Signed, Sealed, Delivered….

Close Reading Strategy

for Pre-AP /AP

Language and Literature Courses

Letitia HughesBarren County High SchoolGlasgow, KY

Close Reading Activity using Thematic Envelopes to Track Passages

Let’s TROUBLESHOOT….

On the Post-It Poster, record some areas of concerns/ troubles, you or your students have when it comes to close reading of a longer work.

TROUBLE…..

Do your students become overwhelmed when looking for passages for close reading?

Do you find that you as the teacher select the passages for class analysis rather than the students taking the lead?

Are some of your students’ novels brimming with post-its while others have nearly non-existent annotations?

Help has arrived….

This session will offer you a teaching strategy to guide students in tracking passages ….

for class analysis

selecting essay data to use with the claim, data, warrant format

Socratic seminar

and much more.

Purpose:

This activity provides:

1. an analytical focus for students while reading any long work of either fiction or nonfiction or drama

2. opportunities for formative assessment of a student’s close reading of the text

3. categorized quotations suitable for use with a variety of summative assessments

The Envelope Strategy:

1. Identify central themes and elements of significance in a core novel or play or nonfiction wok2. Type up each theme with a brief explanation and discussion of its scope in the text. Where appropriate, ask leading questions that cue students to attend to subtlety and nuance.

3. Label envelopes with the themes, topics, and elements you would like them to track.

4. Distribute an envelope to each student.

5. Instruct the students to record on index cards or slips of paper cited quotations (page number, chapter number, speaker name - to help them relocate the passage if necessary at a later date) that are relevant to the focus identified on the front of the envelope.

Tips…

Envelope Thread Tip: Use literary sites and teacher resources to develop the envelope threads. Cost and Time Saving Tip:  Require students to bring in their own envelopes. Pass out the strips of paper with the topics on them. Pass out a glue stick per row and have them glue down the strip. Bonus: It’s near impossible to Spark note the contents on an entire envelope.

Some Opportunities for Formative Assessment:

Simply count the number of quotations in the envelope at various intervals to gauge if reading is happening. The kinds of quotations will also be quite telling about the depth of thought the student is bringing to his or her reading. Formative feedback can be offered about the need to find passages that probe the idea of the prompt, rather than just containing general references to the envelope topic.

Group Work:

Put students in groups, (either all students with the same envelope focus or in a mixed group,) and have them share the quotations they have chosen. Have the students justify their choices. Provide feedback about depth and relevance. Allow the quotations to suggest group and class discussion about the novel.

Quiz Time….Use quotations from the envelope to generate formative quotation analysis-style quizzes.As a quiz grade, “Open your envelope, select X number of passages and write an analysis of the passages.As a quiz grade….  I take up envelopes and pass them back out to kids ensuring they have a new topic and …. “Open your classmate’s envelope, select X number of passages and write an analysis of each of the passages” Then return it to original owner.

Presentations…

Have the students, (either individually or in groups,) present the quotations to the class. This provides opportunities for formative feedback about presentation skills. You could have the students practice incorporating media into a presentation by having the students integrate a thematically related film or audio clip into their presentation, or you could ask them to prepare two to three Power Point slides to assist them as they explain their chosen passages.Ex: The Crucible Fallacy Projects

Ad Hominem

Latin for “to the man” A fallacy of logic in which a person’s

motive or character is attacked rather than the person’s actions or argument

Problem: People are falsely attacked based on people’s false or proper judgment of character

Ad Hominem

Examples

Politicians are often attacked because of their personalities or views

People use bias opinions of people as excuses to attack their motives and arguments

People often base their opinions on politicians’ character flaws rather than stances on political issues

Crucible Example

John ProctorAct 2Pg. 198-201Hale: Twenty-six time in 7 month, sir. I must call that rare.

Will you tell me why you are so absent?Proctor: Mr. Hale, I never knew I must account to that man

for I come to church or stay at home. My wife were sick this winter.

Proctor was attacked on his Christian character rather than his argument and actions. He was attacked based on not attending church, not baptizing his youngest son, and knowledge of the commandments.

