Sherlock Holmes: Reading like a Detective an 8th

1. 
   Introduction
   

2. 
   Lesson Plans
   

3. 
   Unit Resources
   

The writers of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy (CCSS for ELA) often describe the essence of the standards as requiring students to “read like a detective and write like an investigative reporter.” What does it mean to read like a detective? This unit explores this concept both figuratively and literally through the most famous detective of all.

The unit focuses on one extended text—the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (hereafter referred to simply as Hound)—as well as several shorter, supplementary texts: a detective story by Charles Dickens, a sequence of interviews about crowdsourced investigations of the Boston Marathon bombing, and articles that explore Sherlock Holmes’s thought process through the lens of modern psychology. All of these texts deal with the common theme of detection through the skill of logical argumentation (deduction and induction). Students will explore how detectives, both fictional and real, professional and amateur, go about investigating mysteries and crimes. In particular, discussion and writing tasks ask students to focus on the thinking process behind detection (and, by extension, reading), and the sometimes successful, sometimes messy results of making inferences.

Students will consider several central ideas as they read:

1. 
   Good readers are like detectives in that they look carefully for clues to the author’s meaning.
   

Choices an author makes—a certain word, a type of sentence, a telling detail, image, or figure of speech—can, like fingerprints, leave traces upon a text. Just as a good detective knows which clues are significant and which are immaterial, adept readers know which of these authorial choices reveal deeper meaning upon further analysis.

2. 
   Like detectives, skilled readers use those clues to make inferences to help them solve a problem.
   

True detection—what the Standards refer to as drawing inferences from a text—is based on a careful examination of the available facts to reach a logical conclusion. A detective’s challenge is to solve a crime; a reader’s challenge is to solve, or unlock the potential meanings, of a complex text. Just as all conclusions about a case are not equally valid (sometimes suspects are falsely accused), all readings are not equally valid either. However, a sufficiently rich text will have multiple plausible meanings. Given the evidence, skilled readers seek out the most probable meanings, and through thinking, discussing and sharing ideas with others, and ultimately writing about a text, they refine their understandings further.

3. 
   Detectives and readers must constantly struggle to reconstruct the truth from imperfect evidence.
   

In logical terms, the detection process, in both reading and crime-solving, is often inductive—because available evidence is rarely perfect and our logical abilities are finite, rarely can the reader-detective reach valid, bullet-proof arguments. Unless we are an eyewitness or the criminal gives an accurate confession, we seldom know for certain the who, how, and why of a crime. There is merely the best possible theory of what really happened. Likewise, there are no absolute readings of a text. In literature class, that uncertainty can make for lively discussion. But in real life crime and punishment, our inability to know the ultimate truth of a situation can often be disastrous.

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   In the age of social media, this struggle becomes even harder: readers must be careful when deciding what evidence is true and which inferences are valid.
   

Blogs and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, make it possible for anyone, anywhere to post “facts” as if they were verifiable evidence. Anyone reading those posts is free to make inferences based on those facts. Sometimes, these inferences can metastasize and go “viral,” leading to rumors, false accusations, and outright fabrications. Teenagers are all too familiar with this phenomenon. Students in the age of digital media must be critical, discerning readers, able to sort through the mountain of facts, compare information, and dig deeper into point of view and potential bias. While this unit does not focus on digital literacy issues such as reliability of Internet sources, the set of informational articles on crowdsourcing should prompt students to think carefully about the credibility issues that such immediate, unfiltered information sources often raise and the dangers of irresponsible Internet behavior.

districts to review this unit and texts for social, ethnic, racial, and gender bias before use in local schools.

The lessons and activities in this unit will guide students to inquiry into the following key questions (in no particular order):

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  What makes for a good detective?
  
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  What evidence do readers and detectives use to create inferences, and how do these inferences help solve problems? What are the benefits and drawbacks of inference-making?
  
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  What is the Holmesian method of detection, and how is it similar to close reading?
  
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  How has social media changed the way people think about detection, and are these changes for the better?
  

Students who complete this unit should be able to do the following with teacher guidance and, increasingly, with independence:

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  Read and comprehend grade-level complex literary and informational texts, including forming their own questions and angles of inquiry into the text
  
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  Participate in formal and informal discussions and seminars about a complex text by speaking and listening
  
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  Draw inferences from a complex text in order to form analyses, conclusions, and predictions while speaking and writing
  
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  Write in response to complex text by incorporating textual evidence
  
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  Write cogent arguments including:
  
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    Strong claims
    
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    Supportive reasons
    
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    Sufficient, relevant evidence
    
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    Insightful elaboration or effective explanation of evidence, connecting evidence to reasons and claims
    
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    Effective acknowledgment of and response to counterclaims
    
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  Synthesize information from multiple texts into a coherent argument
  

The structure of this unit is drawn from the PARCC Model Content Frameworks (PARCC MCF), which provide a general model for sequencing reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities around the CCSS. The goal of the PARCC MCF is for students to become “adept at reading closely and uncovering evidence to use in their own writing.” The MCF divides the school year into four modules or quarters (each row marked with a letter represents a module):

This unit incorporates the following Common Core Standards:

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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.6 Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
  

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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.5 Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.9 Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
  

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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 8 here.)
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
  

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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.3 Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.4 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
  
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  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 8 Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)