Deeper Reading (Part 2) ~ 3 Simple Ideas to Engage Advanced Readers of All Ages

This relates to a previous post that may also interest you: Deeper Reading: Strategies for Comprehending Challenging Texts.

Recently, in A Delicious Deep Dive into the Search for Delicious, I shared about a novel study I created. My goal was to engage younger advanced readers in the story and at the same time introduce language related to the author’s craft and reinforce the use of the tools of Depth and Complexity. The unit includes connections across disciplines and much more, but in this post I can share some deeper reading strategies I included in that unit.

These three simple ideas can be used with all types of literature and with students of all ages.

LOOK DEEPLY into a SHORTER PASSAGE

Advanced students love to hunt for things, so you can capitalize on this by making it almost a game. Choose a few paragraphs of your novel to closely examine, and get your colored markers ready. Although not a particularly novel strategy, I wonder how often we are doing this in our GT classrooms. It is the perfect way to introduce and reinforce with students the kind of literary analysis they will do in secondary grades.

I like to type out the passage on a separate handout so that kids can mark all over it and also add it to their learning logs. Shown below is the prologue of Tuck Everlasting typed on a page as a student handout. We created a color-coded key and then hunted for foreshadowing, figurative language, and any references to “the wheel” (which has symbolic significance in the novel). Then, we circled things we noticed that might be significant and noted a few questions. The entire activity took about 15 – 20 minutes, but it was helpful to revisit these paragraphs since they set up the story. LANGUAGE of the discipline was also reinforced or introduced as literary devices were discussed. When completed, the students folded it in half and pasted it into their journals.

Also shown below are two others samples – one, a poem (with a secret hidden word) for younger students (2nd grade) and the other a classic Shakespearean poem read with 8th graders.

EXAMINE MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES and CHARACTER CONNECTIONS

A second idea is to choose something happening in the plot to examine from the perspective of each character. You could also have students consider what characters are thinking about other characters. The examples below are ones I created for Search for Delicious (advanced 2nd/3rd) and hopefully help you visualize the kinds of connections students might make.

CHART THE EVOLUTION of a CHARACTER

Below is another page I created in which students find quotes from the story that show the “ups and downs” a main character experiences. Students could work in groups and create large poster-size colorful versions of the timeline. This could be started after a few chapters or done as a culminating activity. This kind of exercise is preparation for the literary essays students may be asked to write in the future.

There are many other ways to promote deeper reading with advanced readers. It’s fun to explore math, science, and history connections, and encourage “deeper reading” ACROSS DISCIPLINES as well. I’ll save that for another post!

How have you used the tools of Depth and Complexity to encourage deeper reading? Join our Facebook group to share or leave a comment below!