The FQR Chart
(Facts, Questions and Responses)
A note taking strategy that helps readers understand and
remember what they read
For years in schools, we have asked students to take notes on the important information - to write
down the facts. They often comply, remembering the information just long enough for Friday's quiz.
We don't learn, understand or remember isolated facts over time. To learn, understand and
remember, we need to merge our thinking with the information. The FQR allows readers to do that.
The FQR asks readers to notice the information as they read and write it down in the Facts column.
But the FQR goes far beyond more traditional note taking practices. The FQR gives readers a graphic
opportunity to think about information and jot it down. When readers think about the information,
connect to it, wonder about it and infer from it, they are much more likely to process and understand
it over time.
We encourage readers to separate their questions out in a Questions column, since the concept and
vocabulary load in nonfiction can be a major hurdle to comprehension. Additionally, questioning and
wondering are the strategies that propel readers on in the text. We encourage a wide range of
responses in the Responses column-connections, surprises, emotions, inferences, etc.
The FQR:
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Promotes engaged, active reading.
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Helps students sort out information.
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Values student thinking.
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Provides a better opportunity for lasting learning.
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Replaces traditional note taking practices with a more thoughtful practice that gives
students a good shot at understanding the information.
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Becomes the standard note taking form in classrooms that value understanding,
learning and remembering over time.
Facts
Questions
Responses
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Asking Questions
"Answers divide us. Questions unite us."
(Elie Wiesel)
•. Questioning is the strategy that propels readers on. Who would
keep reading if they didn't wonder anything about the text? Posing
questions allows us to seek out information, solve problems, and
extend our understanding. Passion and wonder are contagious and
it is our questions that keep us searching .
•. We remind readers that some questions are answered as we read
and some are not. As we try to answer our questions, we discover
new information and gain new knowledge. Often the most
interesting questions are not answered in the text. Those are the
questions that propel further discussion, research and investigation.
•. The best questions spark more questions. One question leads to
another and can develop a line of thinking. When we read
nonfiction, our questions abound. Our questions help us to clarify
confusion when we meet unfamiliar information, concepts and
vocabulary. Questions nudge curious minds to investigate.
A few book and author recommendations for teaching questioning:
Amelia's Road by Linda Altman
Charlie Anderson by Barbara Abercrombie
The Day of Ahmed's Secret by Florence Parry Heide
How Come? By Kathy Wollard
TIle Librarian who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky
TIle Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
Why is the SktJ Blue by Sally Grindly
Something Permanent by Cynthia Rylant
The Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy
Tile Philosopher's Club by Christopher Phillips
Text sets by Eve Bunting, Chris Van Allsberg, William Steig (to name a few)
(Harvey 2005)
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