Launching close reading — the 3-pass routine and the 5-color annotation toolkit

Quick-write: 'When you read a passage you love, what do you do — re-read? underline? stop and think? Describe your reading process in 3-4 sentences.'

• Circulate to read 3-4 quick-writes
• Press for the move from 'just reading' to 'reading slowly and noticing'
• Affirm: 'You're already describing close reading'

Welcome to G7 spring — the term you become an ANALYST. Last term you became a researcher; this term you become a close reader and analytical writer. The single most important skill this term: CLOSE READING. Close reading is slow, multi-pass reading. Most readers race through a passage once; close readers go through THREE TIMES. Pass 1 SAY: what does the passage literally say? You summarize. If you can't summarize, you can't analyze. Pass 2 DO: what does the passage do with language? You annotate — with this 5-color toolkit. Blue for DICTION (specific word choices). Green for IMAGERY (sensory language). Purple for SYNTAX SHIFTS (where sentence structure changes). Red for TONE SHIFTS (where the writer's attitude changes). Orange for AMBIGUITY (where meaning is layered or unclear). Pass 3 MEAN: what does the passage MEAN? Your interpretation, GROUNDED in passes 1 and 2. The discipline IS the passes.

• Notice we're not analyzing yet — we're securing the literal.

  model The narrator describes the silence in a room after a painful family moment. The silence becomes so dense it feels like a physical presence.

  prompt Pass 1 SAY: summarize this Angelou passage in 2 sentences.
• We're cataloguing the moves. The annotation is evidence for Pass 3.

  model Blue diction: 'dense,' 'presence,' 'weight.' Green imagery: visual + tactile (the room shrunk; the silence had a texture). Purple syntax shift: long flowing sentence followed by a 2-word fragment.

  prompt Pass 2 DO: annotate with the 5-color toolkit. What do you see?
• The interpretation is built FROM the annotations. Without Passes 1 and 2, this would be guessing.

  model Angelou transforms silence from an abstract emotion into a physical presence in the room — through concrete diction (dense, weight, presence) and a syntactic shift that mimics the silence's arrival.

  prompt Pass 3 MEAN: what's your interpretation, grounded in Pass 1 and 2?

• Pair-share: name one Pass 2 move you would notice in any text.
• Cold Call (Lemov): what's the difference between Pass 1 and Pass 3?
• Thumbs: I can distinguish the 3 passes (up) / I need re-explanation (down)

M-7-S-RH-01-A Chart

MG-2 3-pass close reading anchor displayed front-of-room: SAY (yellow band) / DO (blue band) / MEAN (purple band) with sub-moves for each pass listed. Print-ready 18x24.

MG-2 Chart

Close-reading 3-pass anchor: 3-band stacked card. PASS 1 — SAY (yellow band): 'What does the passage literally say? Summarize in your own words. If you can't summarize, you can't analyze.' Sub-moves: paraphrase the passage; identify the speaker / situation / setting. PASS 2 — DO (blue band): 'What does the passage do with language? Mark diction (word choice), syntax (sentence structure), imagery (sensory language), structure (passage shape), tone (writer's attitude).' Sub-moves: annotate with 5-color toolkit; name the moves you see. PASS 3 — MEAN (purple band): 'What does the passage MEAN? Your interpretation, grounded in Passes 1 and 2.' Sub-moves: state a claim; cite specific textual evidence from your annotations; explain how the evidence supports the claim. Bottom rule: 'Skipping passes leads to misreading. The discipline IS the passes.' Print-ready 18x24.

• Complete Pass 1 (SAY) for the Angelou passage. Write a 2-sentence summary at the bottom of the printout.

  scaffold Sentence frame: 'The passage describes ___. The main thing happening is ___.'
• Complete Pass 2 (DO) — annotate with all 5 colors. Aim for at least 2 marks of each color.

  scaffold 5-color toolkit anchor at desk; partner-check at 5-minute mark

• Pass 3 MEAN: write 2-3 sentences stating your interpretation of the Angelou passage, grounded in what you annotated.

• Restate: close reading is 3 passes — SAY / DO / MEAN
• Preview tomorrow's mentor close reading (Cisneros 'My Name')

• Choose a short passage (1 paragraph) from any book you're reading. Apply the 3-pass routine. Bring annotated passage tomorrow.