Close reading: What is reading for?

Abstract

Close reading has been a key shift in classroom instruction under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS positions evidence extraction as the purpose for reading in school and is clear that close reading is the means by which this should occur. Using alternate readings of the picture book, Letting Swift River Go, I’ll argue for the importance of reading with critical place consciousness while offering a critique of close reading as the only authorized textual approach within the CCSS. While close reading advocates point to its pedagogical potential, neglected in these discussions are questions about the broader purposes of learning to read in school. Despite the intuitive appeal of close reading, considering the practice through critical place consciousness suggests it is an inadequate construction of what reading is and what reading can do. To make this argument, I offer two readings of Letting Swift River Go, a close reading and a place-conscious reading, and conclude with a discussion about the implications of reading with a sole focus on what lies within the four corners of a text.

Keywords:

• Common core
• close reading
• critical pedagogy of place

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (2019). Create captivated readers. Retrieved from http://www.hmhco.com/shop/education-curriculum/literature-and-language-arts/literature/collections

2 McGraw Hill. (2019). Wonders: A K-6 literacy curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.mheducation.com/prek-12/program/microsites/MKTSP-BGA04M0/products-wonders.html

3 Pearson. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator = PS2eUe&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=&PMDbCategoryId=3289& PMDbSubCategoryId=&PMDbSubjectAreaId=&PMDbProgramId=141261

4 Heinemann. (2019). The units of study of teaching reading series. Retrieved from http://www.heinemann.com/series/60.aspx

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen Eppley

Dr. Eppley is a former 5th grade teacher. Her research interest is at the intersection of literacy education and rural education. Her work explores ideas around rural literacies, textual representations of rurality, rural education as a matter of social justice, and policy analysis. She chairs the American Educational Research Association Rural Special Interest Group (SIG) and edits the Journal of Research in Rural Education.