To Teach Close Reading: Syntax [S1 E11]
For today’s episode, we’re taking a deep dive into a very important teaching strategy in the English classroom: close reading. Let’s go through the episode show notes here as we explore the power and potential of close reading lessons!
CLOSE READING: The Strategy Overview
There’s an author’s craft skill that you want to teach
There’s a thematic concept that you want to teach
Close reading teacher steps:
Isolate a small chunk of text that demonstrates that skill or concept clearly
Design a handout with the text on the page and specific instructions for reading an annotating that lead students toward that skill
TODAY’S SKILL: Syntax
Authors use syntax to enhance their message (nonfiction) or to create a reading experience that mimics the mood or tension of the plot moment happening in the story.
Cornerstone syntactical moves:
Intentional run-on sentences that evoke a sense of the character’s confusion, disorientation
Frequency of punctuation and sentence types
Simple sentences followed by compound-complex sentences effect the pace of reading/experiencing the text
Use of commas to slow down the reading experience and add more and more detail to a moment
CLOSE READ FOR SYNTAX: The Great Gatsby
Close Read Goal:
Students will be able to identify the ways in which Fitzgerald’s use of syntax contributes to the plot moment of Myrtle’s death.
Why this passage?
There is an emotional intensity here that is engaging for kids. Also, it’s not a difficult plot movement to understand (easier to pay attention to author’s craft when they’re not ALSO trying to figure out what’s happening), and it’s likely a passage they would have skimmed over while reading for HW. I also have an assortment of syntactical moves to identify, and that makes this a rich choice.
What do I notice?
The use of the dash: content before the dash and after are vastly different and in juxtaposition of one another.
Use of commas: creates a feeling of a moment lingering in time; listing of specific details at a crime scene
Appositive phrases: “as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night” moment of juxtaposition, unsettling new reality
Opening complex sentence - describing the two characters with a highly complex relationship
The Passage: Observing Myrtle’s body after the accident
Myrtle Wilson’s body, wrapped in a blanket, and then in another blanket, as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night, lay on a work-table by the wall, and Tom, with his back to us, was bending over it, motionless. Next to him stood a motorcycle policeman taking down names with much sweat and correction in a little book. At first I couldn’t find the source of the high, groaning words that echoed clamorously through the bare garage — then I saw Wilson standing on the raised threshold of his office, swaying back and forth and holding to the doorposts with both hands. Some man was talking to him in a low voice and attempting, from time to time, to lay a hand on his shoulder, but Wilson neither heard nor saw. His eyes would drop slowly from the swinging light to the laden table by the wall, and then jerk back to the light again, and he gave out incessantly his high, horrible call.
Loose Lesson Plan:
Bell Work
Mini Lesson: What is syntax?
Model:
Read Passage aloud
Think aloud: what do I notice?
Student Practice:
Think-Pair-Share
Pair/Small group with timer
Closing
CLOSE READ FOR SYNTAX: With the Fire on High
Close Read Goal:
Students will be able to identify the ways in which Acevedo’s use of syntax contributes to the development of character. We’ll be looking at the question: How does Acevedo’s use of syntax give the reader insight into the life of the protagonist, Emoni?
Why this passage?
This comes during the exposition, when we are still getting to know the characters and being introduced to the world of the story. In a very short amount of text, we are able to see and feel so much about who she is at her core.
What do I notice?
Sentence length - relatively short sentences, each completing a separate thought; brings the reader into this exact moment; presentness of time and energy
Use of dash - shows the character’s thought process is always moving and filling in context in relation to others; she is a teenager, and most kids her age aren’t thinking too presently about how/when the fridge is stocked, rather that it is or isn’t
Use of parentheses - gives a sense of informality, often attributed to age; Emoni is a senior in high school, and even though she has been through a lot in her life, there is still a running monologue in her head about what she does and doesn’t like; in regards to foods, this is something attributed to kids (food preferences)
The Passage: Emoni decompressing from the day in her kitchen
I turn on the TV to PBS and sit Babygirl on the couch with some toys and picture books. Take my shoes off and walk into the kitchen. The fridge is stocked - ‘Buela must have gone grocery shopping this morning after dropping Babygirl off. We have iceberg lettuce (yuk) and bell peppers (yum), ground beef, onions. An idea begins taking root. I pull out the ingredients I need and rinse off my cutting board.
Loose Lesson Plan:
Bell Work - sentence types/structures
Mini Lesson: What is syntax?
Model:
Read Passage aloud
Think aloud: what do I notice? (w/ annotation modeling)
Student Practice:
Pairs - find another passage and go through the same process
Does this passage reinforce or refute your prior analysis of the character? How?
Closing - share new analyses, etc.
Links from this episode and some other suggestions:
Marie’s new obsession: a MILK FROTHER