Close Reading & Text-Dependent Questions: Boost Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking

Onsite Professional Development Training

Teach Students to Analyze, Question, and Engage Deeply with the Text

In today’s classrooms, students often read to complete an assignment—not to comprehend deeply. This professional development training helps teachers transform reading into an active, engaging, and meaningful process. Through close reading strategies and the use of purposeful, text-dependent questions, educators will learn how to guide students toward deeper comprehension, stronger critical thinking, and more confident, evidence-based discussions.

Designed for K–12 teachers across content areas, this training equips educators with tools to guide students through complex text while developing essential skills in analysis, inference, and evidence-based thinking.

How Close Reading Transforms Student Thinking

Educators will explore how to use close reading and questioning techniques that help students slow down, notice details, and make meaning from what they read. Participants will learn how to:

  • Select meaningful, rigorous texts aligned to learning goals
  • Craft thought-provoking, text-dependent questions that spark critical thinking
  • Explore the growing focus on text-dependent questioning, academic rigor, and complex texts—while redefining what literacy looks like in today’s world.
  • Scaffold instruction to support deeper comprehension for all learners
  • Teach students to annotate, discuss, and write with evidence
  • Build student confidence, reading stamina, and academic independence

By the end of the training, educators will feel equipped to make close reading a consistent and effective part of their instruction—helping students improve comprehension, think critically, and engage with texts in meaningful ways across content areas.

What's Included

  • Digital Resource Bundle: Lifetime Access to Resources
  • Professional Development Hours
  • Downloadable Handout for Note-Taking
  • Break-out sessions & collaboration
  • Interactive engagement
  • Real-life examples/Case Studies

Who This Training Is For

  • Elementary School Teachers
  • Secondary School Teachers
  • Education Specialists
  • School Administrators (Principals, Asst. Principals, Curriculum Directors)
  • Counselors
  • Coaches
  • Special Education Teachers
  • Curriculum Coaches
  • Educational Support Staff
  • Title 1 Teachers & Directors
  • Gifted & Talented Teacher

Training Options​

  • Full-day or Half-Day Training
  • PLC Sessions
  • Before/After School Faculty Meetings
  • Virtual Professional Development
  • Coaching & Support
  • Mini-Lesson Modeling

What’s Included in your PD Course Package

Digital Toolbox Resource

Lifetime Access to Digital Resources.

Downloadable Handout

Implementation workbook for note-taking.

Professional Development Certificate

6 hours of PD Credit.

Training Schedule

Explore the research that highlights the connection between strong reading habits and long-term academic and life success. Learn why close reading is essential for developing deep comprehension, critical thinking, and college- and career-ready skills.

Gain a clear understanding of how to evaluate and select appropriately challenging texts. This module breaks down how to use qualitative, quantitative, and task-based measures to choose texts that support growth while meeting students where they are.

Learn what close reading looks like in practice and why it works. Discover the key instructional moves that make close reading successful, and how to build lessons that promote student ownership, engagement, and meaningful analysis.

Break down the close reading process into four clear, manageable phases that guide students from surface-level understanding to deeper interpretation and reflection:

  • Phase 1: What does the text say?
  • Phase 2: How does the text work?
  • Phase 3: What does the text mean?
  • Phase 4: What does the text inspire?

Introduce annotation as an essential tool for close reading. Learn how to model and teach strategies that help students highlight key ideas, ask questions, and track their thinking to support comprehension, vocabulary growth, and writing skills.

Help students become confident, thoughtful communicators through structured academic conversations. Explore tools like Socratic Seminars and Accountable Talk that support meaningful discussion, listening, and collaboration around texts.

Design meaningful, interactive lessons that empower students to become independent close readers—and apply those analytical skills to various forms of media and real-life situations.

Wrap up the training by planning how to bring close reading into your classroom. Walk away with ready-to-use templates, scaffolds, and sample tasks that support a range of learners, including multilingual students and those needing additional support.

Customize professional learning to meet the needs of your staff and your schedule

Here’s what our On-Site Professional Development Training can look like on your campus…

Full Day or Half Day Training

Schedule one of our highly interactive, customized training sessions for your next teacher in-service day.

PLC Sessions

Have one of our consultants provide in-person professional learning within your staff’s PLC schedule.

Before / After School Training

Let one of our consultants provide training during a faculty meeting either before or after school.

Prefer learning online?

This training is also offered online—same great content, accessible anywhere.

Contact us to learn more about having Strobel Education on your campus for On-site Training.

Share your questions and staff needs below, and a Strobel Education consultant will reach out to you.