Friday, March 7, 2014

Close Reading and Romance?

What do close reading and romance have to do with each other?  A lot, according to S.I. Kishor, author of the short story, “Appointment with Love.”

I usually steer clear of the Common Core Wars and focus my blog comments on coaching-specific topics.  But this week I watched a short (28 minute!) movie that exemplified my own view on close reading so well that I felt the blog could take a detour.  Math folks, don’t stop reading – the main character in the movie is a high school math teacher!

Without being a spoiler, I’ll just say that the movie, called “The Book and the Rose,” (and taken from the short story referenced above) tells the tale of a couple who initially meets and eventually falls in love because of notes sprawled in the margins of a donated book.  A spunky and insightful personality is illuminated by those marginal comments, providing an authentic model for close reading. 

Unfortunately, with adoption of the Common Core, close reading has sometimes turned into a very formulaic enterprise.  “That’s not how you do close reading,” I recently heard.  “You don’t think about author’s language use until the third read.”  But what if that idea happens to pop into your head the first or second time you read a selection?  Or what if it there’s one sentence that is actually worth rereading four or five times, because you just love the way it sounds, or the image it paints, or what it makes you think about?

My point is, close reading is a very good thing.  And it is exactly what the name implies: reading closely.  It shouldn’t require a formula.  It should require an active mind and attention to things both big and little that are hiding in the writing. 

Can you know someone’s mind and heart by reading their responses to a book through the notes they wrote in the margins?  I suppose it depends on the book.  And I know it depends on the reader.  Watching a short romance movie got me thinking about how close reading can mean spilling our thoughts – our conundrums, our querries, and our insights - onto the margins of a page.  If you want to convince someone of the merits of close reading (and that someone is a hopeless romantic!), you just might want to share the movie, “The Book and the Rose” (available now on Netflix).

That’s it for my blatant movie promotion – next week I promise to return to my more staid comments about coaching!


This week, you might want to take a look at:

The text from the original short story, “Appointment with Love.”  WARNING:  It doesn’t portray the essence of close reading – you’ve got to watch the movie for that.  And if you’re going to watch the movie, don’t read the short story until after watching the movie!


I bought the movie on Amazon so I could show clips at an upcoming professional development meeting.  You can find it at:



Okay, now I’m really done with the movie promotion. 

Here's video about acting out word problems:



Do teachers need to switch things up now that spring is around the corner?  Here’s a Pinterest board about the thinking behind varying seating arrangements:


Tips for professional development:  What to do when people are talking while you’re presenting:




That’s it for this week.  Happy coaching!

1 comment:

  1. VIcki...
    I have been reading almost everything I can get my hands on about close reading, because as a coach, I need to know what many voices are saying so I can wrap my head around it and figure out the best approaches to share with the teachers in my building and district. The four building-level coaches in my district recently decided to read a bunch of books about CR by different authors and discuss them, so that when we are doing PD in the district, we're all on the same page... not about the "right" way to do close reading, but instead about the theory and processes behind it and different ways to do this work with our students.

    Thank you for the tip on the movie... I'm going to check it out!

    ReplyDelete