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Close Reading WoRkshop
Close Reading of shakespeare
Learning Targets
• Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
• Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
• Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
• Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Close Reading for Meaning
What does learning to read closely mean? Close reading means looking beyond the basic information conveyed by a text. As readers, we should also consider the author’s point of view and purpose for writing the text, as well as the author’s attitude toward the subject. Examining word choices and other details of the text helps us to better understand the author’s intended meaning.
The type of poetry that Shakespeare uses in his plays demands a particular form of close reading in which an author’s use of language and syntax is a distinctive element in making meaning of the text. For the passages in this workshop, you will have to carefully examine the sentence structure and archaic vocabulary—words that were used much more commonly or had different meanings four centuries ago.
In this workshop, you will read three different texts and practice close reading, using strategies that will help you make meaning of the text. Your teacher will guide you through the first activity. In the second activity, you will work in a collaborative group to read and respond to the text. In the third activity, you will work independently to apply close reading strategies to determine meaning in a new text.
leaRning sTRaTegies
Diffusing, Close Reading, Marking the Text, Rereading, Summarizing
aCademiC VoCabulaRy
Tone is the way an author or speaker expresses an attitude toward a subject.
aCademiC VoCabulaRy
Archaic – characteristic of an earlier period of a language and not in ordinary use
Close Reading Workshop 4 • Close Reading of Shakespeare 47
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