Questions
What is questioning in reading?
Asking questions for reading comprehension is exactly what it says. Readers ask questions about the text before they read, during reading and after reading to better comprehend what they have read (Trinkle, 2009; Marzano, 2001). There are different types of questions that students can ask when reading that range from directly in the text to creating new meaning and learning from a text (see QAR strategy below).
Why is asking questions important?
Questioning is important because it causes the reader to think beyond the surface level of the text. This is not easy for many students. Many students would rather copy text directly from reading to answer questions. Direct modeling of asking deeper questions asks students to go higher on Bloom's Taxonomy and ultimately to get more from their reading (Trinkle, 2009; Marzano, 2001). Asking questions after reading can also lead to further research and learning (Trinkle, 2009). The ability to ask questions also spills into other reading comprehension strategies like identify main idea and creating summaries.
What are some strategies for questioning?
The QAR strategy helps students to understand that there are different types of questions. Some questions are right there in the text, others are "think and search" questions, some are questions between the reader and the author and other questions must be answered on their own.
1. Explain and define the four types of questions.
2. Read aloud a short passage.
3. Have predetermined questions to ask after reading. After reading, model the questions and have students determine which type of question it is.
4. Show students how to find the information to answer the question.
(Question-Answer Relationships, n.d)
1. Explain and define the four types of questions.
2. Read aloud a short passage.
3. Have predetermined questions to ask after reading. After reading, model the questions and have students determine which type of question it is.
4. Show students how to find the information to answer the question.
(Question-Answer Relationships, n.d)
Q: 24:7
Everyone should ask questions 24 hours a day 7 days a week (24:7). Encourage students to be constantly asking questions about the world around them. Provide question words and thinking stems to help them generate questions. Discuss with students how it's okay to ask questions and all questions are valued. Provide a visual anchor chart as well (McGregor, 2007).
This strategy is used during reading to help students create meaning and reflect on the text.
There are three main components of this strategy: planning the implementation, creating queries, and developing discussions.
There are three main components of this strategy: planning the implementation, creating queries, and developing discussions.
- Planning the implementation
- Identify major understandings the students should construct and anticipate potential problems in the text.
- Segment the text to focus on information needed to build information.
- Develop queries that promote understanding.
- Develop queries (3 types of queries)
- Initiating
- What is the author trying to say here?
- What is the author's message?
- What is the author talking about?
- Follow up queries
- What does the author mean here?
- Does the author explain this clearly?
- Does this make sense with what the author told us before?
- How does this connect with what the author told us before?
- Does the author tell us why?
- Why do you think the author tells us this now?
- Narrative queries
- How do things look for the character now?
- Given what the author has already told us about the character, what do you think he's up to?
- How has the author let you know that something has changed?
- How has the author settled this for you?
- Initiating
- Developing discussions
- Marking- Responding to a student's comment in a way that draws attention to a certain concept or idea.
- Turning back- Turning responsibility for learning back to the text to clarify thinking.
- Revoicing- Help the student express what they are trying to say by rephrasing it/
- Modeling- The teacher offers examples on how a response should be given and how thoughtful thinking sounds.
- Annotating- The teacher provides to fill in any gaps in information, reasoning and assumptions.
- Recapping- The teacher summarizes major ideas that students have constructed. (Smith & Zygouris-Coe, 2006)