Questions about the Close Reading poster

What’s on the Close Reading poster?

4 numbered steps. Close reading means reading slowly and repeatedly, with a specific purpose each time. FIRST PASS — WHAT — What literally happens? Get the sense before anything else.; SECOND PASS — HOW — Language, structure, imagery. Annotate specific choices.; THIRD PASS — WHY — What is the effect of those choices on the reader?; FOURTH PASS — SO WHAT — How does this connect to the whole text and its themes?. Annotation without a question is decoration. Decide what you are looking for before you pick up the pen.

Who is the Close Reading poster for?

Close Reading is filed under 9th Grade (ages 14–15), so it matches what that year asks a child to remember. It is equally useful to an older student revisiting literacy, and to the parent or teacher answering the question at the kitchen table.

When should you use the Close Reading poster?

One pass cannot do four jobs. Read it four times with a different question each time. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Close Reading belongs on the wall where that literacy work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.

What other posters go with Close Reading?

Characterisation, Symbol, Motif and Theme and Analysing Sentence Structure sit alongside Close Reading in the 9th Grade set. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.CharacterisationSymbol, Motif and ThemeAnalysing Sentence Structure

Is the Close Reading poster free to download and print?

Yes. Close Reading downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the 9th Grade set. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence

What size does the Close Reading poster print at?

Close Reading is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Close Reading loses nothing.Printing guide