Producing students for the future requires a teacher to be knowledgeable in the skills that they will need to be successful. This is a graphic from the World Economic Forum that I love because of the way these skills are organized into 3 categories: Foundational literacies, Competencies, and Character Qualities.
After attending a literacy conference with Chris Lehman, author of Falling in Love with Close Reading, I have developed some new ideas on incorporating some of these 21st century skills into my literacy block with close reading lessons.
Lehman suggests that close reading can teach students how to choose a perspective on how to view the world. Students will go from consumption to caring (building an awareness of our world). I love this idea because I want my students to be aware of our global diversity and take an appreciation for it. So, as I think about how I will set up my classroom to be a highly effective literacy environment that develops global diversity, these are things I will focus on:
Would love to have some feedback or comments on how you use close reading in your classroom.
Lehman suggests that close reading can teach students how to choose a perspective on how to view the world. Students will go from consumption to caring (building an awareness of our world). I love this idea because I want my students to be aware of our global diversity and take an appreciation for it. So, as I think about how I will set up my classroom to be a highly effective literacy environment that develops global diversity, these are things I will focus on:
- Creating text sets that focus around a global issue either from the past or present
- Sets include books, articles, images, videos, audio, etc. with multiple points of view
- Start with images or videos that can be understood by ALL learners in my room
- When the skill is difficult, keep the text simple
- As the skill becomes mastered, then increase text complexity
- Begin by choosing a big idea to focus on (character traits, opinions, main ideas, setting, relationships, etc.)
- Reread small sections, finding evidence within the text that supports the big idea. Record the evidence and look for patterns, grouping these ideas (ask, "How do the grouped ideas fit together?"). Students can be working with partners during this step until it is a comfortable process.
- Develop understanding: Look back and revise or confirm patterns and details. Students should get more specific about the text. This is where students develop their own opinion on the topic....Global citizens!!
Would love to have some feedback or comments on how you use close reading in your classroom.