The following post is excerpted from an article by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp called Learning Cycles That Deepen Students’ Interaction with Text from the May 2015 issue of Voices from the Middle.
It is important for students to develop as readers in order for them to become adults who can successfully interact with various texts and interpret them throughout daily life. In order for teachers to help facilitate this development, they must initiate and return to a cycle of asking compelling questions to engage students initially with a text, teaching students techniques to read closely, fostering collaborative conversations about the text, and finally, showing how such reading inspires further thought.
So what does truly understanding the text mean for teachers? We see this as a cycle that begins with a compelling question and then involves reading and writing, with a chance for students to use the information they have learned to share with others, which in turn invites them to ask more questions, once again facilitating additional reading, learning, discussing, and identifying still more new questions.
The Cycle:
- Compelling Questions
Students are invited into a text by the right question because they want to know the answer to the question. They learn that both literary and informational texts have answers to the big questions in life. - Close Reading
One key to deepening students’ understanding of texts during close reading involves the questions that teachers ask. The questions ultimately take students on a journey, from the literal level to the structural level to the inferential level.- What does the text say?
- How does the text work?
- What does the text mean?
- Collaborative Conversations
To really deepen students’ interactions with texts, they must talk about those texts. They must stake a claim and provide evidence for their ideas. They must follow the rules of discussion, remain on topic long enough to interrogate their ideas, and ask questions of one another. - Being Inspired
We read closely and want to deepen our interactions with texts when there is something important and worthwhile to do after the reading. And that is the answer to the question: Why should students care about deepening interactions with text? Because they are inspired. They are inspired to engage in research and investigation. They are inspired to present or debate. They are inspired to continue discussing a text, perhaps even with a Socratic Seminar. And they are inspired to write about the text.
- Read the full article for question guides and discussion stems.
- Check out this related resource on selecting texts from Readwritethink.org.
Douglas Fisher, NCTE member since 2000, is professor of educational leadership and teacher leader at Health Sciences Middle and High Schools.
Nancy Frey, NCTE member since 1999, is professor of educational leadership and teacher leader at Health Sciences Middle and High Schools.
Diane Lapp, NCTE member since 1980, is professor emerita of literacy education and teacher leader at Health Sciences Middle and High Schools.