University of New England EDU 742

1. University of New EnglandEDU 742 Denee Mendez

2. Teaching Comprehension Strategy: ASKING QUESTIONS

3. When should it be done? Questioning should be done before, during, and after reading. • According to Janet Allen (2004), creating questions before reading indicates that readers have already thought about the content. • Jim Burke (2003) posits that during reading, the value of self-questioning is that student questions "demand a dialogue: someone is asking another to respond" (p. 247). • In Strategies That Work, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis (2000) affirm that after reading the text, "questions stimulate research efforts" (p. 81).

4. Why do we ask questions: Because • We are curious • Intrigued • Confused • We need information • We want to find out what someone else knows • To challenge an idea • To test our knowledge or someone else’s knowledge

5. Purpose of Questioning: Through questioning, students are able to wonder about content and concepts before, during and after reading by: • constructing meaning • enhancing meaning • finding answers • solving problems • finding specific information • acquiring a body of information • discovering new information • propelling research efforts • clarifying confusion

6. Before Reading When students question before they read: • they activate their prior knowledge • they may make predictions • This act of engagement prepares them to connect with the text and to get ready for comprehension.

7. During Reading During reading, students use questioning to: • Search for answers and information • Hold their thinking—in other words, sustain their thoughts • Make connections • Monitor their comprehension hence they are aware of what they are thinking as they read-a strategic reader

8. After Reading After reading, students continue to formulate questions to: • Think critically about their comprehension of the topic and the text • Decide if more research needs to be done

9. QUESTIONING STRATEGIES

10. Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) (Raphael, 1982, 1984) • The question–answer relationship (QAR) strategy helps students understand the different types of questions. By learning that the answers to some questions are "Right There" in the text, that some answers require a reader to "Think and Search," and that some answers can only be answered "On My Own," students recognize that they must first consider the question before developing an answer.

11. Why use question–answer relationship? • It can improve students' reading comprehension • It teaches students how to ask questions about their reading and where to find the answers to them • It helps students to think about the text they are reading and beyond it, too • It inspires them to think creatively and work cooperatively while challenging them to use higher-level thinking skills • When to use: Before reading, during reading after reading • How to use :Individually, with small groups, Whole class setting

12. The QAR strategy divides questions into two broad categories; • "In the Book" (text-explicit) questions and "In My Head" (text-implicit) questions.

13. “In the Book" questions are generated directly from a reading selection. These explicit questions fall into two subcategories: Right There Think and Search • "In My Head" questions are created by the reader when confronting a text. These questions are not explicitly found in the reading; rather, these questions arise as the reader engages the selection's content through active thought, comparison, evaluation, etc. These implicit questions fall into two subcategories: Author and You On My Own

14. What do the four types of questions mean? • Right There Questions: Literal questions whose answers can be found in the text. Often the words used in the question are the same words found in the text. • Think and Search Questions: Answers are gathered from several parts of the text and put together to make meaning.

15. What do the four types of questions mean? cont’d • Author and You: These questions are based on information provided in the text but the student is required to relate it to their own experience. Although the answer does not lie directly in the text, the student must have read it in order to answer the question. • On My Own: These questions do not require the student to have read the passage but he/she must use their background or prior knowledge to answer the question.

16. What does this look like? The sun was setting, and as the senator gazed out his office window, he could see the silhouettes of some of the unique buildings and monuments of Washington, D.C. Directly in front of him at the other end of the National Mall, the stark obelisk of the Washington Monument thrust dramatically skyward, its red warning lights blinking in the approaching dusk. Although he couldn't quite see it, he knew that beyond the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool just past it, a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln sat thoughtfully in the Lincoln Memorial. The senator was worried. A bill was before the Congress, called Safe Surfing for Safer Schools, that would deny federal education dollars to states that didn't have laws against internet pornography on their books. He was concerned about kids having access to dirty pictures, and even more concerned about internet predators having access to kids. But he also believed strongly in the right of people to freely access information, even if it meant sometimes children might be exposed to adult materials. And it seemed dangerous to take money away from schools, where the need was desperate, if state legislatures balked at this federal pressure on them. His constituents had let him know in no uncertain terms that they supported strict standards of decency on the internet. He knew if he didn't support the bill, his next election opponent would paint him as pro-pornography, and anti-child. But he didn't want anything to get in the way of providing monetary support to schools through federal grants. The unique spires of the original Smithsonian Institution were getting harder to see, but there was still a faint gleam on the green dome of the Museum of Natural History. What was the right thing to do? • Right There What legislation is the senator worried about? • Think and Search What arguments is he having to weigh in his mind? • Author and You How would you advise the Senator, and why would you advise him so? • On My Own What's a tough decision you've had to make?

17. Children's books to use with this strategy • How to Heal a Broken Wingby Bob Graham (Candlewick, 2008) • Picture book • When a young boy spots a hurt bird on a busy city street, he takes it home until it can return to the outdoors. • One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Differenceby Katie Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes (Kids Can, 2008) • Nonfiction/picture book • Inspired by actual events, a boy from Kenya provides a hope-filled lesson on micro-economics just right for young readers. • Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman, illustrated by Meilo So (Random, 2008) • Picture book biography • A red-tailed hawk takes up residence in a tony New York neighborhood and becomes the talk of the town. Based on actual events.

18. Question the Author (Beck et al., 1997). • Questioning the author is a strategy that engages students actively with a text. Rather than reading and taking information from a text, the QtA strategy encourages students to ask questions of the author and the text. • Through forming their questions, students learn more about the text. Students learn to ask questions such as: -What is the author's message? -Does the author explain this clearly? -How does this connect to what the author said earlier?

19. Why use Question the Author? • It engages students in the reading and helps to solidify their understanding of a text. • It teaches students to form questions to the author while reading. • It teaches students to critique the author's writing.

20. Create and use the strategy Beck et al. (1997) identify specific steps you should follow during a QtA lesson: • Select a passage that is both interesting and can spur a good conversation. • Decide appropriate stopping points where you think your students need to delve deeper and gain a greater understanding. • Create queries (questions to encourage critical thinking) for each stopping point. • Ex: What is the author trying to say? • Ex: Why do you think the author used the following phrase? • Ex: Does this make sense to you?

21. Using the Five W’s Good readers ask questions before during and after reading such as: Who? What? When? Where ? Why?

22. Example of Five W’s questions • What happened? • Who was there? • Why did it happen? • When did it happen? • Where did it happen?

23. I Wonder….. questions • When readers wonder about something wonder why, wonder if, wonder where, wonder whether, wonder what, wonder how-they are raising questions that new learning can possibly address.They are self- questioning

24. ThiNKI WONDER....... • How ___________________________________________? • If ___________________________________________? • Who ___________________________________________? • What ___________________________________________? • When _______________________________________? • Why_______________________________________?

25. References • http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/question_answer_relationship/ • http://www.readingquest.org/strat/qar.html • http://www.adlit.org/fun/writing_contests/exquisite_prompt_challenge/cooper/ • Alvermann, D. E., Swafford, J., & Montero, M. K. (2004). Content Area Literacy Instruction for the Elementary Grades. Allyn & Bacon.