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Three Close Reads - ways to scaffold and accommodate all learners

Meaghan Mihalic

I love using the Three Close Reads because it speaks to my former ELA teacher heart. Books Nonfiction text typically feels challenging and daunting for many students, so having a streamlined approach like 3CR is really helpful to introduce at the start of the year. There are three parts:

Read 1: Skimming for gist - previewing the text

Read 2: Understanding content

Read 3: Thinking conceptually - reflect and synthesize

Over the years, I've tweaked the handout a bit. Most notably, I provide sentence starters for Thinking Conceptually since this tends to feel a bit tricky (see screenshot). My students are sort of looking at me thinking...you asked me to read and understand the article - now you want me to think about how it connects to other things or changes my understanding?! But that's not right-there-in-the-text information! 

I've been considering more changes this year, mostly to the content section. Maybe I can add more specific work for the vocabulary rather than just noticing unfamiliar words? Maybe at the start of the year, I put in questions for the content section and as the year progresses, move into identifying the claim and evidence? I'm wondering what others have done to make this strategy even more effective?

Parents

  • I always have a mix of students who do/don't know how to take notes.  I start Close Reads by assigning them to read "History Stories" and take notes.  I ask the class what kind of information might be good to include in notes and put their responses on the board.  Some of them will copy that list onto their notes page before they begin as a reference.  Then, they do the assignment.

    Next, I pair them and hand out Three Close Reads and they compare and share what they noted with each other and the guiding information on the chart.  We finish by reviewing the article and their adding in things that would be helpful.  Then I take it all up to see both the baseline and completion, and explain that next time we'll start with the chart.  They seem to like it this way and many are grateful for the instruction (except those who note everything and highlight, star, and color code...

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  • I always have a mix of students who do/don't know how to take notes.  I start Close Reads by assigning them to read "History Stories" and take notes.  I ask the class what kind of information might be good to include in notes and put their responses on the board.  Some of them will copy that list onto their notes page before they begin as a reference.  Then, they do the assignment.

    Next, I pair them and hand out Three Close Reads and they compare and share what they noted with each other and the guiding information on the chart.  We finish by reviewing the article and their adding in things that would be helpful.  Then I take it all up to see both the baseline and completion, and explain that next time we'll start with the chart.  They seem to like it this way and many are grateful for the instruction (except those who note everything and highlight, star, and color code...

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