READING CLOSELY

FOR TEXTUAL DETAILS

DEVELOPING CORE LITERACY
PROFICIENCIES

GRADE 6

Literacy Toolbox

READING CLOSELY GRAPHIC

READING CLOSELY: GUIDING QUESTIONS

ATTENDING TO DETAILS

READING CLOSELY FINAL WRITING AND DISCUSSION TASK HANDOUT

In this unit, you have been developing your skills as an investigator of texts:

• Asking and thinking about good questions to help you examine what you read closely
• Uncovering key clues in the details, words, and information found in the texts
• Making connections among details and texts
• Discussing what you have discovered with your classmates and teacher
• Citing specific evidence from the texts to explain and support your thinking
• Recording and communicating your thinking on graphic tools and in sentences and paragraphs

Your final assignments will provide you with opportunities to use all of these related skills and to demonstrate your proficiency and growth in Reading Closely.

FINAL ASSIGNMENTS

1. 1. Becoming a Text Expert: You will first become an expert about one of the three final texts in the unit. To accomplish this, you will do the following:
   1. Read and annotate the text on your own and use Guiding Questions and an Analyzing Details Tool to make some initial connections about the text.
   2. Compare the notes and connections you make with those made by other students who are also becoming experts about the same text.
   3. In your expert group, come up with a new text-specific question to think about when rereading the text more closely. Complete a second Analyzing Details Tool for this question.
   4. Study your text notes and Analyzing Details Tools to come up with your own central idea about the text and topic—something new you have come to understand.
   5. Think about how your text and the central idea you have discovered relates and compares to other texts in the unit.
2. 2. Writing a Text-Based Explanation: On your own, you will plan and draft a multiparagraph explanation of something you have come to understand by reading and examining your text. To accomplish this, you will do the following:
   1. Present and explain the central idea you have found in the text—what you think the text is about.
   2. Use quotations and paraphrased references from the text to explain and support the central idea you are discussing.
   3. Explain how the central idea is related to what you have found out about the author’s purpose in writing the text and the author’s perspective on (view of) the topic.
   4. Present and explain a new understanding about the unit’s topic that your text has led you to.
   5. Work with other students to review and improve your draft—and to be sure it is the best possible representation of your ideas and your skills as a reader and writer.
   6. Reflect on how well you have used Literacy Skills in developing this final explanation.
3. 3. Leading and Participating in a Text-Centered Discussion: After you have become an expert about your text and written an explanation of what you understand, you will prepare for and participate in a final discussion. In this discussion, you and other students will compare your close readings of the final three texts in the unit. To accomplish this, you will do the following:
   1. Prepare a summary of what you have come to understand and written in your explanation to share with the other students in your discussion group.
   2. Reread the other two final texts so that you are prepared to discuss and compare them.
   3. Meet with your expert group to talk about your text and how to lead a discussion of it.
   4. Come up with a new question about your text that will get others to think about the connections between it and the other texts in the unit.
   5. Join a new discussion group, and share your summary about your text and the evidence you have found:
      • Point out key details to the other students in your group.
      • Explain your observations about your author’s purpose and perspective.
      • Point out key words, phrases, or sentences that indicate your author’s perspective.
      • Explain what you have come to understand about the topic from your text.
   6. Listen to other students’ summaries and think about the connections to your text.
   7. Pose your question to the group, and lead a discussion about the three texts, asking students to present evidence from the texts that supports their thinking.
   8. Reflect on how well you have used Discussion Habits in this final discussion.