Butcher Paper Essays:After we completed reading the novel, I put them into groups and each group took all their envelopes for that one topic and quickly reviewed all the slips of paper inside.  Then, they had to create a meaningful thesis statement about that topic and write it across the top of a piece of butcher paper.  Then they categorized the quotes from the envelopes in order to support that thesis in multiple ways.  Once they had some "categories" and set aside duplicates, they created topic sentences and wrote those on the butcher paper. CLAIM

Butcher Paper Essays Cont..

Then the group taped/glued the slips of paper that supported each of those topic sentences onto the butcher paper below the topic sentence.  DATASo we ended up with giant "outlines" of meaningful "novel as a whole" analysis.  It was interesting to see the various ways that they could come about making a point of it all.

SAMPLES:

Ironically, as kids wrote on different colors, some neatly typed, some scratched on post-its, some on colors, some on paper torn apart unevenly... it looked like a "stitched-together quilt” on the butcher paper!  

Think Pair Share….

Put kids with the same topic together and have them synthesize what they have tracked and develop seminar-type questions in order to lead a discussion on their topic.

Analysis of Syntax and DictionAnalysis of syntax and diction in a passage on smart board.  We alternate between envelopes and analyze a passage as a class on the smart board. Ex: While reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I selected a student’s envelope and then the passage about the cemetery beside Cal’s church. The description of the tombstones, graves, etc. is long and involved but the last sentence says “It was a happy cemetery.”  We analyzed the paradox and syntax. This set the precedence for students to pick a passage on certain days and type it up to show on the smart board and lead the class in the analysis of the passage.

Other uses on your handout…

Summer Reading Assignments

In Class Timed Essays

Whole group Socratic sessions, where students can use their envelopes.

What students have to say about envelopes…

“Envelopes helped me look at the text on a deeper level and helped me organize my thoughts for my essay. It was great to see the connections between the novel and the universal ideas.”

Tiana Sheehan

Former Lang/ current Lit student

Raven, a former Lang and current Lit student says…

“ The envelope strategy helped me for many reasons. The first reason is by having one topic on the envelope, it helped me to focus on one thing at a time with out being overwhelmed. Secondly, the envelope is a great way to stay organized. Lastly, the things I put in the envelopes really made me think about what I read.”

“The envelope activity made me take a closer look into what I was reading. With the envelopes, I was reading for a purpose that helped me to understand the deeper meaning of the novel or work as a whole.”

Jessica Van Buren Former Lang / current Lit student

“Envelopes gave me better insight into the story. Some things came up for discussion through envelopes that I never thought about.”

Colton Wilson

Former Lang / current Lit student

“The envelopes gave me something to look for. As we filtered through different envelopes, we could truly see what was transpiring with the envelope themes.”

Patrick White

Former Lang / current Lit student

What other AP teachers say about envelopes…

I just used them for the first time with The Awakening last week. As a quiz I had them take out one of their quotes and respond to it in any way they wanted--it's significance to the story, what happened after, its relationship to the theme (envelope topic), rhetorical analysis, etc.  Not exactly rocket science, but it got them thinking.  Then they had to trade and do the same thing with an unfamiliar quote.  My kids really enjoyed the whole concept of tracing the envelope topics throughout the book.  They said they even found themselves tracing other student's topics as well.

Toni M. Hobgood

The Possibilities are Endless…

Think Pair Share…

Reflection:

Jot down any ideas you have now about how the envelopes can be used.

Share with the group!!!!

Let’s look at some samples…In your packet, you will find samples I have written on The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Great Gatsby.You will also see a link to my webpage where there are envelope topics for 14 other works as well as this power point and handouts.Give credit where credit is due.EDG

Theory in Practice

Using the 2003 Form B AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Question, read for the device / strategy listed on your card.

Just pretend it is a longer work and your card is an envelope.

Theoretically, choose an activity for your common group to do which incorporates the contents of your “Envelope.”

Reflect…

Bonus…

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