one-day learning experience surrounding Close Reading. Through reading, viewing video, and dialogue, you will discover dozens of practical strategies and engaging techniques that are guaranteed to improve student achievement. This learning adventure is interactive, goal-focused, and instruction-based.
This presentation was designed to lead the incredibly awesome 4th- through 8th-grade teachers at Cedar Springs Public Schools through an all-day professional learning experience, wherein which I shared my journey of learning and teaching Close Reading to ninth- and tenth-graders. The presentation ranges from the days where I committed sticky-note Readicide and accepted “all thoughts about texts as great” to my current days where I want students to, as Dave Stuart of Teaching the Core verbalizes it, “legitimately understand and interact with complex texts for the sake of entering the argumentative conversation of which they are a part.”
The invitation from CSPS Curriculum Director Steve Seward read as follows:
Hello all,
As you know, there is a buzz in education surrounding reading, writing, and thinking. Some of the top thinkers (besides yourselves: Mike Schmoker, Kelly Gallagher, Doug Fisher, Donalyn Miller, Cris Tovani, Penny Kittle) are talking about close reading and how it supports thinking, reading, and comprehension at deep levels in ALL content areas. Close Reading is a skill-based, strategy-filled, teaching focus that can be used with both and fictional and non-fictional text structures.
No comes the exciting part—One of our “VERY OWN”, Erica Beaton, will be leading a learning date for us and you are invited to attend!
Who/Audience: 4-8th grade teachers
When: November 8th, 2012 from 8:00-2:30
Where: district office (room to be announced)
If you are interested, and I know you will be, please let me know. We will have limited spots, so this will be on a “first respond”, “first signed up” basis.
The videos of my students featured below are embedded within the Prezi.
Once again, I wanted to extend my gratitude to the teachers at CSPS for their attendance and engagement during our Close Reading learning experience. I am amazed and awed by the incredible work being done in our district. I am blessed to follow and extend their work in this crazy thing called education.
- My wickedly awesome colleague Dave Stuart’s Common Core State Standards Blog and his explanation of debates.
- Our CSHS Writing Handbook
- The American Rhetoric speeches
- Our VoiceThread on The Arrival graphic novel
- Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein’s book They Say, I Say: the Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, which has really pushed my thinking about why we close read in the first place
Yes! I get to be the first of 10s of 1000s who will eventually comment on this blog! Rock on, Erica — I’m excited to be able to link to an online home for the thoughtful work you are doing. Thanks for being a colleague who inspires me both in what you do in the classroom and in how you humbly approach your work as a long-term human-flourishing promoter 🙂
Aww, shucks! Thanks for all the support, Dave! Right back atcha!
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I can’t seem to view the prezi–what am I doing wrong??
Thank you for your excitement surrounding close reading. Because the presentation is filled with student work and voices, we recently changed the privacy settings to private. The general ideas within the presentation are accessible on my blog as well as on my co-presenter Dave Stuart’s blog at http://www.TeachingtheCore.com. We are available for outside consulting, regarding the specific content shown in the presentation. Please let us know how we can support you. Thanks again.
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Hi Erica – I’ve been hearing about your “close reading” prezi and I would love to see it. Are you sharing it?
Hi Erica,
Your the link to your prezi was sent to me last fall, and I found it amazing! I understand the need to take it down for various reasons, but I would love to have access to it to share with teachers in my building. Our district is not allowing attendance to any out of state conference, so we will not be able to get it at NCTE. Thanks so much for your help and consideration,
Hi Jo,
I received your comment through the blog — first of all, thank you so much for your kind words. I am wondering if your district is willing to have me come in and lead a training on the close reading resource. In our state (Michigan), I know that state-provided grants aren’t allowed to be spent on conferences, but they are allowed to be used on professional development speakers.
Please let me know if this is a possibility; I would love to write a proposal for your consideration or whomever it concerns. If I were to come, I would create a custom Prezi uniquely suited to your district and its needs.
Thanks so much, Jo!
Sincerely,
Erica
Would love to have access to the prezi. Getting ready to incorporate Close reading and STEM…should be interesting to see my students’ take on this!
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Hi Erica!
I am a brand-new instructional coach tasked with training both elementary and secondary teachers close reading strategies. I’d love to view your prezi — and I’m afraid there’s little chance we could bring you all the way to California, unfortunately. I love your close reading lesson on the wordless picture book. Fantastic! Thanks for considering….
— Gillian Wegener
Hi Erika, I work with teachers in NZ developing reading strategies and have read of your great work. Your Close Reading prezi has such positive responses online I would love to share it with teachers ‘down under’. I agree with Gillian, your close reading lesson on the wordless picture book is so clear. I have used it with several classes already.
Thank you in anticipation.. Pauline
Thanks all of the interest in the Close Reading Prezi! I’m sorry to say I had to change the privacy rights on the presentation because, sadly, I learned that there were folks using my presentation as their own work in for-profit professional developments. I have been trying to fund a NCTE trip to share the PD, but–as you know all know–it’s one of those pay-for-the-privilege opportunities. Long story short: I’m really bummed about this situation. Dave Stuart, of http://www.teachingthecore.com, and I are working on ways to make this information available, either through PD workshops or some other method. Please check back as I update the blog with the progress. Thanks again for your support! It really is so motivating.
Erica — I teach at a public high school in Seattle and we (like everyone else) are trying to find common language around the teaching of close reading. Any chance I could get a glimpse of your awesome prezi? I will use it only as you’d imagine a teacher in my position would. Thanks.
Thank you for all the support and inquiries about my Close Reading Prezi. It is finally available again! Hooray! You can support my work and find it here: https://gumroad.com/l/closereadingprezi. Thanks again! 🙂
I am a literacy coach in Southern Utah. I have read and heard about your Close Reading Prezi and would love to access to it to share just with my teachers. Let me know what I need to do to get this.
Thanks!