This session is designed to prepare teachers to execute Close Reading Bursts: short durations of Close Reading that occur in the midst of a lesson. Bursts allow students to practice the key skills of Close Reading—breaking down the language and structure of key lines to establish and analyze their meaning—in a focused and manageable amount of time that doesn’t require a whole lesson. The session includes examples and practice for teachers across all subject areas.
Through analysis of master teachers’ techniques and deep practice, participants in the session will develop understanding and strengthen skills with:
- How to intellectually prepare to lead a Close Reading Burst
- How to write text-dependent questions that help students establish and analyze the meaning of challenging text
- How to choose excerpts worthy of Close Reading Bursts from both fiction and non-fiction texts
Ready-To-Use Materials
Our goal is for you to save time that you would otherwise spend creating a PD session from scratch and dive deep into the small concrete actions that advance your teachers’ skills from good to great. The Plug and Play provides you with:
✓ A fully customizable PowerPoint presentation with embedded videos of Close Reading Bursts in action
✓ Facilitator notes for what to say and do for each slide
✓ 2 video clips, with detailed analysis of each clip
✓ Carefully designed practice activities
✓ Feedback Cheat Sheets—prioritized success points for coaching teachers on Close Reading Bursts
✓ Participant Handouts for interactive note taking
✓ Next steps to ensure what is learned in the session carries over to classrooms
100 Level: No Prerequisites
This module can be used by any school. It does not require leader experience with or school-wide implementation of Teach Like a Champion techniques.