Crafting Better Questions
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
ACTIVE READING & NOTES
Students develop a list of active reading strategies, including:
Reading Strategies
Note Taking
Labels adapted from Strategies that Work by Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis.
Reading Strategies
- Predict
- Relate
- Question
- Visualize
- Infer
- Summarize
- Evaluate
Note Taking
- Note anything that you believe important for any reason
- Note anything that you question or confuses you
- Note anything that you believe should be discussed in class
Labels adapted from Strategies that Work by Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis.
Photo by Liz Marion
SHARED INQUIRY
- Questions of Fact
- Questions of Interpretation
- Questions of Evaluation
Focusing on Questioning as a primary strategy for academic success, the simple three part method from the Great Books Foundation is used with Graham Greene's short story "The End of the Party."
After inductively listing student questions from the reading, each question is labeled appropriately as one of the three types, highlighting the importance of questions of interpretation in English class.
After inductively listing student questions from the reading, each question is labeled appropriately as one of the three types, highlighting the importance of questions of interpretation in English class.
FACTUAL QUESTIONS
- Only one correct answer
- Recall based
- Explicit in text - usually
- Inference from explicit facts
Students were intuitively understood factual questions have only one answer. Answering a factual question, means a student knows what the text says, as well as what happened and who is involved.
Interestingly, without guidance, students generated a lot of factual questions, a bit more than half of the total.
Interestingly, without guidance, students generated a lot of factual questions, a bit more than half of the total.
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INTERPRETATIVE QUESTIONS
- More than one answer
- Supported with evidence
- Requires reasoning of meaning
Students also intuitively understood interpretive questions have more than one answer. Answering an interpretive question requires students to inference and figure out what the text means.
Interestingly, without guidance, students tended to generate slightly fewer interpretive questions, still near half of the total.
Interestingly, without guidance, students tended to generate slightly fewer interpretive questions, still near half of the total.
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EVALUATIVE QUESTIONS
- Agree or disagree
- Requires interpretation
- Knowledge, experience, & values
Students found evaluative questions the most remote. Also, having more than one answer, answering an evaluative question requires students to consider
beyond the text, including personal values, beliefs and experiences.
Without guidance, students did not generate evaluative questions. Moreover, evaluation is purposefully delayed at this early stage.
beyond the text, including personal values, beliefs and experiences.
Without guidance, students did not generate evaluative questions. Moreover, evaluation is purposefully delayed at this early stage.
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MATCH THE QUESTION
- What does author state?
- What does author mean?
- Do I agree with author?
Sample questions to be labeled correctly by students, which are not designed to be challenging as much as examples.
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DEVELOPING INTERPRETATION
- Character motivations
- Striking use of language
- Prominent details
- Multiple possible meanings
- Connections within text
Developing interpretation requires students to question, but also to employ other strategies, as well. Still, students need some guidance for attenuating to the kinds of details that matter most in English class, particularly reading literature. This lists items that students should begin to notice as important when note taking.
Photo by Leo Reynolds
ELEMENTS OF FICTION
- Plot
- Character
- Theme
- Context
- Style
Introducing basic elements of fiction clarifies areas of focus when reading fictional literature, providing a seedbed for later interpretation and study. This is used with Stephen Crane's short story "An Episode of War."
Using the fundamental elements of fiction as both a filter and means of categorizing questions, helps focus student on particular aspects of a text. This can be particularly helpful when breaking down a writing prompt.
Using the fundamental elements of fiction as both a filter and means of categorizing questions, helps focus student on particular aspects of a text. This can be particularly helpful when breaking down a writing prompt.
Photo by Pierre Metivier
5W1H
- Who
- What
- Where
- When
- Why/How
Using the journalistic 5W1H as another filter begins to highlight what kinds of questions are most valuable when interpreting literature. The also can aid differentiation between factual and interpretive questions, as well as aligning to the elements of fiction.
Photo by jamuraa
COMBINING FILTERS
- Plot - What
- Character - Who
- Theme - Why/How
- Context - When/Where
- Style - Why/How
In pairing two separate categorical filters, connects student possible prior knowledge and any new concepts in a novel way.
Upon asking the meaning of each element students could naturally align most question words with the appropriate element, creating generic comprehension questions.
Upon asking the meaning of each element students could naturally align most question words with the appropriate element, creating generic comprehension questions.
- Plot - What happens?
- Character - Who is involved?
- Theme - How or why does the story mean what is means?
- Context - When and where does the story take place, as well as associated background knowledge that may be needed?
- Style - How or Why does that author make certain choices or moves, achieve certain effects?
Photo by P^2 - Paul
BLOOM'S TAXONOMY
- Types or Kinds of Thinking
- Knowledge & Comprehension
- Application
- Analysis & Synthesis
- Evaluation
Introducing Bloom's Taxonomy, at this stage matches the type of thinking required to answer the type of question, additionally clarifying areas of focus when interpreting literature. This is used with Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird."
Bloom's Taxonomy
Bloom's Taxonomy
- Knowledge
- Comprehension
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation
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QUESTION STEMS
USING BLOOM TO GENERATE THOUGHTFUL QUESTIONS
Providing students with a number of generic interpretive questions, as well as a number of questions stems, provides a scaffold for question creation. Students are given a tool with multiple question stems for each aligned category.
Working backwards, students are asked to use stems to develop questions, then label the type of thinking, which fictional element applies, and which kind of shared inquiry label applies.
This practice is designed to help students not only generate quality questions, but be able to understand how they are created and what the implications of the questions are.
Working backwards, students are asked to use stems to develop questions, then label the type of thinking, which fictional element applies, and which kind of shared inquiry label applies.
This practice is designed to help students not only generate quality questions, but be able to understand how they are created and what the implications of the questions are.
Photo by Toncu
