Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Creating Effective Close Reading Lessons
Close Reading Defined
Close Reading in the Elementary Grades
The Phases of Close Reading
How Much Frontloading Is Too Much (or Not Enough)?
Text-Dependent Questions Drive Close Reading
Use Text-Dependent Questions Judiciously
Question Yourself
Videos
Chapter 2. What Does the Text Say?
An Invitation to Read Closely: Literal-Level Questions
Why Students Need This Type of Questioning
Why Classroom Discussion Is Crucial
How Examining What the Text Says Addresses the Standards
Using Text-Dependent Questions About What the Text Says
Question Yourself
Practice Text: "My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson
Videos
Chapter 3. How Does the Text Work?
An Invitation to Read Closely: Structural-Level Questions
Why Students Need This Type of Questioning
How Examining How the Text Works Addresses the Standards
Using Text-Dependent Questions About How the Text Works
Question Yourself
Practice Text: Excerpt From Benjamin Banneker′s Letter to Thomas Jefferson, August 19, 1791
Videos
Chapter 4. What Does the Text Mean?
An Invitation to Read Closely: Inferential-Level Questions
Why Students Need This Type of Questioning
How Examining What the Text Means Addresses the Standards
Using Text-Dependent Questions About What the Text Means
Question Yourself
Practice Text: "Instances of the Communication of Cholera Through the Medium of Polluted Water in the Neighborhood of Broad Street, Golden Square" by John Snow
Videos
Chapter 5. What Does the Text Inspire You to Do?
An Invitation to Read Closely: Action-Oriented Questions and Tasks
Why Students Need to Complete These Types of Tasks
How Examining What the Text Inspires You to Do Addresses the Standards
Using Text-Dependent Tasks About What the Text Inspires You to Do
Question Yourself
Practice Text: Excerpt From Introduction to A More Perfect Union: The Creation of the United States Constitution by Roger A. Bruns
Practice Text: The Bill of Rights: A Transcription
Videos
Coda
Appendices: Questions for . . .
Appendix I: Grades K-1
Appendix II: Grades 2-3
Appendix III: Grades 4-5
References
Index
About the Authors
About the Contributors

About the Author

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is Professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College. He is the recipient of an IRA Celebrate Literacy Award, NCTE's Farmer Award for Excellence in Writing, as well as a Christa McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Teacher Education. Doug can be reached at dfisher@mail.sdsu.edu. Nancy Frey, Ph.D., is Professor of Literacy in the Department of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University. The recipient of the 2008 Early Career Achievement Award from the National Reading Conference, she is also a teacher-leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College and a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California. Heather Anderson has a wide range of experience teaching at both the elementary and high school levels. She earned her M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from San Diego State University, is BCLAD certified, has extensive experience in staff development, and spent part of her career as an elementary math specialist. Heather has shared her passion for education both nationally and internationally while presenting at conferences and consulting at individual school sites emphasizing the use of Gradual Release of Responsibility, differentiated instruction, close reading and collaborative grouping. Heather currently teaches English and higher level Spanish at Health Sciences High and Middle College, a charter school in San Diego. Marisol Thayre has a multifaceted range of teaching experience, from the middle and high school to university level. She earned her M.A. in English and Composition from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is BCLAD and Leading Edge certified, and has experience teaching a large scope of students from various backgrounds. Marisol is especially interested in how students use different types of media to develop their own expertise as writers. Recently, Marisol has begun to share her knowledge with other teachers across the country as a presenter on Gradual Release of Responsibility, differentiated instruction, close reading and collaborative grouping. Marisol currently teaches English at Health Sciences High and Middle College, a charter school in San Diego.

Reviews

"Fisher and Frey set the record straight about text-dependent questions. They demonstrate that text-dependent questions can address not only literal understanding but also understandings about what the text doesn’t say, how the text works, what the text means to and for the reader, how the text might be read in a specific discipline, and more. With specific prompts and concrete examples, Fisher and Frey show us how to use questioning as a central tool to address the Common Core State Standards." 


*NELL K. DUKE*

"Fisher and Frey have a knack for making complex topics accessible. They write in a jargon-free style that teachers appreciate, and their use of examples and analogies helps bring ideas to life. These are qualities their readers have come to expect, and this book does not disappoint. . . . Teachers will find here an abundance of fresh, practical ideas that are easy to implement. This book deserves a ‘close read,’ and I heartily recommend it."


*MICHAEL MCKENNA*

"Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey are experts at linking research to educational practice. Their latest book, Text-Dependent Questions, provides teachers with the information they need to scaffold their students’ deep comprehension through four levels of questioning. I am excited to share this book with teachers and colleagues!"


*LINDA DORN*

"Text-Dependent Questions solidifies Fisher and Frey’s well-earned reputation as literacy experts who offer sane and nuanced interpretations of the Common Core State Standards. They remind us that close reading at its best is a social process, one involving teacher-learner interaction as well as student-to-student talk. While the recommended texts and sample questions are useful, the extended classroom examples are the true heart of the book, demonstrating how skilled practitioners flexibly devise and deploy high-quality questions to serve varied instructional purposes. "


*KELLY CHANDLER-OLCOTT*

"Fisher and Frey deliver another indispensable resource for teachers of adolescents across the curriculum as they strive to meet today’s more rigorous standards. Mentoring students to grow from dependence on questions provided by others to developing the capacity to "interrogate a text" themselves is fundamental to proficient reading of complex disciplinary texts. Text-Dependent Questions provides teachers with a carefully reasoned pathway for questioning a text as a requisite for close reading."


*DOUGH BUEHL, Author of Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning*

"Everything about this book is genuine.  From the authors’ candid appraisal of the myths surrounding close reading to their forthright recommendations for teaching it is refreshing.  Fisher and Frey have been there, lived the pedagogy, and generated much of the scholarship that makes Text-Dependent Questions both compelling and unpretentious.  Readers who have heard this dynamic pair speak at conferences and other professional gatherings are in for a treat; they are indisputably on the frontline when it comes to engaging others in close reading."


*DONNA ALVERMANN*