Raising the Level of Questioning in Your Reading Classroom

Questioning During Shared Reading Time

SCHOLASTIC NEWS/WEEKLY READER: Wild PetsArticle: Falling Stars

• Day 1: What are rules professional athletes must follow?

• Why do athletes have rules?• What happens if athletes don’t follow the

rules? • Read the article, discuss PEDs (performance

enhancing drugs), who is using them, and why they are using them.

HIGHER LEVEL QUESTIONING• Is a 50 game ban and stripping them of victories

enough of a punishment for athletes? Why or Why not? • What punishment would get an athlete’s attention and

cause them not to use PEDs? • Look at the quote in the last paragraph by Travis Tygart,

“Nobody wins when an athlete decides to cheat with dangerous performance-enhancing drugs.” Discuss the meaning of the quote.

• Look back at the title. Is it an appropriate one for this article? Why or Why not?

Look at Picture of the Week.

• What toy does he remind you of and why? Read caption. Would you wear this suit and travel down a mountain? Why or Why not?

The Dollar Bill’s Birthday

• Day 2: Who is on the $1 bill? • Did you know he hasn’t always been on the $1

bill? • Read the article, discuss who was on the $1 bill,

what caused bills (paper money) to be created? • Look at the picture of the old dollar bill and

compare it to our $1 bill today under the ELMO.

HIGHER LEVEL QUESTIONING

• What problems are there with paper money? Coin money?

• Should we go back to only coins? Why or Why not?

• Look at editorial cartoon. Discuss what the cartoon is and what point it is trying to get across to readers.

Look at “Numbers in the News”

• Which numbers most interests you and why? Which number surprises you and why?

Wild Pets

• Day 3: Read introductory paragraphs and discuss if wild pets should be kept in people’s homes. What might happen?

• Read “Unique Companions” • Discuss word meaning of domesticated. Look at

map and discuss how laws effect our state (no exotic animal law in NC)

• What potential problems it could cause by not having a law?

Read “Wild Debate”

– What caused states to enact a ban? – Should we wait for a problem and then create a

law? Why or why not? • Read “Too Much to Handle” – Discuss why these animals might be too much to

handle?

Read “A Bad Rap”

• Why was this the sub-heading? • Should all wild pets be banned? Any

exceptions?

Debate• Day 4: Should wild animals be banned as pets?

– Yes___– No___– Share ideas of why or why not?

• Read introduction and discuss author’s unique word choice: “People aren’t wild about the idea of exotic pets…” What does wild about mean? (Idiom)

• Read yes and summarize key points• Read no and summarize key points • Which side has stronger support and why? • Should NC put a law in place? Should the US put a law in place and

take it out of the state’s hands and why?

Read “An Ancient Army Rises Again”

• Discuss the findings in China. Why were the soldiers created and how many do they think exist?

• Discuss why all the soldiers haven’t been found yet? Allow students to share their ideas.

• Discuss the age of the statues, material they are made of and how they have held up over time.

• Google the clay soldiers and you will find very interesting “find out more” information.

Raising the Level of Questioning During Guided Reading

Why should we incorporate critical thinking into guided reading lessons?

• Common Core emphasizes critical thinking across the curriculum.

• All students are capable of critical thinking and should be given opportunities throughout the day to approach the content at a higher level of thinking.

• When we set high standards for students by making our instruction rigorous, they will rise to meet our expectations.

• Research supports it.

How can we incorporate critical thinking into guided reading?

• Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy– 6 levels of increasingly complex thinking, ranging

from remembering basic details to creating something new using knowledge gained from all lower levels

– We should be asking all students questions from all levels.

– The majority of questions we ask tend to come from the lower levels, so we have to intentionally and purposefully plan for higher level questions.

• QAR (Question-Answer-Relationship)– Classifies questions into 4 categories based on how

and where the answer is found– Jan Richardson’s Green/Yellow/Red Questioning

Strategy is based on QAR– Students can be taught to answer questions at each

level (all levels of Bloom’s), determine which type of question it was (Analying, Evaluating), and write their own questions at each level (Applying, Creating).

QAR Bloom’s Taxonomy

Jan Richardson

Questions

Right There Remembering Green Recall, List, Name, Describe, Who is, What is, Where did, When was, Retell, Give an example, Define

Think and Search

RememberingUnderstanding

Yellow Summarize, Main idea, Order events, Compare, Contrast, How many times, What examples, Why does, What is the cause/effect

Author and Me

ApplyingAnalyzingEvaluating

Red Predict, Why did the author..., Do you agree with, What lesson, What character trait, How did the character feel, Infer

On My Own EvaluatingCreating

Red Have you ever, If you could, What are the pros/cons, How do you feel about, What can be exciting about, What would you do, In your opinion

Right There

• These questions can be answered from a single sentence in the text.

• The student can point to the answer.• The answer is usually in the same sentence as

the question, or uses the same wording as the question

• When students begin creating Right There questions, practice turning a fact into a question.

Your Turn

• With your partner/table, create 2 Right There questions from Duke Ellington: A Life in Music.

• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q

Our Questions

• Where was Duke Ellington born?• How old was Duke when he started playing

the piano?• What was the name of Duke’s first song?• Define orchestra.

Think and Search

• The answer is in the text, but not all in one place.

• You have to search through the book and put pieces together to find the answer.

Your Turn

• With your partner/table, create 2 Think and Search questions from Duke Ellington.

• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q

Our Questions

• Describe the music Duke’s Orchestra played.• Who were two famous guest singers who sang

or played with Duke’s Orchestra?• What are 3 reasons people still remember

Duke Ellington as a famous musician?• “Duke Ellington was the most famous jazz

musician of his time.” Support this statement with 3 reasons from the text.

Author and Me

• The answer is not in the text.

• You have to use your background knowledge and what the author says to answer the question.

Your Turn

• With your partner/table, create 2 Author and Me questions from Duke Ellington.

• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q

Our Questions

• What was the author’s purpose for writing this book?

• How do you think Duke felt when he wrote his first song?

• What character trait describes Duke?

On My Own

• The answer is not in the text.

• You have to use your background knowledge to answer the question.

Your Turn

• With your partner/table, create 2 On My Own questions from Duke Ellington.

• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q

Our Questions

• What do you already know about jazz music?

• If you play an instrument, what is the best thing about creating music?

• What are the pros and cons of being a musician?

Resources

• 40 Reading Intervention Strategies for K-6 Students: Research Based Support for RTI by Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins

• The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson• QAR info and lesson resources http://

www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/QARQuestionAnswerRelationshipTeachingChildrenWheretoSeekAnswerstoQuestions.pdf

• Bloom’s Taxonomy posters http://naomiharm.org/05-2Bloom-13+Elem+Posters.pdf

Flocabulary

• http://www.flocabulary.com/

Any Questions??