Close Reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Passages
Listed below are, first, a group of seven major themes/topics, followed by a series of 17 quotes.
After the teacher models the strategies used to analyze one of the passages (tips provided below
the quotes), students will begin by filling in the blank for the missing headings (with possible
answers in parentheses) and write a brief response describing why they chose that theme/topic.
They will then choose one quote from three different sections and follow the list of
prompts/questions provided.

Themes/Topics:
Education Friendship Language Magic

Identity Choices Communication

A) __________________ (Choices):

But Harry, never forget that what the prophecy says is only significant because
Voldemort made it so. I told you this at the end of last year. Voldemort singled
you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him and, in doing so, he
made you the person who would be most dangerous to him." (chapter 23,
paragraph 144) - The Half-Blood Prince

But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him. It was, he
thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the
death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps,
would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore
knew and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my
parents that there was all the difference in the world. (Last paragraph of
chapter 23)

Response:
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B) _______________ (Identity):

People stared shamelessly as he approached. They even pressed their

faces against the windows of their compartments to get a look at him. He
had expected an upswing in the amount of gaping and gawping he would
have to endure this term after all the "Chosen One" rumors in the Daily
Prophet, but he did not enjoy the sensation of standing in a very bright
spotlight. (7.76)
"As he moved up the school, he gathered about him a group of dedicated
friends; I call them that, for want of a better term, although as I have
already indicated, Riddle undoubtedly felt no affection for any of them.
This group had a kind of dark glamour within the castle." (18.116)

"I know what you are known as," said Dumbledore, smiling pleasantly.
"But to me, I'm afraid, you will always be Tom Riddle. It is one of the
irritating things about old teachers. I am afraid that they never quite forget
their charges' youthful beginnings." (20.157)

Response:

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C) _______________ (Education):
"Harry looked back down at his results. They were as good as he could
have hoped for. He felt just one tiny twinge of regret.This was the end
 of his ambition to become an Auror. He had not secured the required
Potions grade. He had known all along that he wouldn't, but he still felt a
sinking in his stomach as he looked again at that small black E." (5.248)

"Mother wants me to complete my education, but personally, I don't see

it as that important these days. I mean, think about it.When the Dark
Lord takes over, is he going to care how many O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s
anyone's got? Of course he isn't.It'll be all about the kind of service he
received, the level of devotion he was shown." (7.215)

Response:
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D) ______________ (Friendship):
He had never had a proper conversation with the headmaster outside of
Hogwarts before; there was usually a desk between them. (4.1)

"Or perhaps, to confess that you yourself are worried and frightened? You
need your friends, Harry. As you so rightly said, Sirius would not have
wanted you to shut yourself away." (4.212)

"A warmth was spreading through him that had nothing to do with the
sunlight; a tight obstruction in his chest seemed to be dissolving. He knew
that Ron and Hermione were more shocked than they were letting on, but
the mere fact that they were still there on either side of him, speaking
bracing words of comfort, not shrinking from him as though he were
contaminated or dangerous, was worth more than he could ever tell them."
(5.203)

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda Vane," she said loudly and confidently. "Why
don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them,"
she added in a strange whisper, indicating Neville's bottom which was
sticking out from under the seat again as he groped around for Trevor, and
Luna, who was now wearing her free Spectrespecs, which gave her the
 look of a demented multicolored owl.
"They're friends of mine," said Harry coldly. (7.103-104)
Response:

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E) _____________ (Magic):
"The situation is fraught with complications. We do not know
whether the enchantments we ourselves have placed upon it, for
example, making it Unplottable, will hold now that ownership has
passed from Sirius's hands. It might be that Bellatrix will arrive on
the doorstep at any moment. Naturally, we had to move out until
such time as we have clarified the position." (3.57)

The magic I evoked fifteen years ago means that Harry has
powerful protection while he can still call this house 'home.'
However miserable he has been here, however unwelcome,
however badly treated, you have at least, grudgingly allowed him
his house-room. This magic will cease to operate the moment
that Harry turns seventeen; in other words, at the moment he
becomes a man. I ask only this: that you allow Harry to return,
once more, to this house, before his seventeenth birthday, which
will ensure that the protection continues until that time." (3.104)

