Ensure all learners become successful close readers. In this powerful resource, the authors examine what features make a text complex. Learn how to select appropriate complex texts and design instruction to meet the needs of every student. Explore grade-specific classroom scenarios that illustrate how to scaffold lessons to foster close reading and deepen comprehension at all stages of K-12 education. Benefits Gain practical teaching strategies for creating close reading lessons. Consider grade-level-specific instructional scenarios that illustrate how to support students' reading comprehension as they learn to read closely. Learn how to evaluate a text's complexity and how to ask text-dependent questions that can help students engage with a text. Study evidence for why continuous close assessment of student performance is vital for making sure all students learn to closely read complex texts. Discover potential contingency scaffolds for the classroom and how to use them to promote student success in closely reading a text. Contents Introduction Part I: Background and Planning Information 1 Understanding Close Reading 2 Identifying Text Complexity 3 Making Decisions That Support Close Reading Instruction 4 Assessing During Close Reading Part II: Instructional Scenarios 5 Understanding What the Text Says Through Differentiated Scaffolds 6 Understanding How the Text Works Through Differentiated Scaffolds 7 Understanding What the Text Means Through Differentiated Scaffolds 8 Supporting Knowledge Demands with Differentiated Scaffolds Epilogue Appendix A References and Resources