Questioning
Although many students become relatively competent at answering questions posed by their teacher, they often forget the most important questions--their own. Questioning helps us better understand text we read as well as the world around us. We might ask questions to connect, clarify, summarize, or conduct research. Questions help us focus and interact with text as we read. Harvey and Goudvis (2000) suggest that if we read without questions we might as well abandon the book. Questioning gives us a real reason to read. The National Reading Panel (NRP) identified question answering and question generating as two strategies for teaching comprehension that have a solid scientific basis (NICHD, 2000). When students question what they are reading, they interact with the text, motivate themselves to read, clarify information, and infer beyond the literal meaning of the text (Tovani, 2000). While reading, Thinking Through Genre by Heather Lattimer (2003), I discovered an interesting technique that I incorporated into my comprehension unit on questioning. In a genre study of short story, she used the strategy of questioning a character as a way to enliven the stories, bring the characters to life, and support students’ understanding of characters and their perspectives. Once students have learned to ask “thick” questions before, during, and after, we begin to pose questions directly to the character. I have found that generating specific questions to a character leads to more thoughtful responses as opposed to just asking broader questions, such as, “What are you wondering?”, “What questions do you have?”. I always begin by modeling “asking questions of a character” for my students. I emphasize that we should question characters as we read to find out what it’s like in their world, to connect to their feelings and emotions, and to better understand their actions. I read aloud, stop to share my thinking, and record the questions I have for a character. A text that I often begin this technique with is, The Rough Face Girl by Rafe Martin. When I am confident that students understand why and how to question a character, I release them to practice. Before releasing them, I always clarify when & how they could do this as they read. I usually categorize the types of questions that I have previously asked and create an anchor chart for Questioning a Character as a scaffold for students to use as they read (see attached chart). Once students have had ample opportunities to apply this strategy both in pairs and independently, I usually extend this strategy by delving into the character’s perspective. I encourage students to really put themselves into the character’s place. We often use the “hot-seating” technique, in which a student transforms into the character and responds to questions from their peers through the character’s point of view. They love this! This also leads nicely into the next phase of the unit, question answer relationships (QAR), in which we begin to look for answers to our questions and identify where we find them. I would encourage you to include this technique when studying the
comprehension strategy of questioning. It is highly motivating for
students, deepens understanding of the text, and promotes meaningful
discussion! Questioning a Character (PDF) References Harvey, Stephanie & Goudvis, Anne (2000). Strategies That Work. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers. Kelley, Michelle & Clausen-Grace, Nicki (2007). Comprehension Shouldn’t Be Silent: From Strategy Instruction to Student Independence. Newark, DE: International Reading association. Lattimer, Heather (2003). Thinking Through Genre: Units of Study in the Reading and Writing Workshop. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.
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