Response:

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* ____________________ (Magic, Identity, &/or Choices):

(**Choose 2 themes)
"His powers, as you heard, were surprisingly well-developed for
such a young wizard and most interestingly and ominously of
all he had already discovered that he had some measure of
control over them, and begun to use them consciously. And as
you saw, they were not the random experiments typical of young
wizards: He was already using magic against other people, to
frighten, to punish, to control. The little stories of the strangled
rabbit and the young boy and girl he lured into a cave were most
suggestive.'I can make them hurt if I want to.'" (13.181)
Response:

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F) ______________ (Communication):
Harry stepped forward and bowed low to the hippogriff without
breaking eye contact or blinking. After a few seconds, Buckbeak
sank into a bow too. (11.79)
Response:
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G) _____________ (Language):
Voldemort's expression remained impassive as he said, "Greatness
inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies. You must
know this, Dumbledore." (20.167)
Response:

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*___________ (Language, Communication, Magic, Identity, Choices):

(**Choose 3 themes)
"It is Voldemort's fault that you were able to see into his thoughts,
his ambitions, that you even understood the snakelike language in
which he gives orders, and yet, Harry, despite your privileged
insight into Voldemort's world (which, incidentally, is a gift any
Death Eater would kill to have), you have never been seduced by
the Dark Arts, never, even for a second, shown the slightest desire
to become one of Voldemort's followers!" (23.152)
Response:

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Tasks/Prompts/Questions
Teacher:
Model the process - Examine one of the quotes with students by considering how
language choices construct knowledge and value in disciplinary context. In doing
so, you should facilitate access to meaning, promote the use of text evidence to
support interpretation, scaffold writing, support subject area learning, and build
capacity for independence.
Have students listen as you read the passage aloud and tell them to pay attention
to and write down where, when, and for how long I pause, as well as where,
when, why, and how the tone and/or volume of my voice change.
Read through the passage a second time and have the students note down the
strategies that they used to make sense of the passage.
Work your way around the room as you have them share their findings with
partners or in groups, compare/contrast, and discuss the significance. Scaffold
their discussion, ask questions like - Why do different people notice different
 things? What do these things tell us about the passage? How does it help us
better understand it? What did my reading tell you about the
characters/plot/setting/author?
Have the different groups share their find in a class discussion where you dig deep
into the meaning of the passage, completing your demonstration of modeling the
process, with their help.
How might the passage look in other forms of media? Cinema? Poetry?
Painting?
Strategically organize them into groups and have them each choose a different
form of media that theyre interested in and have them create an adaptation of
the main ideas or concepts in the passage to their particular form of media.
Then have them share their creations with their group and offer peer feedback
Create a list of multiple choice, matching (we can use all of the quotes that we
have above and have them put them in the proper headings, or something along
those lines), and short answer qs or even potential essay questions based on the
passage (like rachels example, we can use some of the tasks/questions that I
have here, any others you guys want to add, and ones that are specific to the
passages we end up choosing)

Questions:
What are the main ideas of the passage or the most important thing in it?
What purposes does it serve?
Does it build characterization? How? By showing internal conflict,
integrity, growth?
What can you infer from the title, headings, anecdotes in this book?
Who was the most important character in the passage? What makes them
this?
What have you learned from this passage?
Does it push the plot further along? How? By adding/resolving conflict,
by making/fulfilling a promise to the reader, by hooking the reading?
How does it influence our perception of the setting, the world in which
the story exists?
What might such answers tell us about the authors opinions/feelings
regarding the world in which we live?
How does the magic work, based on the passage? What does it tell you about
the characters (or characters) abilities, power, limits, motivation? Does the
magic have flaws? Describe them. (Magic)
What issues or themes is the passage concerned with? How do these issues
relate to teens? How does the author feel about these issues based on the
passage? What does it have to say about life, society, culture, and/or the world?
 What could the main character have learned that I could also learn?
What was a moral or lesson in the passage?
How can/does it affect the way in which you see yourself, the world, and/or the
relationship between the two?
Why is close reading useful for this passage? What value does the passage
offer?

