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ОглавлениеCHAPTER 3
Question It
When most of us think of reading, we think of spending leisure time with a book, magazine, newspaper, or website for pleasure or self-improvement. There is, however, a specific type of reading that demands a different approach: short, dense, and challenging texts. Think of being faced with directions for electronics with “some assembly required,” a new and complicated recipe for a dish, a contract we fear to sign but must, or instructions for filling out taxes. We recognize the need to read these texts differently. We slow down, reading deliberately line by line, sentence by sentence, or sometimes even word by word. If we are not sure we understand a sentence, we reread it, possibly several times. We are alert for implications and do our best to read between the lines to draw any logical inferences we are justified in making. This close reading that brief but difficult texts require also has periodic applications in our more casual reading. When perusing a literary or informational text, we occasionally encounter a section we are interested in whose meaning initially eludes us. So we shift to a lower gear and read closely for a bit before returning to a more normal pace and state of attentiveness. In our experience, schools have worked hard to teach students how to do typical reading but have spent relatively little time or effort teaching them how to read closely. Question It is a comprehension lesson framework that teaches students how to do this close reading.
The major emphasis in Question It is teaching students to read closely until they have exhausted what a short, dense, and challenging text says explicitly or implicitly about a subject. Beginning in third grade, with Reading literature and informational text standards one (RL.3.1 and RI.3.1), students must be able to cite textual evidence to support the questions they pose when required to do so: “Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers” (NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 11, 14). In Question It, the teacher preteaches a few general academic and domain-specific words and phrases from the text to ensure students can read it closely with comprehension. Using the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction, Question It combines student trios and teacher-led collaborative conversations to discuss various aspects of the text’s content.
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In most schools, Question It is a lesson framework students can be successful with beginning in the spring of second grade and moving on up through the grades.
A Sample Question It Lesson
This is the fourth Question It lesson Mrs. R.’s class has experienced. Because a handful of students still struggled with the lesson the last time she taught it, Mrs. R. continues with the full set of procedures from the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction in this lesson as she did in the first three lessons.
Purpose Setting and Vocabulary Building
Mrs. R. says, “In a few minutes, I’m going to have you open your social studies books and read a short excerpt. Before you start reading, I will give you a word or phrase from the text. Your job will be to come up with as many questions as possible that the word or phrase is the answer to.”
Several students raise their hands and say they remember this lesson from when Mrs. R. has taught it before. One student even recollects that the lesson is called Question It.
Mrs. R. continues, “Before I have you read, I want to make sure you understand some vocabulary terms in the passage. What is the U.S. Constitution?”
Students recall from previous lessons in the current social studies unit that the U.S. Constitution is a written document that spells out the U.S. government’s laws. Mrs. R. asks if anyone knows how old the Constitution is. No one remembers the exact year it was ratified, but several students agree it was over two hundred years ago. Mrs. R. tells them they are correct and that the year of ratification was 1789. She then asks, “What is an amendment to the Constitution?”
When no one answers, she explains that an amendment is something written and added to the Constitution in order to change it. She says, “The section you are going to read today is about amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
I Do, and You Watch
Mrs. R. writes the word citizen on the chalkboard. (Mrs. R. could also use a white-board, a projector, or any other means to display the word big enough for students to see.)
She asks the students to open their social studies books to the two pages that explain how the U.S. Constitution can be and has been changed. She tells them she is going to read the section to herself until it tells her something about a citizen. When she gets there, she is going to ask a question that the book answers about the word citizen. She reads silently until she comes to a place in the second paragraph.
She tells them exactly where she is in the text and then poses a question: “When someone is born in the United States, what does that make him or her?”
“A citizen,” many students respond.
“All right,” she says, “I’ve asked one question that citizen is the answer to.”
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Repetition of the lesson framework over time along with the gradual release of responsibility model will help reduce the number of students who might still have difficulty with the task when it comes time to work the task alone. Then, the teacher can identify any struggling students and pull them aside in a group to provide extra help. Mrs. R. says, “Yes, the answer to that question is a citizen.” Mrs. R. turns to the class as a whole and asks, “Where does the text tell us that the answer to this question is a citizen?”
I Do, and You Help
She asks, “Can any of you ask another question about this section that citizen is the answer to?”
After two students try to ask a good question and are unable to do so, one student asks, “What is a person who has followed the law to become a naturalized citizen?”
A girl volunteers to try. She reads aloud the explanation of naturalization and explains that if completed properly the person becomes an American citizen.
“Good job,” says Mrs. R., and several students nod.
“Now,” she says to the class, “you and I have asked two questions with citizen as the answer.”
During the last Question It lesson, Mrs. R. noticed that some students in several trios were having difficulty formulating questions. This observation led her to continue using the “I do, and you watch” and “I do, and you help” phases in this lesson to model how to come up with the questions. Then, she has the students get together in their trios.
You Do It Together, and I Help
Mrs. R. has the students get into their trios. Earlier in the year, she assigned her students to trios with a range of reading levels, and the members work well with one another. After the first time she used the trios, she switched two students between trios to improve their work ethic. Because her students are now accustomed to working together in trios, she does not feel the need for each trio to have just one copy of the text. She allows each student to keep his or her social studies book open to the section on changing the U.S. Constitution.
Mrs. R. estimates how many minutes to give the trios to complete the task and communicates it to them.
She displays the word amendment and tells her students, “Quickly pick a scribe for your trio. Then, for ten minutes, have the scribe write as many questions as your trio can think of that this section of the book answers with the word amendment. Questions with the answer in plural form—amendments—will also count. I am going to walk around and help you when you need me to. I wonder which trio will ask the most questions. Your ten minutes start now.”
