In her classes, Professor Judith Ryan teaches students close
reading by having them identify the important words in a text as
a class. For example, Judith takes a small passage of Kafka and
projects it using transparencies. (This could be done with a
computer hooked up to a projector as well). She tells the
students to think about the important words in the passage.
After a few seconds, she asks them to share the first word they
find significant in the passage. A student shares, and Judith
highlights that word on the screen. The students then explain
why he or she thought the word was important. Judith next asks
if anybody chose an earlier word in the passage, and, again, she
highlights the word and prompts the student to explain the
reasoning. She continues in this vein until until students begin
to see that every word counts and that, to do a close reading,
you must make every word meaningful.