Transcript Questioning: The Core of Comprehension

Questioning:
The Core of Comprehension
By Andrea Frasier
“All men by nature desire to know.”
- Aristotle
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Children are naturally curious
Wonder keeps the imagination alive
It’s how we make sense of the world
It’s about taking risks & furthering
passions
• Questions indicate engagement
• Questions are fundamental to being
human!
The Importance of Questions
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If you ask questions as you read…
You are awake!
You are thinking!
You are interacting with the words!
You are emotionally attached!
You are in a dialogue with the author!
You are curious about the circumstances!
YOU WIL HAVE A RICHER
READING EXPERIENCE!!!
Why Ask Questions?
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Sends readers on a quest
Keeps readers turning the page
Seek, Pursue, & Search for Answers
One question leads to another
Promotes deep understanding
Leads you to new ideas & perspectives
Makes reading FUN!!!
Who Owns the Questions in
Your Classroom?
The Learners Must!
• Model how questions come to you & ways
to record them
• Express the importance of asking questions;
not just answering them
• Students must feel that their questions will
be valued!
• Encourage & support their ability to pose
questions
Put Thinking on Display
“ When we want to cultivate
dispositions for thinking in
our students, we want to
show them what good
thinking sounds like, why it’s
important, and where it can
lead us.”
-Debbie Miller (2008)
Creating a Culture of Thinking!
• REAL (not fake) questions should pervade
the classroom!
• Get out of ANSWER gear!
• 21st Century~ Critical, Creative users of
information!
• Nurture inquiry
• Intimate environment~ safe to take risks
What Does it Feel Like?
• Read the short excerpt from Markings
• Record the questions you have on the
response sheet
• Discuss the text with your group
• Add new questions you have after the
discussion
• Reflect~ What kinds of questions did you
ask? How did asking questions affect your
reading experience?
When to Question the Text?
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Clarify Meaning (confused?)
Make predictions
Locate an answer
Determine an author’s style, content, or
format
Assessment questions are �
• Questions we know the answers to
• Questions we ask in order to check or
monitor our students
Sincere questions are �
• Questions we may not know the answers to
• Questions we ponder and wonder about
• Questions that require further research
by both teacher and students
Think of a systematic approach to
teach questioning that is
appropriate for your
grade level!
“It is crucial that questioning skills are
introduced and taught formally.”
- Ciardiello, 1998
Understanding Questions
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Encourage curiosity~ build wonder
Variations of “20 Questions” game
I’m thinking of…What is it?
Set up wonder boxes (or rolls of paper)
Bring in unfamiliar objects
Wordless picture books
Statements vs. Questions (primary)
5 W’s
Learning to Question
• Before, During, After Questions
• Good readers ask questions to monitor for
meaning & clarify confusion
• Ask “Thick” questions~
• Thick questions lead to discussion,
inference, analysis, & evaluation
Focusing Questions
• Question the author
• Question the characters
• Respond to other’s questions~ Hearing
other’s questions may inspire new ones of
our own!
Every wonder deserves a response! There
may not always be an answer.
Answering Questions
• Some are answered, some are not (we can
let questions linger a while)
• QAR~ 1. Right There 2. Think and Search
3. Author & Me 4.On my Own
• Beat the Teacher
Questioning to Learn
• Wonder About New Information
• Read with a Question in Mind~ seeking
Answers
• Research questions
• Supporting Inquiry~ student generated
questions
Going Deeper
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High Levels of Bloom’s
Answering open-ended questions
Rubrics to score answers
Deepening Literature Discussion~
questioning in literature discussion groups,
reciprocal teaching and book clubs
What Does it look Like?
What Next?
• Planning a sequence for teaching
questioning
• Integrating Questioning Strategies: (with
curriculum, anthology, other literature,
content areas, etc.)
“Education is not the
filling of a pail but the
lighting of a fire.”
- William Butler Yeats