Close Reading Graphic Organizer PDF

A blank graphic organizer for three reads of one text: what it says, how it says it, what it means.

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Name:Title:Author:First read: what it saysThe gist, in my own wordsEvidenceWords from the text that show itPageSecond read: how it says itA word, a pattern or the way it is builtEvidenceWords from the text that show itPageThird read: what it meansThe big idea or the lessonEvidenceWords from the text that show itPage
Close reading graphic organizer: three reads with evidence A box for each read of one text (what it says, how it says it, what it means), each beside a box for the evidence with a line for the page.
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Next step Answer a question with evidence

All 9 organizers

Three reads 4

  • Close reading exit slips, two to a page Half sheets to cut apart: what the text says, one choice the author made, and what it means.
  • Close reading graphic organizer: three reads with evidence A box for each read of one text (what it says, how it says it, what it means), each beside a box for the evidence with a line for the page.
  • Gist chart: one row for each part of the text For a first read of a longer text: the number of the paragraph or section, its gist in a few words, and any words to look up.
  • Three reads on primary lines Three boxes down the page with wide primary lines, for younger readers: what the text is about, words I noticed, what it teaches.

A closer look 4

  • Annotation notes: what I marked and why A row for each mark made on the text: the line it is on, what was marked, and why it matters.
  • Lines that matter: the words, their meaning, why they count Five rows for a third read: copy a line, say what it means, then say why it counts in the text as a whole.
  • One paragraph, read three times For a single passage: say it in your own words, copy the word or phrase that matters most, then say what the passage adds to the whole text.
  • Two texts read closely Two texts on one subject side by side: what each says and how each says it, over a box for what reading both shows.

Filled-in sample 1

  • Sample close reading organizer, filled in: Humpty Dumpty The boxes of the opening sheet written in for a nursery rhyme of four lines. The third read is one reader's answer.

How it works

This close reading graphic organizer is for a short text read more than once, with a different question each time. Each answer sits beside a box for the words in the text that back it up.

Read the full guide

Keep the text short

Choose a brief passage: a poem, a paragraph, a page. For a chapter or an article, fill in the gist chart on a first read, then choose one passage for the second and third.

Evidence is the text’s own words

In an evidence box, copy the words exactly and note the page. A retelling is not evidence. A reader should be able to put a finger on the line.

  • The rhyme in the sample never says Humpty Dumpty is an egg. It was probably a riddle at first.
  • Answers to the third read can differ from reader to reader. Each one still has to be tied to words in the text.

Questions and answers

What is close reading?

The careful study of a short passage. The reader attends to single words, to sentence structure and to the order in which the ideas unfold, and weighs how a thing is said as well as what is said.

What are the three reads in close reading?

On these sheets the first read asks what the text says, the second how it says it and the third what it means. The first two follow the first two headings of the Common Core reading standards: Key Ideas and Details, then Craft and Structure.

Is close reading in the Common Core?

Yes. The first anchor standard for reading, from kindergarten to grade 12, begins "Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it" and asks readers to cite specific textual evidence.

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