The Words & Phrases:

What words are significant? Why? What do they mean? How did you draw
that meaning from the text? What other possible meanings do they words hold?
What parts are complex or confusing? How/why? Reread these sections more
slowly and out loud, trying different ways to find different meanings.
Go back and read a few paragraphs before the passage and continue reading a
few paragraphs after it. How does that influence your understanding of the
passage?
Words/phrases that were interesting or enjoyable? Why?
Describe how words and phrases supply rhythm and meaning in the passage?

Text Complexity:
Review the various aspects associated with text complexity. Where do you
think the passage falls on each scale - Qualitatively? Quantitatively?
How about the specific factors that determine qualitative complexity? What
makes it complex?

Strategies:
What strategies did you use to make sense of the passage?
What does the passage reveal about the past?
What does it imply about the future?
How does the passage relate to the title of the chapter? The book? The series?
Distinguish between the concrete things/details and the abstract ideas/concepts
within the passage. How do the details relate to the concepts? Do the former
help build and form the latter? Does the latter produce, imply, support, question
and/or contradict the former?
What can this ^ tell you about the authors voice - how does she construct her
sentences, her paragraphs, her pages, her chapters, her novel? How does she use
point of view, tense, and theme?
 After reading the passage through a few times and tackling with the meaning,
close your eyes while a friend reads it to you. Visualize whats happening.
What details stood out? Did you add any that werent mentioned? What were
they? Where do you think those details came from? What influence them?
Highlight words you do not know in one color
When you come across that sound questionable, highlight them yellow, and write
down why.
Put an exclamation mark next to sentences that stand out and excite you.
Complete an FQR sheet on the passage and share with a partner. What facts,
questions, and responses did you both have? Did you or your friend find any
answers to your questions by sharing? If so, which and how?
Look up the possible definitions for words that you still are unsure about (after
trying to use the context to figure out what they mean)
Write down the words you really struggled with and their definitions to help
remember and understand their meanings
Do some research on the passage/book to see what scholars are saying about it.
Did you find any information that helps clarify the meaning of the passage?
Which scholar(s) do you agree/disagree with? Why
Based on this passage, what do you think is going to happen in the next
paragraph? On the next page? In the next chapter? In the conclusion of the
book/story?
What background information is necessary to fully understand the passage?
Where does that information come from? Can you find any quotes that you can
use as evidence to support that??
Making connections & various approaches...

Making Connections:
What other books/shows/stories does the passage remind you of? Why?
How do they compare/contrast?
What personal experiences/people does it remind you of? Why? How do they
compare/contrast?
What song does it remind you of? Why? How do they compare/contrast?
How can you relate to the character(s) in the passage?
What is familiar about the passage? How so?
What is strange? How so?
Whatd you like about it? Why?
Whatd you dislike about it? Why?

Approaches to take (try one for each or combine them into one approach):
 A) Fisher, Frey, and Lapps approach: establishing purpose in first reading (students
read independently with a pencil to annotate text), first discussion (partner talk to
check meaning), second discussion (assessing for understanding and confusion),
second reading (teacher reads aloud the text without interruption), third discussion
(answering text-dependent questions), writing summary and responses.
B) Shanahans three readings for close reading: the first focusing on what the text
says (i.e., major ideas), the second on how the text works (i.e., craft), and the third
on appraising the quality and value of the text as well as making intertextual
connections (i.e., knowledge integration).
C) First read through: get the gist - main idea, summarize, what stood out, and
questions. Second read through: dig a little deeper - structures and features of the
text, authors purpose and feelings, attention to use of particular words/phrases.
Third read through: put it all together - inferences, evidence, make connections (to
other texts and your life)
^^ Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Lapp, D. (2010). Responding when students dont get
it. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54(1), 57-60.

Form & Content:

Describe the form (structure, style, authors voice, tense, point of view,
complexity, vocabulary, grammar usage, parts of speech, punctuation).
Discuss the content (the substance/material/information).
What relation do the two (form and content) have with one another - how does
form affect/influence content?
How did this affect your experience reading the passage?

Close Reading Strategy:

Task 1: Circle any vocabulary you are unfamiliar with and look up the definition. Double
check that the definition makes sense in the context of the text.

