Abstract

Close reading has been a key shift in classroom instruction under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS positions evidence extraction as the purpose for reading in school and is clear that close reading is the means by which this should occur. Using alternate readings of the picture book, Letting Swift River Go, I’ll argue for the importance of reading with critical place consciousness while offering a critique of close reading as the only authorized textual approach within the CCSS. While close reading advocates point to its pedagogical potential, neglected in these discussions are questions about the broader purposes of learning to read in school. Despite the intuitive appeal of close reading, considering the practice through critical place consciousness suggests it is an inadequate construction of what reading is and what reading can do. To make this argument, I offer two readings of Letting Swift River Go, a close reading and a place-conscious reading, and conclude with a discussion about the implications of reading with a sole focus on what lies within the four corners of a text.

摘要

根据共同核心州标准（CCSS），仔细阅读已成为课堂教学中的关键转变。CCSS将证据提取定位为在学校阅读的目的，并且很明显，认真阅读是实现阅读的手段。使用图画书的替代读物，《放飞斯威夫特河》，我将提出具有批判性位置意识的阅读的重要性，同时提供对近距离阅读的批评，这是CCSS中唯一授权的文本方法。尽管近距离阅读的拥护者指出了其教学潜力，但在这些讨论中被忽略的是关于在学校学习阅读的更广泛目的的问题。尽管近距离阅读具有直觉上的吸引力，但通过批判性的场所意识来考虑实践表明，这是对什么是阅读以及什么可以做的理解的不足的构造。为了提出这个论点，我提供了《让雨燕去河》的两种读物，一种是近距离阅读，一种是注重位置的阅读，最后以仅涉及文本四个角的内容为重点，讨论了阅读的含义。