05.+Questioning

= Questioning: = = (Can be during reading or after reading) =

A. Short description of the strategy

//Stepping Out// calls this strategy "Reading for Levels of Comprehension" (128), but pragmatically, it is teaching students how to use questioning to access higher order thinking.

Goal of strategy: Teach students the levels of comprehension and then have them create questions that match the levels. This strategy also helps teachers focus on their questioning, so that they are not always asking literal recall type questions.

The audience for this strategy is teacher and students.

I would have a photo copy of the chart on the overhead, and perhaps at the beginning of the teaching about levels of thinking, I would have one available for students to keep in their binders.

I can assume that all students and teachers have prior knowledge about asking questions, however they may not realize that there are levels of thinking behind the questions we ask.

Time-frame: I think this is a strategy that you can refer back to repeatedly, and keep the chart on the wall to have students reference.

Source: Kiddey, Pat, Richard Murray Chambers, and Felicity Waring. //Stepping Out: Reading and Viewing : Making Meaning of Text.// Toronto, ON: Pearson Professional Learning, 2006. Print.

(Adapted by Susan Close, SMART Learning, and presented at various workshops as Reciprocal Questioning)

B. Step-by-step description of how to implement the strategy.

I would use a chart such as this in a variety of ways.

1. First, after reading a poem or story, I have students write questions with a partner. Then I give them the chart. I explain the types of thinking, and then have them revisit their questions categorizing them according to the chart. I then have them rewrite some of the questions to extend their thinking, and then share their improvements/extensions with the class.

2. (Extension)Next time we used the chart, I review the levels of questions, but after we read a poem, I expect students to write three questions in the higher levels of thinking. I do not accept literal questions. We then do a strategy I learned from Susan Close called Reciprocal Questioning. Students make up the questions with a partner. One pair shares one of their questions, and then each a/b partner discusses the possible answer using the poem/story as a reference point, next students take turns sharing their ideas. I give them a sentence frame such as My partner __and I think__ ___ because in the poem it states__.

We listen to answers, and then the questioners give their thoughts. We practice saying thank you to the speakers, and I give points for listening and speaking. The partners who answered first then get to ask one of their questions.

3. As we start to get ready for the Provincial Exam, I have students use the chart and categorize the types of levels of questions that are being asked on the exam. By the end of the semester they become quite adept at recognizing the levels, which I have found makes it easier for them to answer tricky multiple choice questions.

D. Controversy/Warnings in using this strategy?

I think younger students may need to use Susan Close's idea of On the lines, between the lines, and beyond the lines (learned in a workshop with her), as these are easily understood by younger students.

How this strategy builds a love for reading:

All students need to learn how to ask good questions. Once they develop this skill, and practice answering deeper levels of thought questions, then students will come to appreciate the various levels of comprehension one can have with a text. Students who practice this skill will also internalize the questioning process which will help their reading comprehension improve, thus their understanding will improve, and their enjoyment.