Questioning the Text:
The French and Indian War
American History Foundations
August 8, 2012
Fran Macko, Ph.D.
Fmacko@aihe.info
Framing the Session
• Why are history texts
often difficult for
students to comprehend?
• What skills and
strategies do students
need to become expert
readers of history?
• What can history
teachers do to help
struggling readers in
their classrooms?
What are the keys to reading in history?
• Effective readers of history
have a variety of
comprehension strategies
that they bring to reading a
text.
– Before reading or
activation of background or
prior knowledge
– During reading or active
engagement with the content
– Continuous or
metacognition
• Effective readers of history
are in charge of the process,
monitoring how they read
and adjusting to ensure
success.
Our Focus Today:
Questioning the Text
• Students who ask questions
when they read assume
responsibility for their
learning.
• Questioning improves
comprehension in four ways:
– by fostering interaction with
the text
– by creating motivation to
read
– by clarifying information in
the text
– by supporting inferring
beyond the literal meaning
• Effective readers ask questions when they learn
something new or read something unfamiliar.
• Asking questions facilitates the learning of new
material and leads to more sophisticated questions.
• Effective readers ask questions before, during and
after they read.
• They know that sometimes the answers to their
questions aren’t in the text, but are in other sources.
What are some strategies for
questioning the text?
• Questions Game
• QAR
• ReQuest
• R2QA
Featured Strategy- QAR
• QAR is an acronym for question/answer
relationship.
• This strategy:
– supports students in understanding different levels
of questions and the relationships between
questions and answers.
– supports students in engaging with and
constructing meaning from a text.
– helps students understand their thinking processes
and develop their metacognitive abilities.
• Students often respond to questions either with a
literal answer or with “It isn’t in the book”.
• QAR presents four levels of question/answer
relationships:
– In The Text
• right there
• think and search
– In My Head
• you and the author
• on your own
• Each relationship represents a more sophisticated
level of thinking.
• The strategy teaches students that answering
different kinds of questions requires different thought
processes and approaches to the text.
• Some questions require students to find the answers
in the text, explain something they have read, or build
in what they have learned.
• Other questions ask students to access their own
thoughts and feelings about an issue.
What is a “right there” question?
• The first two questions in the
QAR strategy are text-based
and focus students on finding
and organizing information
found directly in the text.
• Right there questions ask
students to respond at the
literal level.
– The words used to
formulate the answer to
the question can be found
“right there” in the same
sentence in the text.
• “Right There” questions require students to go back to
the passage and find the correct information to
answer the question.
• These are sometimes called literal questions because
the correct answer can be found somewhere in the
passage.
• “Right There” questions sometimes include the words,
“According to the passage…” “How many…” “Who
is…” “Where is…” “What is…”
What are examples of “right there” questions?
• Right There Questions:
– Who wrote the Constitution of the United States?
– What was the Underground Railroad?
– What are the three factors of production?
What is a “think and search” question?
• Think and search questions
require students to think
about how the information or
ideas in the text relate to
each other.
– They need to search the
entire passage to find the
information that answers
the question.
• “Think and Search” questions usually require
students to think about how ideas or information in
the passage relate to each other.
• They will need to look back at the passage, find the
information that the question refers to, and then think
about how the information or ideas fit together.
• “Think and Search” questions sometimes include the
words, “The main idea of the passage…” “What
caused…” “Compare/contrast…”
What are examples
of “think and search” questions?
• Think and Search Questions:
– Discuss how the three branches of government
guarantee the system of checks and balances.
– Compare and contrast a command economy and a
market economy.
– Summarize the military strategies used by Grant
and Sherman during the Civil War.
What is an “author and you” question?
• The third and fourth
questions in the QAR
strategy require students to
focus on the author’s point of
view and how the content can
be used and applied.
• These questions are
knowledge based because
students must use prior
knowledge to answer the
questions.
• Author and you questions
ask students to combine their
prior knowledge with
information in the text to
answer the question.
• “Author and You” questions require students to use
ideas and information that is not stated directly in the
passage to answer the question.
