December+-+Chapter+8+Questioning

Questioning is a good way to help the students focus as they read. For fiction selections, we can start by modeling the question, "Why did the author choose this title?" It's fun to see that "Aha!" moment when students realize how the title relates to the passage. An example is a story we read called "Stealing Home" where an elderly aunt moves in with a boy and his grandfather (who love baseball) and they have to learn to adjust. For those kids who have background knowledge of baseball terms, the double meaning of the title becomes clear easily and they can't wait to share. Building background knowledge is essential before students can come up with relevant questions. Once those good questions are in place, students have a meaningful reason to read on. For nonfiction, often the information is overwhelming for struggling readers, so questioning helps them pick out the important points of the text. Questioning helps readers monitor their comprehension. Taking time to record the questions (and answers) is important.When students are confused about something they read, it helps to share these questions that arise. Sometimes questions can be resolved in class discussion and other times the text itself may answer the question. When further research beyond the text is required to answer questions, we have a wealth of tools to answer questions that arise. When reading //A Cricket in Times Square//, some of my students didn't know where Times Square is. We visited a live webcam to check it out. They asked if you could really tell the temperature by counting the number of cricket chirps per minute. Again, a quick internet search verified that this is true. Kids need to know that their questions are important, and that good readers ask questions. As teachers we can help by encouraging questioning and modeling it as we engage students with the text. K. Wilson

Okay, I'll admit that the implementation of these reading strategies has caused me to reevaluate most everything I thought I knew about teaching reading. After all, **I'm** the teacher. **I'm** supposed to ask the questions and **I'm** supposed to know all the answers, right? I guess not! This gradual release of responsibility for learning to the kids is a little disconcerting, but I can certainly see how this month's focus could pay off. We know our students are full of questions. We just have to harness that resource. On page 109 of STW, the authors write, "Our students need to know that their questions matter." We want our students to regard what we bring to the table as important. Don't they deserve the same consideration? If the questions they're asking on their own are not "deep" enough to get to the meaningful level, December's our opportunity to work together with the shovel!
 * //Please feel free to comment. Share your struggles. Celebrate your successes. We may not have time to talk and problem solve with each other, but we can check in regularly and be a support for each other.//**
 * //D. Strader//**

As I finished reading Chapter 8 on Questioning, I really started to think about my students (special education) and how they use questioning when they read. Whenever my students read something to themselves or if I read it to them, I do not get the kind of questioning I would like to receive. For starters, the majority of my students have a very difficult time with their reading comprehension in general which sometimes makes it difficult to question because they do not understand what is going on. Second, if I do get questioning, a lot of the times they are questions that really have nothing to do with the text we are reading or they are really silly questions that would not aid us in any way with the story. I often get very frustrated with this in my classroom but as I read chapter 8, it did give me some very good incite. On page 109 of the text, it states that good quesitoning comes from background knowledge. I guess I never really thought about this, but it gave me some answers to the frustration that I was having. I realized that for so many of my students, they do not have the background knowledge that other peers their age have. A lot of times they do not comprehend what they are reading not because they are not focusing, but mainly because they have never experienced what they are reading and can not relate. Since reading this, I have spent a lot more time establishing this background knowledge before we read and it really is amazing how much better my students question. Once their background knowledge was established, though they did not understand everything, it atleast lit a spark that made them want to find out more which in turn led them to better questioning. I will admit at first that I was reluctant to reading this chapter due to the fact that I had a million other things to do like everyone else. However, the reading really did give me an insight to my students and has aided me in creating better readers! A. Quarles

I agree. Since I've started working with the kids in small groups, those who have background knowledge LOVE to share. Sometimes it's a problem to try and pull them back in to the task at hand. Getting them to ask those Before questions has been a struggle in the early going. They seem to just want "to get on with it." Anyone have any great ideas for drawing the kids in before they open the front cover? I'd love to hear your great ideas. DS

As I have read Chap.8 I am amazed at how in the many years of teaching, ideas come back around. I remember in my first years of teaching having workshops that dealt with this same idea, questioning and how to best benefit the student's learning process. I feel this is one area that I am strong in, I have always used questions to get students involved in their learning.There are times because of the nature of the questioning it leads to other ideas, which again is part of the learning process, getting the students involved. I like the idea of using questions to expand thinking, organizing content knowledge (pg. 121), this is great for the writing process AP

Getting students to think about deeeeep questions is challenging. I do see the benefits of modeling. Once the other students see that it is ok to ask questions, they seem to roll with it. I also love writing in the test, instead of using sticky notes. Of course this is not always possible. Learning more than just the answer to their questions appears to be rewarding to them. I especially love it when their questions lead to more questions and then I tell them that is how scientists think. S McCollum

When I was reading chapter 8, I thought about questioning as a guide for students during their research on certain topics. I thought about using the strategies as part of an independent project for those that have compacted out of math lessons. Since I teach math, science, and social studies, I have used questioning to stimulate background knowledge before a lesson. Throughout the lesson of course we are always questioning to check for understanding. Smaldone

Some students seem to have an insatiable curiosity that comes naturally. Others just seem to accept whatever they are told and never question why. As teachers, we know that those students who come to us questioning the world around them will be more successful academically. Chapter 8 tells us, "It's tough to ask a substantive question about something we know or care nothing about." How do we tap into the hunger for learning some students bring to the classroom and motivate others to ask and find answers to deep questions (within the time limits of the school day)? I have often found myself questioning/wondering about a topic with my students and then, later, have feelings of guilt about "wasting" class time. Asking the right questions, though, can help students to articulate their thoughts and feelings and draw conclusions about an author's message. As an adult, the greatest books I have read have caused me to question my own beliefs. I loved several of the ideas for encouraging students to question what they read. In particular, I plan to try the student letter written to the teacher about what the student has learned and any things the text has made him/her wonder about. I need to share the question categories with students, also. I plan to include that information on my anchor chart. J. McCollum

OK, so this isn't from the book, but I thought it was funny. This week, we started our anchor chart on before, during, and after questioning (yes, I'm behind). I used the suggested text __Owl Moon__. As we previewed the cover before we read, the kids asked their questions as I recorded them on the board. "What is an Owl Moon?", "Why are the people outside in the cold at night?", "What's their relationship?" and then it happened..... "Is it an AR book?" I wrote it down:)

I think questioning is a great strategy to use with your students to help them understand what the text is more about. It says in the book that as students read the informational text, that they become overwhelmed at times by the amount of information. It suggests that teachers then model by asking questions. This in turn helps the students zero in on certain information that may be of more importance than others. Questioning also allows the students to be able to think with more thought and with deeper feelings. I feel that this cuts out on some of the confusion that students may have when reading books. By modeling and asking questions before, during, and after reading makes it clearer to students and allows them to process the information more easily and clearly. I have been encouraging my students to ask questions throughout my classroom, and they really seem to be catching on. They realize the importance of stopping to try and figure something out that they may be wondering and it makes the reading more understandable and enjoyable to them. -M.Anderson