Vocabulary and Comprehension: Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading

1. Vocabulary and Comprehension: Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading Oregon Reading First Regional Coaches’ Meetings February 19 and 21, 2008

2. Today’s Objectives: We will… • Discuss and analyze the types of questions typically asked within Comprehensive Reading Programs. • Practice generating questions on the text. • Present the concept of scaffolding for difficult questions.

3. Today’s Presentation is Based Upon an Earlier Presentation by: Anita L. Archer, Ph.D. archerteach@aol.com503-295-7749

4. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • BIG IDEA: Asking students questions during passage reading has proven effective in improving the comprehension of students. -(Morrow & Gambrell, 2001)

5. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • Asking teacher-generated questions is one of the research-validated comprehension procedures outlined by the National Reading Panel. (NRP, 2000) • Why?

6. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • Why? • Helps with recall • To make connections • Promotes active reading • Helps students focus on critical information • Models questions students should be asking themselves

7. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • We can… • Generate questions on the text or • Utilize the questions provided in the reading program

8. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • Guidelines for Formulating Questions • Divide the material into appropriate segments at natural junctures. • Consider: • the reading skills of the students, • the content of the text, and • what the student needs to understand. • Develop questions that will help students construct meaning, focusing on critical understandings.

9. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • Question Types • Memory Questions (who, what, when, where) • Convergent Thinking Questions (why, how, in what ways) • Divergent Thinking Questions (imagine, suppose, predict, if/then) • Evaluative Thinking Questions (defend, judge, justify, what do you think) -(Ciardiello, 1998)

10. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading

11. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • What is the question type? • Where did the ambulance take Mrs. Brown? • Think about the animals in this story. In what ways are they alike? How are they different? • How would this story be different if it took place in winter? • Why do things in the firehouse need to be kept in perfect working order? • Think about the morals in the fables. Which moral is most helpful to you? Why?

12. Use Active Participation Strategies during Student Responses! • Think, Pair, Share • Partner Responses • Written Responses • Etc.!!

13. Active Participation • Think • Have students think and record responses • As students are writing, move around the classroom and record their ideas and their names on an overhead transparency. • Pair • Have students share their ideas with their partners. Have them record their partner’s best ideas. • As students are sharing, continue to record ideas on the overhead. • Share • Use the transparency for sharing with the class. Anita Archer, 2007

14. Partner Responses • Assign partners • Pair lower performing students with middle performing students. • Give the partners a number. • Sit partners next to each other. • Utilize triads when appropriate. Anita Archer, 2007

15. Partner Responses • Other hints for partners • Teach students how to work together. LOOK, LEAN, AND WHISPER. • Teach students how to give and receive encouragement and compliments. • Teach students that cooperative practice relates to the work place not to friendship. • Change the partnerships occasionally (every three to six weeks). • Join two partnerships to form cooperative teams. If you plan to use cooperative teams often, give students team numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Make 1 and 2 partners and 3 and 4 partners. When requesting responses on partnerships, refer to evens and odds. Anita Archer, 2007

16. Partner Responses • Use of partners: • Say answer to partner. • Retell content of lesson using a graphic organizer. • Review content (Tell, Help, Check). • Brainstorm (Think, Pair, Share). • Explain process, strategy, or algorithm using examples. • Read to or with partner. Anita Archer, 2007

17. Written Responses • Written responses • Gauge the length of the written response to avoid “voids” • Make the response fairly short OR • Make the response “eternal.” • To keep students from “sneaking” ahead. • Expose limited items on the overhead. • Have students put their pencils down to indicate completion. • Give immediate feedback. Anita Archer, 2007

18. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • Formulating Questions with Four Question Types: • Story: “Alejandro’s Gift” • Memory - What did Alejandro do to endure the lonely hours? • Convergent - Why did Alejandro want the ground squirrel and his friends to keep returning? • Divergent - If Alejandro would not have built the second water hole, do you think the animals would have eventually used the first water hole? • Evaluative - What if you were Alejandro? Would you have built a second water hole? Why or why not?

19. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • We can… • Generate questions on the text or • Utilize the questions provided in the reading program

20. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • Comprehension Questions Found Most Often in K-3 Comprehensive Reading Programs: • Fact and Opinion • Cause and Effect • Compare and Contrast • Main Idea and Details • Draw Conclusions • Make Inferences • Summarize

21. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • Cause and Effect. Why did Blue Cloud lose interest in her doll? • Cause and effect. Why was it so important that Lakota children learn silence? • Draw conclusions. Why did Blue Cloud have to pester her mother to let her hold the baby? • Draw conclusions. Why did mother finally agree to let Blue Cloud take care of Little Bear?

22. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading

23. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • What typically happens when a question is asked and the student does not know the answer (or gives an incorrect answer)? • We want a procedure to use when students don’t know an answer. • The procedure we will talk about is called “scaffolding the answer.”

24. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading Scaffolding

25. Scaffolded Question Scaffolded Question Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading • We can apply the same concept to answering questions. Target Question: Student doesn’t know.

26. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading Target Question: Why did Blue Cloud have to pester her mother to hold the baby? I don’t know. Was the baby easy for Blue Cloud to hold? Why or why not? Why did Mother keep Little Bear in a cradle on her back?

27. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading Target Question: Why did Mother finally agree to let Blue Cloud carry the baby? I don’t know. What did we learn about Blue Cloud’s mother on the journey? What did we learn about the weather on the journey?

28. Ask Appropriate Questions During Passage Reading Your Turn - Pair, Square, Share Why was Blue Cloud secretly smiling when the other girls gathered around her on their horses? Scaffold: How did Blue Cloud feel carrying the cradleboard on her pony? Predict what may happen if Blue Cloud decides to take the cradleboard with Little Bear off of her horse and race with the other girls. Scaffold: Where did Blue Cloud’s mother carry Blue Cloud? Why did Blue Cloud’s mother carry him on her back? What may be some of the dangers Blue Cloud’s mother needed to keep him safe from?

29. Today’s Objectives: We… • Discussed and analyzed the types of questions typically asked within Comprehensive Reading Programs. • Practiced generating questions on the text. • Presented the concept of scaffolding for difficult questions. Further Questions?