Building Knowledge Through Close Reading ^©

About this Lesson:

The instruction of this lesson centers on a close reading of a rich and rigorous nonfiction text about penguins. The teacher targets some academic vocabulary, and spends time on text features including the captions and genre. She incorporates kinesthetic techniques into her teaching, further deepening knowledge. Students discuss, annotate, defend their answers with evidence, and work in partnerships in a follow-up task to show comprehension of what they read.  The text in this lesson can often be found in libraries or at online bookstores. The video used in this learning experience has been edited to show the arc of the lesson.  To see the full-length video, go to teachingthecore.org.

About the Instructional Practice Toolkit:

The Instructional Practice Toolkit (IPT) is designed for teachers and those who support teachers to build understanding and experience with college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards-aligned instruction. This Toolkit was designed to answer the question, “What do college- and career-ready standards look like in action?”  

The Toolkit modules illustrate the throughline that connects the planning and design of a lesson, classroom instruction, and student work when they are all aligned to CCR standards. Resources in the IPT include the facilitator guide, presentation (with notes for the facilitator), and participant handouts with associated model responses for the following activities:

• Lesson Plan Analysis
• Student Work Analysis
• Lesson Feedback Summary

It is highly recommended that the presenter review all resources prior to facilitating these activities.

About this Video:

This video shows a real-life classroom, with all the real-life challenges and successes found in daily interactions between students and teachers. It has been selected because it includes illustrations of the Core Actions and Indicators embedded in the day-to-day work happening in schools, and so it offers opportunities to practice using and norming expectations around the IPG: Coaching Tool. Learn more about this video and others in the collection.

The materials on this page are currently being revised to align with the Professional Learning Principles. For updates on these resources and other Achieve the Core resources, click here to subscribe.