Task 2: Language Choice - underline any language that attracts your attention for any reason.
Why do you find it interesting? Jot down your reasons.

Task 3: Verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. Highlight in different colors the ones you find
in the passage. What do you notice? Are there any patterns? Comment on your findings.
Task 4: Predictions - what might happen next? Why?
Task 5: Opinions and reflections - what do you think of the story/narrators/characters?
Task 6: Connections - does the task remind you about your own experiences? Or other books
and films? What are the similarities?

Task 7: Questions - note them down, and remember there is no such thing as a stupid
question. Try to list more open questions than closed questions.
Task 8: What key themes from the novel do you think are reflected in the passage?
Task 9: Discuss your passage!

Teachers Reflection

What is your purpose in having the students read this text?

The purpose of having students read these texts is that they represent significant themes
throughout the novel: education, friendship, language, magic, identity, choices, and
communication. These themes are easily relatable to (except the magic one) for
adolescents, so they will be able to relate back to their personal experiences as they are reading
these passages. We think these texts also provide students with the opportunity to analyze
particular sections of the book more deeply which can ultimately lead to a rich classroom
discussion.

Why is close reading appropriate for this text?

This is not only an incredibly popular text, with JK Rowling having earned more in book sales
than any author ever, its also a deep, complex, and meaningful story that students can relate to,
learn from, and enjoy. The passages listed provide a wide range of complicated words, phrases,
sentences, styles, and structures while simultaneously forcing students to really analyze the
differences in form and content, interpret the relation between the two, question how this
influences our understanding, and consider what it all says about the author, the story, life, and
the world. With themes that are highly important for teens to consider as the transition from
children to adults - such as identity, choices, education, and friendship combined with the crucial
issues of language and communicate that are important to all, and a touch of magic to spice
things up - students are forced to consider their stance on such topics as they decide what type of
person they want to be. Presenting students with interesting, yet complex, stories that they can
relate to and having them break down key passages, using numerous comprehension strategies is
one of the best ways of getting them to actually enjoy learning.

What do the students need to attend to?

First, the students need to read the passages within each group and identify the particular theme
that describes the group. After this, the students need to write a brief response describing why
they believe that theme best fits the group of passages. This allows the teacher to see if students
are simply guessing or if they truly comprehend why the theme fits. Students must also be able to
justify the themes to themselves, which helps them to double check that their reasoning is correct
by finding evidence between all the passages within a group. They will then choose one quote
from three different sections and answer the prompts/questions provided to further their
understanding of the texts. Students are given choices from among the passages so they can pick
the passages that are the most intriguing to them while also getting experience with a variety of
themes in the novel.

How does this activity help students to understand why, when, and where to use close
reading?

This activity helps students see that close reading should be utilized when reading more
challenging passages and for passages that contain complex ideas/concepts. The close reading
activity also enables students to see the connection/relationship between the different passages
within the novel to reinforce the idea that these seven themes are prevalent throughout the entire
book. In addition, we think that by providing students with this multitude of questions, students
will become more familiar with close reading and it will become more automatic for them over
time. With practice, students will begin thinking about these questions as they read on their own
without prompting from the teacher, and theyll ultimately become better readers through
adoption of this strategy. Also, by using close reading with a fiction novel, we also desire that
students see that close reading is not limited to only academic writing, but can be used anytime
with any time of genre. Lastly, we hope students realize the importance of why theyre doing this
close reading activity and that is so they develop their metacognitive skills by analyzing more
difficult texts. By engaging in this process, students will hopefully see that these metacognitive
skills can help them in their everyday lives, not only in school.

After presenting your close reading activity, what if anything would you change about your
design?
We could probably edit it more and cut it down a bit so that its more manageable and not as
repetitive. Though I do like how extensive and intricate it is. Id also like to have them analyze
the film adaptations of the passages (of the scenes/sequences that were adapted) and have them
compare/contrast the two. This could then be followed by a discussion on visual literacy and the
strategies involved in making sense out of film, as well as how the terms, concepts, techniques,
and skills associated with cinema relate to those of novels. In what ways can a director use their
camera like an author uses their pen?