In this presenation, you'll see information about 7 new strategies we've developed to help readers, especially struggling readers, read novels at a deeper level. This work will be published in 2012 in a new book by Heinemann titled The Notice and Note Lessons

1. CCIRA
February 2012
Kylene Beers
Robert E. Probst
The Notice and
Note Lessons:
Strategies that
Twitter.com/kbeers Unlock Literary
Beers.probst@gmail Texts
beers.probst@gmail.com

2. beers.probst@gmail.com

4. Notice and Note:
STRATEGIES AND LESSONS FOR
IMPROVING COMPREHENSION
HEINEMANN, SEPTEMBER 2012
beers.probst@gmail.com

9. Results of survey of 2000 teachers, grades 4-12
 Top MS Books  Top Elementary Books
 The Outsiders  Holes
 The Giver  Bridge to Terabithia
 Holes  Bud, Not Buddy
 Freak the Mighty  Hatchet
 Hatchet  Maniac Magee
 Esperanza Rising  Number the Stars
 Watsons Go to Birmingham  Esperanza Rising
 Number the Stars  Walk Two Moons
 Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry  The Giver
 Bud, Not Buddy  Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
 Tuck Everlasting  Tuck Everlasting
 Bridge to Terabithia  Watsons To to Birmingham
 Walk Two Moons  The Cay
 Among the Hidden  Riding Freedom
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10. Results of survey continued
 Top HS Books
 Night
 Of Mice and Men
 Speak
 Romeo and Juliet
 Lord of the Flies
 Animal Farm
 Grapes of Wrath
 A Separate Peace
 Anthem
 House on Mango Street
 Lord of the Flies
 Monster
 Night
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11. What we did
 Read each book repeatedly asking ourselves, “What’s here, in
the text, we could teach students to notice.”
 Found those text features and then asked what question
should students ask themselves once they find those features.
 Took the lessons into classrooms and shared them with
hundreds of teachers for feedback.
 Culled the list of lessons to the most important 7 lessons.
 Let’s learn the first one . . .
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12.  The character acts in a way that is
contradictory to how he has acted
or that contrasts with how we
would act or that reveals a
Contrasts and difference among characters.
Contradictions
Text Clue:
Author shows actions or feelings
that we haven’t seen before.
Question:
Why would the character act (feel)
this way?

13. • Read to
the first
stopping Read to • Students
point. second turn to
Explain stopping their
the text point and own
clue you tell reading
We Student
model saw and Students students and try
then try with s try on to find
and the text
students think
our their the text
support feature.
listen through own feature
Let them
the discuss the and
question answer to answer
you the focus the focus
asked question. question
yourself.
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17.  Contrasts and
The Notice Contradictions
and Note  Ah-Ha Moments
Text Clues
 Tough Questions
 Words from the Wiser
 Last Line
 Again and Again
 Memory Moment
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18. Erin—September, 6th grade
“Um, I think that, I think that next, well next. I think
that well, I think more is going to happen with her
being with them. And then she will probably go
home. Because they don’t seem like forever
kidnappers.”

19. Erin—January, 6th grade
 Here, right when Luke, he decides to go to the house,
so he had just been thinking about it, but here, he
decided to go, well, I noticed that because he was
doing something different, like a contradiction on
how he had been acting, and so I noticed that. And
that made me think that Luke, he’s like maybe
getting braver some. But that’s going to be a
problem because he needs to stay hidden. So, I think
maybe that what’s going to happen is about him not
wanting to stay hidden. Maybe like for the conflict.

20. Mark—August, 8th grade
 I guess I think that maybe, I guess that, that
something else is going to happen.

21. Mark—November, 8th grade
 I stopped here because notice how it said that he had
a sad smile. Smiles aren’t sad. I noticed that because
it was really a contradiction and I wondered why he
would be sad and smiling. I think that the Giver is
smiling because he’s still trying to make Jonas feel
good about this assignment but he also knows
something that Jonas doesn’t know. This part made
me think that something important is finally going to
happen that’s about Jonas finding out something.

22. Megan—October, 7th grade
Megan: Miss—look! It’s that again and again. The
story of the Denmark king. See, she’s remembering it
again. Where was it first? Where was it? Can you
find it? I don’t know where it was but this is like the,
I don’t know, like it was a lot, that she keeps
remembering this story, remember that her dad told
her about the Denmark king and how anyone would
fight for him?

23. Megan
Kylene: Why do you think this keeps coming up again
and again?
Megan: Because. Because. I think it is because, oh, I
know, see how she keeps remembering that anyone
would do anything to save him. Oh—this is that
foreshadowing. Here it is! This is foreshadowing. Oh
my God. It’s right here! Do you think Mrs. Lowry
knows she did this?

24.  The character realizes or comes to
understand something that
Ah-Ha therefore changes his thinking or
his actions
 Text Clues
 I suddenly realized…
 Now I understood why…
 It hit me with a force…
 I knew what I had to do…
Question: How might this change things?

25.  A character asks himself or a trusted
friend a tough question or tough
questions that reveal concerns
(internal conflict) the character has.
Tough
Questions  Text Clue:
 Questions, often asked of self, that can’t be
answered
 Sometimes offered as statement, “I wonder
if…”
Question:
What does this question make me wonder
about?

26.  The author interrupts the flow of
the story by letting the character
MemoryM remember something.
oment
 Text Clue:
 “I remember…”
 “The memory flooded back…”
 “It was a strange memory…”
 “She suddenly remembered…”
Question:
Why might this memory be important?

27.  An author ends the chapter
(segment) with a last line that adds
surprising information or suggests a
new idea
Last Line
 Text Clue:
 A single-sentence that stands alone as a
paragraph
 Begins with But, And, or Or
 Asks a question
 Might be in italics
Question:
 What does this line make me wonder
about?