Individual Close Reading
The students conducted four close readings of The Catcher in the Rye. The first focused on stages 1 and 2 (they did this with a partner), the second on stages 3 and 4 (they did this in groups of 5) and the third on stages 5 and 6 (they did this one also with a partner). The fourth close reading incorporated all six stages. For the sake of space, I will only be including stages 4-6 of Nicole, Anastasia and Nem’s fourth close readings.
Nicole wrote on a passage that reads, "The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."
She wrote,
Nicole wrote on a passage that reads, "The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."
She wrote,
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Nicole’s discussion of punctuation is fantastic. Her comment about the placement of the comma is one of the most insightful things she wrote all year. Additionally, her commentary in stage 6 about Holden’s struggle to grow up and his feelings of inferiority do a great job connecting this passage to the larger conversation in the text and make an explicit argument. She has some areas in which she still needs to grow – specifically, her ability to find multiple examples for each stage and discovering how they work in concert. The hope was that Nicole would find at least three to four examples for each section before providing commentary. Instead, she provides one, maybe two for each. She is, alas, not reading as closely as she could be.
Anastasia did a wonderful job on her close reading. She discussed a passage from when Holden visits Phoebe’s school which reads, “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something. It wouldn’t come off. It’s hopeless, anyway. If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t even rub out even half the ‘Fuck you’ signs in the world. It’s impossible” (pg 202).
Anastasia wrote the following analysis:
Anastasia did a wonderful job on her close reading. She discussed a passage from when Holden visits Phoebe’s school which reads, “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something. It wouldn’t come off. It’s hopeless, anyway. If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t even rub out even half the ‘Fuck you’ signs in the world. It’s impossible” (pg 202).
Anastasia wrote the following analysis:
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To be honest, Anastasia does such a wonderful job with this close reading that there really isn’t much to say. She is thoughtful, thorough and convincing. She uses stage 4 effectively to close read the passage and, in stages 5 and 6, does a nice job putting the passage into context. She clearly has the requisite skill to do a thorough, thoughtful close reading of a passage.
Nem is similarly successful in her close reading. She responded to a passage about Holden’s relationship with Allie. The passage reads, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie” (pg. 39).
Nem wrote,
Nem is similarly successful in her close reading. She responded to a passage about Holden’s relationship with Allie. The passage reads, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie” (pg. 39).
Nem wrote,
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Like Anastasia’s close reading, Nem’s pretty much says it all. She closely reads the passage, has remarkable reflections on the significance of grammar, tense and punctuation, and uses those to support the meaning that she explores in stages 5 and 6.
The process of close reading, though always one which has room for refinement, is one that, by the end of this unit, all three students were capable of conducting at a very high level.
The process of close reading, though always one which has room for refinement, is one that, by the end of this unit, all three students were capable of conducting at a very high level.