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The perfect time to use formative assessment and listen in on trios’ thinking is when they are working together.
The Class Debriefs
When the time limit is up, Mrs. R. has each trio read one of its questions, and she keeps a tally of how many different questions the students share. The first trio contributes the question, “Why doesn’t the person who loses the presidential election become the vice president?”
Mrs. R. turns to the class and asks, “What is the answer the book gives us to this question?”
A student in a different trio responds, “An amendment.”
“Yes,” agrees Mrs. R., “an amendment changed that from the original Constitution. Very good, that’s one question. It is the next trio’s turn to read one of its questions.”
One student reads, “What made slavery illegal in the United States?”
“What is the book’s answer to this question?” Mrs. R. asks the other students.
“An amendment,” one volunteers.
“Correct,” she says. “Those are two questions.”
The trios continue to alternate sharing until they’ve shared all questions. The class helps Mrs. R. decide whether each question should count. For example, one trio shares a question that is similar to a question that another trio shared. Everyone agrees only the first question should count. The last unique question a trio has after every other trio has passed is “What is the Bill of Rights?”
“What is the answer, class?” asks Mrs. R.
“Amendments,” say several students at once.
“That’s right!” she exclaims. She congratulates them for asking all twelve questions she had thought of, so she has none to add to the total. The class gives themselves a silent cheer for coming up with twelve different questions for the passage that could be answered with the word amendment or amendments.
Mrs. R. ends the day’s lesson by discussing with the class how the U.S. Constitution is amended and which amendments they think were probably the most important ones. She is pleased that their comments and questions reveal that they have read the text closely. Because everyone did reasonably well in this lesson, Mrs. R. decides that the next time she uses Question It, she can begin it with the “You do it together, and I help” phase.
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The time limit you provide depends on the text’s length and difficulty and how many previous Question It lessons you’ve taught. Estimate what the best time limit will be under your specific circumstances.
Planning and Teaching a Question It Lesson
Select a short, dense text that will be challenging for many of your students and that you would like everyone to read closely. The text you choose may stand alone or be an excerpt from a longer text, and it should have at least one explicit name, word, or phrase for you to display as the answer to an adequate number of questions for an effective Question It lesson. Decide on two or three vocabulary terms that are the most important for students to know when reading the text to introduce beforehand. Early Question It lessons will work better if the text you select is like the one the teacher chose in the sample lesson. In that lesson, everything the text said about amendments was explicit. Once your students are comfortable with the Question It lesson framework, they can work successfully with a text that has both explicit and implicit references to whatever name, word, or phrase you have chosen to focus the lesson on. Use the following six steps when teaching a Question It lesson.
1.Tell students the purpose of the lesson: they are going to read carefully and ask as many different questions as they can think of that the text answers with the name, word, or phrase you have displayed.
2.Teach or review the meanings of two or three vocabulary terms you believe may prevent some of your students from comprehending the text well.
3.For the first several Question It lessons, use the “I do, and you watch” and “I do, and you help” phases to model what you want students to do and to get them off to a successful start. In these phases, you can employ the same text they will read during “You do it together, and I help,” but use a different name, word, or phrase from the one you will display for the students to seek questions for.
4.Have students work together in trios to come up with questions that the word you are focusing on answers (“You do it together, and I help”). Assign (or let students choose) a scribe for each trio so only one student writes down responses for the group.
5.Circulate among the trios and conduct formative assessments by listening in on their interactions. Encourage students to ask each other for evidence from the text and an explanation whenever the text doesn’t explicitly answer the question. This will prepare the trio to defend its questions as good ones when the whole class gathers to tally the questions.
6.Assemble the class, and have trios take turns sharing questions. When a trio suggests a question that isn’t explicit in the text, ask for a volunteer to read the part of the text that question is based on and explain the trio’s thinking behind the question. If you and the class do not agree that there is evidence the question can be answered based on the text, do not count it in your running tally. Once the trios have exhausted the questions they wrote, ask any others that you have thought of, and make it clear why they are countable questions.
Question It Lessons Across the Year
In later Question It lessons, as students demonstrate their ability to ask questions that the text would answer with the displayed term, gradually fade to independence where “You do, and I watch” is the only procedure you use. Eventually, you’ll want to be able to present a grade-appropriate text to your class that is short, dense, and challenging and have each student read it closely and then respond well orally or in writing to the general question, “What does this text tell us about ———?”
How Question It Lessons Teach the Standards
Question It lessons teach Reading anchor standard one (CCRA.R.1) because the major emphasis in Question It is teaching students to read closely until they have exhausted what a short, dense, and challenging text says explicitly or implicitly about a subject. Additionally, beginning in third grade, they are expected to cite explicit textual evidence to support that their questions have that answer. These lessons also teach Language anchor standard six (CCRA.L.6), because Question It has the teacher preteach a few general academic and domain-specific words and phrases from the text that are essential for students to read it closely with comprehension. The lessons teach Speaking and Listening anchor standard one (CCRA.SL.1) because the students collaborate with the teacher in the second phase and work together in the third phase of the gradual release of responsibility model.
CCSS in a Gist Lesson
Gist is a lesson framework for use with a short text. When you lead students through this lesson several times and gradually release responsibility to them, you are helping them learn the reading and speaking and listening skills in the following standards.
Reading
CCRA.R.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text, and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
Speaking and Listening
CCRA.SL.1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
