Questioning
Independent and successful readers are constantly consciously or subconsciously asking questions as they progress through texts. Questioning is crucial to comprehension. As you will learn in this section of the site, all other comprehension strategies depend on it. Students need to learn how to question texts and themselves. When students question texts they are actively trying to make sense of an author's message and are more likely to remain engaged in their reading, to confirm the answers to their questions. Students should be encouraged to ask the following different types of questions:
Critical: locating information within the text
Inferential: reading between the lines
Evaluative: making connections between texts and beyond texts
(Bayetto, 2008)
Readers should be asking questions before, during and after reading. If students question a text before reading, they have already made connections with it, and start to build their prior knowledge and frame their predictions.
Critical: locating information within the text
Inferential: reading between the lines
Evaluative: making connections between texts and beyond texts
(Bayetto, 2008)
Readers should be asking questions before, during and after reading. If students question a text before reading, they have already made connections with it, and start to build their prior knowledge and frame their predictions.
Questions and ideas for the Classroom
- What is the author trying to say, why?
- What do we already know about the story/character/topic? - "Do I agree?" - "Why am I finding this tricky to read?" - "Does that make sense?" - "When did this happen?" - "Why is he/she........." - "What might happen next?" - "Who are they talking about?" - "How is the character feeling?" - Writing and answering questions together as class - Share on interactive whiteboard under headings (characters, words and expressions, story) - Making class predictions and questions prior to reading - "I wonder" activities - Answering our own questions as a class, after reading. |
Questioning can be explicitly taught to children before, during and after reading, as demonstrated in the above youtube clip.
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Questioning Activities for the classroom...
This wheel can be used either in small groups or as a whole class. Students can spin the wheel, identify the question, and direct it to an individual or the group to think, pair, share.
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This folded question chart encourages readers to think about different types of questions they have upon reading texts.
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This visual aid is a useful prompt for teachers and students when traversing a text.
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Further Resources
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/comprehension_strategies.html#questioning
http://ohiorc.org/adlit/strategy/strategy_each.aspx?id=000003
http://teachingld.org/questions/15
http://ohiorc.org/adlit/strategy/strategy_each.aspx?id=000003
http://teachingld.org/questions/15
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