Reading to the Core: Learning to Read Closely, Critically, and Generatively to Meet Performance Tasks

Close, critical, and generative reading can be broken down into five key questions that a strategic reader must answer: What does the text say? How does the author say it? What does the text mean? What does it mean to me? What insights can I now gain? In this resource, the authors show that insight into these questions is the key to comprehending text. The authors provide tools such as mining charts, assessments, progress monitoring charts, and rubrics to strengthen the teaching and use of strategies including guided highlighted reading for craft, finding the element of argument in text, reading multiple texts for theme, and evaluating visual text. A culminating chapter provides a blueprint for creating a literacy action plan for classroom, school, and district that highlights students’ growth and documents teacher effectiveness.