Vignette 4.1. Close Reading of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (Narrative Text)
ELA Instruction in Grade Two (cont.)Deeper Dive Question Card
What do you think the author wants us to understand about _______?
How does the author use special words to show us _____?
How does the author play with language to add meaning?When Mrs. Hernandez meets with her second-grade teaching team, she tells them about
using the question cards in her reading groups and shares how the lessons went. Even though
the below-the-surface text-dependent questions were challenging for her students, she could
see that they were engaged in talking about the texts and finding evidence to support their
ideas. She also shares that recently she has noticed that during collaborative conversations
about texts she read aloud her students now attend much more to what it says in the text
rather than relying solely on background knowledge or guessing. She concludes that paying
attention to text-dependent questions in her small reading groups and whole group teacher
read alouds has contributed to her students’ development of these skills.Resource
Henkes, Kevin. 1996. Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. New York: Greenwillow Books.
Additional Information
Web sites- Achieve the Core has resources for creating text-dependent questions (http://achievethecore.org/page/710/text-
dependent-question-resources), as well as sample lessons (http://achievethecore.org/).
Recommended reading
Boyles, Nancy. 2012/13. “Closing in on Close Reading.” Educational Leadership 70 (4): 36-41.
Designated ELD Vignette
The example in vignette 4.1 illustrates good teaching for all students with particular attention
to the language learning needs of ELs through integrated ELD. English learners additionally benefit
from intentional and purposeful designated ELD instruction that stems from and builds into content
instruction. Vignette 4.2 illustrates how designated ELD can build from and into lessons on close
reading during ELA. This vignette focuses on closer analysis of the language of the texts students are
reading in ELA.
Vignette 4.2. Discussing “Doing” Verbs in Chrysanthemum
Designated ELD Instruction in Grade TwoBackground
Mrs. Hernandez’s class is conducting an author study of Kevin Henkes (see vignette
4.1). Mrs. Hernandez has observed that her ELs at the Expanding level of English language
proficiency find the inferential text-dependent questions she poses during teacher read alouds
and in small reading groups challenging, especially when the language the author uses is
somewhat nuanced. She wants to find ways to help them understand the inferential text-
dependent questions and effectively convey their understandings of the questions in English. To
this end, she plans to explicitly address the language that may be making it difficult for students
to make inferences and respond to the text-dependent questions.Grade 2 Chapter 4 | 345