• These questions require students to think about what
they have read and formulate their own ideas or
opinions.
• “Author and You” questions sometimes include the
words, “The author implies…” “The passage
suggests…” “The speaker’s attitude..,”
What are examples
of “author and you” questions?
• Author and You Questions:
– What is the author’s conclusion regarding the
effectiveness of the Articles of Confederation?
– Based on the information about inventions of the
late 1880s, which invention does the author imply
had the greatest impact on American culture?
What is an “on my own” question?
• On my own questions
can be answered with
information from the
student’s background
knowledge or from
another source.
– They do not
necessarily need to
read the text.
• This type of question does not usually appear on tests
of reading comprehension because it does not require
students to refer to the passage.
• “On My Own” questions sometimes include the words,
“In your opinion…” Based on your
experience…” “Think about someone/something you
know…”
What are examples of “on my own” questions?
• On My Own Questions:
– Based on your understanding of historical sites,
what are the historical sites in your community?
– In your opinion, what was the most important
cause of the American Revolution?
What are the steps in the process?
• Explain the two broad
categories of questions (In
the text and In my
head) and the four
subcategories to students
as an introduction to the
QAR strategy.
• Provide a reading selection
and a set of questions
about its content.
• Model the placement of
the questions on the
QAR graphic organizer.
• Model how to find the
answer to each of the 4
types of questions.
The QAR Graphic Organizer
Category of QAR
question
Right There
Think and Search
Author and You
On My Own
Question
Answer
How I found the
answer
•
Next, divide the class into small groups and provide
each with a reading selection and a set of questions.
•
Have the groups place the questions on the QAR
graphic organizer.
•
Finally, provide the groups with a new reading
selection and ask them to develop questions from its
content. Have the students evaluate their own
questions in light of the QAR framework.
Modeling the Strategy
The Essential or “Big” Question
• What is the connection
between the French and
Indian War and the
American Revolution?
– The war was costly for the
British and led to the
imposition of various
taxes.
– George Washington
emerges as a military
leader.
Modeling the Strategy
• Form groups of 3.
• Assign one document from
the packet to each member
of the group.
• Individually, create 3
questions based on your
portion of the text:
– “Right There”
– “Think and Search”
– “You and the Author”
• Summarize what you read
and share your questions.
• Then, discuss the process
of identifying the category
of question and the
approach to answering the
question.
• Then, as a group, develop
an “on your own”
question”.
• What are some examples of a/an
–
–
–
–
Right There Question?
Think and Search Question?
Author and You Question?
On Your Own Question?
• What is the answer to each question?
• Where can the answers to each question be found?
• What is the process involved in answering each type of
question?
What types of sources work for QAR?
• Questioning the Text is
a flexible strategy that
can be used with a
variety of sources based
on your students’ needs
and strengths.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Primary Sources
Non-Fiction
Fiction
Poetry
News articles
Videos
Periodicals
Interviews
Music
Art
Adapting QAR to Your Classroom
• How might you use QAR
in your social studies
classroom?
• What adaptations to the
strategy would you
make?
• Adaptations include:
– Introduce and model one level at a time before
introducing the next.
– Eliminate the “on your own” questions or introduce
them at the end of a unit.
– Collapse the four levels into two categories: “In the
Text” and “In My Head”.
– Vary the length and sophistication of the text.
• What other adaptations can you think of?
Next Steps for QAR
• Once students are comfortable with the QAR strategy:
– Have students create homework questions that reflect each of
the 4 QAR categories.
– Have students present their homework questions (as a “Do
Now” or warm-up) and explain how they would answer them.
– Have students review standardized test questions and
categorize them using QAR types.
– Create a bank of questions for tests or other assessments.
• What other next steps can you think of?
Final Thoughts
• Students who ask questions when they read assume
responsibility for their learning.
• Effective readers ask questions before, during and after
they read.
• Questioning improves comprehension in four ways:
–
–
–
–
by fostering interaction with the text
by creating motivation to read
by clarifying information in the text
by supporting inferring beyond the literal meaning
• Asking questions facilitates the learning of new material
and leads to more sophisticated questions.