Five Easy Steps for Close Reading in High School English

I have talked before about the strategies for close reading first through the 5 ways to bring close reading into the classroom and second how to incorporate daily close reading, but today I want to focus on the steps for close reading in the high school classroom. Even students in the upper levels of high school English including AP® need to be reminded of the how to do close reading of a passage and why it is important.

Close Reading: How to Teach High School Students to Read More Deeply

The idea of close reading is to teach students to reread and then focus in not just on what is happening but how the author is using craft to develop that text. To begin students on the process for close reading, pick passages that will be easy for students to see the connection between the what’s and the hows.

I like to start with flash fiction: highly engaging stories of under 1500 words. For more on how I start my year with flash fiction, check out this post and for a list of my 20 favorite short short stories for high school check out this post.

Teach your high school students the steps for close reading. These five steps will guide your students to success every time.

5 Steps for Close Reading in High School English

One: Read the Passage for Meaning

The first step in close reading is to understand the passage. Students must identify what is happening in the passage or in the case of non-fiction, what the passage is about. I like to have students read the passage and then write a response which could be a summary or it could be their thoughts on the text. This response could simply be a sentence or three. It does not need to be long.

Two: Chunk the Passage

After the first reading or during the second reading, have students chunk the passage into 3-5 sections or meaning. This will help later as they look for shifts in meaning and tone.

Three: Underline and Label

Step three is to have students reread the passage and label the author’s craft they see at work. At this point it is unnecessary to consider what the use of x might mean. Instead, we are looking for the students to notice and label things like figurative language, characterization, repetition, rhyme scheme, etc.

Four: Note the Details

The next step for close reading is to note the details. Students can circle details that stand out or seem to suggest a pattern. For example, in Anton Chehov’s “A Country Cottage,” students will circle or bracket all the details related to the moon. In the end, this helps them to see the role the personification of the moon plays. (Oh and they already labeled the personification in the previous reading.)

Five: Ask Questions

The final in the steps for close reading is to have students ask themselves, “So What? Who Cares? Why is this important?” These three questions should lead the students to make inferences about the author’s craft, the details and how the author moves us through those chunks.

When to Use these Steps for Close Reading

These steps for close reading can be used everyday. The more often students practice them, the more natural they will become. In my AP® Literature classes we practice with Poem of the Week and Passage of the Week. And, in my AP® Language classes we practice Rhetorical Analysis of the Week. These are all short passages that we use as bell ringers. We revisit the passage each day, essentially forcing students to reread. The close reading how to is the same whether it is poetry, prose excerpts or rhetorical analysis. We start with meaning and end with the same questions.