Critical Literacy, Common Core, and “Close Reading”

In the time of implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) across the country, teachers are confronting new content and instructional shifts in their classrooms. One of these shifts is providing time for students to do "close reading" of complex texts in order to reach the expectations of CCSS. "Close reading" can be defined in multiple ways, and different approaches can be taken in the classroom to help students learn to read closely. In this paper, I suggest a critical literacy approach to texts that not only supports CCSS expectations for close, analytical reading, but extends even deeper to help students become empowered, informed, and engaged readers.