SKILLS AND HABITS TO BE DEMONSTRATED

As you become a text expert, write your text-based explanation, and participate in a text-centered discussion, think about demonstrating the Literacy Skills and Discussion Habits listed in the following to the best of your ability. Your teacher will evaluate your work and determine your grade based on how well you do the following things:

• Attend to Details: Identify words, details, or quotations that you think are important to understanding the text.
• Interpret Language: Understand how words are used to express ideas and perspectives.
• Summarize: Correctly explain what the text says about the topic.
• Identify Relationships: Notice important connections among details, ideas, or texts.
• Recognize Perspective: Identify and explain the author’s view of the text’s topic.
• Use Evidence: Use well-chosen details from the text to support your explanation. Accurately paraphrase or quote what the author says in the text.
• Prepare: Read the text(s) closely and think about the questions to prepare for a text-centered discussion.
• Question: Ask and respond to questions that help the discussion group understand and compare the texts.
• Collaborate: Pay attention to other participants while you participate in and lead a text-centered discussion.
• Communicate Clearly: Present your ideas and supporting evidence so others can understand them.

Note: These skills and habits are also listed on the Student Literacy Skills and Discussion Habits Checklist, which you can use to assess your work and the work of other students.

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 1—Representations of Wolves

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 2—”A Brief History of Wolves in the United States”(Model 1)

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 3—Two Wolves Video

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Independent Web Search

APPROACHING TEXTS TOOL

APPROACHING TEXTS TOOL

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 2—”A Brief History of Wolves in the United States” (Model 2)

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 5—”All About Wolves”: HUNTING BEHAVIOR

APPROACHING TEXTS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 6—White Fang, “The Battle of the Fangs”

APPROACHING TEXTS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Comparison of Text 5 and Text 6

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

QUESTIONING PATH: TEXTS 7, 8, AND 9

APPROACHING TEXTS TOOL

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 7—“All About Wolves”: PACK BEHAVIOR

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 8—White Fang, “The Grey Cub”

QUESTIONING PATH TOOL

Text 9—“We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.”

APPROACHING TEXTS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

ANALYZING DETAILS TOOL

PART 4: TEXT-BASED EXPLANATION LITERACY SKILLS CHECKLIST

LITERACY SKILLS	DESCRIPTORS: Find evidence of using the literacy skill in the draft. Does the writer’s explanation …	NEEDS WORK	OKAY	VERY STRONG
ATTENDING TO DETAILS	Identify words, details, or quotations that are important to understanding the text?
SUMMARIZING	Correctly explain what the text says about the topic?
IDENTIFYING RELATIONSHIPS	Notice important connections among details, ideas, or texts?
RECOGNIZING PERSPECTIVE	Identify and explain the author’s view of the text’s topic?
USING EVIDENCE	Support the explanation with evidence from the text; use accurate quotations, paraphrases, and references?

PART 5: TEXT-CENTERED DISCUSSION ACADEMIC HABITS CHECKLIST

DISCUSSION HABITS	DESCRIPTORS: When—and how well—have I demonstrated these habits?	EXAMPLES FROM TEXT-CENTERED DISCUSSIONS
PREPARING	Reads the text(s) closely and thinks about the questions to prepare for a text-centered discussion
COLLABORATING	Pays attention to other participants while participating in and leading a text-centered discussion
COMMUNICATING CLEARLY	Presents ideas and supporting evidence so others can understand them

STUDENT READING CLOSELY LITERACY SKILLS AND DISCUSSION HABITS CHECKLIST

	READING CLOSELY LITERACY SKILLS AND DISCUSSION HABITS		Evidence Demonstrating the Skills and Habits
READING AND THINKING	1. Attending to Details: Identifies words, details, or quotations that are important to understanding the text
	2. Interpreting Language: Understands how words are used to express ideas and perspectives
	3. Summarizing: Correctly explains what the text says about the topic
	4. Identifying Relationships: Notices important connections among details, ideas, or texts
	5. Recognizing Perspective: Identifies and explains the author’s view of the text’s topic
	6. Using Evidence: Uses well-chosen details from the text to support explanations; accurately paraphrases or quotes
DISCUSSION	7. Preparing: Reads the text(s) closely and thinks about the questions to prepare for a text-centered discussion
	8. Questioning: Asks and responds to questions that help the discussion group understand and compare the texts
	9. Collaborating: Pays attention to other participants while participating in and leading a text-centered discussion
	10. Communicating Clearly: Presents ideas and supporting evidence so others can understand them
	General comments: