Close Reading and Textual Analysis

    This week I had the pleasure of talking about close reading and textual analysis with some of my colleagues. It's been a topic that I've been working with all year, as I have helped my fourth graders to analyze texts and create passage-based essays. Here is the presentation if you would like to check it out. 

Close Reading and Textual Analysis

 I've also been working with using short videos in class. I love short videos because they are so engaging for students, and they really help students to sharpen their analysis skills. For this workshop, I created a playlist of some videos that are short, yet offer a great deal of depth and complexity.



Creating the playlist took some time. My family is used to me spending hours watching the best and worst of YouTube's educational offerings as I work on Frolyc activities...and I often call them over to see my favorites! Many of these come from Ads Worth Spreading. It's interesting that these advertisements operate on multiple levels--they are ads, so they are selling something, but they are also well-produced and thoughtful.

Close Watching of a Video

Because I'm moving to sixth grade next year, I decided to take the time to create a start of year activity. I made this textual analysis activity to go along with the video Saroo Brierley: Homeward Bound ad.

Textual analysis gives us so much to talk about!