Raising the Level of Questioning in
Your Reading Classroom
Questioning During Shared Reading
Time
SCHOLASTIC NEWS/WEEKLY READER: Wild Pets
Article: Falling Stars
• Day 1: What are rules professional athletes
must follow?
• Why do athletes have rules?
• What happens if athletes don’t follow the
rules?
• Read the article, discuss PEDs (performance
enhancing drugs), who is using them, and why
they are using them.
HIGHER LEVEL QUESTIONING
• Is a 50 game ban and stripping them of victories
enough of a punishment for athletes? Why or
Why not?
• What punishment would get an athlete’s
attention and cause them not to use PEDs?
• Look at the quote in the last paragraph by Travis
Tygart, “Nobody wins when an athlete decides to
cheat with dangerous performance-enhancing
drugs.” Discuss the meaning of the quote.
• Look back at the title. Is it an appropriate one for
this article? Why or Why not?
Look at Picture of the Week.
• What toy does he remind you of and why?
Read caption. Would you wear this suit and
travel down a mountain? Why or Why not?
The Dollar Bill’s Birthday
• Day 2: Who is on the $1 bill?
• Did you know he hasn’t always been on the $1
bill?
• Read the article, discuss who was on the $1
bill, what caused bills (paper money) to be
created?
• Look at the picture of the old dollar bill and
compare it to our $1 bill today under the
ELMO.
HIGHER LEVEL QUESTIONING
• What problems are there with paper money?
Coin money?
• Should we go back to only coins? Why or Why
not?
• Look at editorial cartoon. Discuss what the
cartoon is and what point it is trying to get
across to readers.
Look at “Numbers in the News”
• Which numbers most interests you and why?
Which number surprises you and why?
Wild Pets
• Day 3: Read introductory paragraphs and
discuss if wild pets should be kept in people’s
homes. What might happen?
• Read “Unique Companions”
• Discuss word meaning of domesticated. Look
at map and discuss how laws effect our state
(no exotic animal law in NC)
• What potential problems it could cause by not
having a law?
Read “Wild Debate”
– What caused states to enact a ban?
– Should we wait for a problem and then create a
law? Why or why not?
• Read “Too Much to Handle”
– Discuss why these animals might be too much to
handle?
Read “A Bad Rap”
• Why was this the sub-heading?
• Should all wild pets be banned? Any
exceptions?
Debate
• Day 4: Should wild animals be banned as pets?
– Yes___
– No___
– Share ideas of why or why not?
• Read introduction and discuss author’s unique word choice:
“People aren’t wild about the idea of exotic pets…” What
does wild about mean? (Idiom)
• Read yes and summarize key points
• Read no and summarize key points
• Which side has stronger support and why?
• Should NC put a law in place? Should the US put a law in
place and take it out of the state’s hands and why?
Read “An Ancient Army Rises Again”
• Discuss the findings in China. Why were the
soldiers created and how many do they think
exist?
• Discuss why all the soldiers haven’t been found
yet? Allow students to share their ideas.
• Discuss the age of the statues, material they are
made of and how they have held up over time.
• Google the clay soldiers and you will find very
interesting “find out more” information.
Raising the Level of Questioning
During Guided Reading
Why should we incorporate critical
thinking into guided reading lessons?
• Common Core emphasizes critical thinking across
the curriculum.
• All students are capable of critical thinking and
should be given opportunities throughout the day
to approach the content at a higher level of
thinking.
• When we set high standards for students by
making our instruction rigorous, they will rise to
meet our expectations.
• Research supports it.
How can we incorporate critical
thinking into guided reading?
• Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
– 6 levels of increasingly complex thinking, ranging
from remembering basic details to creating
something new using knowledge gained from all
lower levels
– We should be asking all students questions from
all levels.
– The majority of questions we ask tend to come
from the lower levels, so we have to intentionally
and purposefully plan for higher level questions.
• QAR (Question-Answer-Relationship)
– Classifies questions into 4 categories based on
how and where the answer is found
– Jan Richardson’s Green/Yellow/Red Questioning
Strategy is based on QAR
– Students can be taught to answer questions at
each level (all levels of Bloom’s), determine which
type of question it was (Analying, Evaluating), and
write their own questions at each level (Applying,
Creating).
QAR
Bloom’s
Taxonomy
Jan
Richardson
Questions
Right There
Remembering
Green
Recall, List, Name, Describe, Who is, What
is, Where did, When was, Retell, Give an
example, Define
Think and
Search
Remembering
Understanding
Yellow
Summarize, Main idea, Order events,
Compare, Contrast, How many times,
What examples, Why does, What is the
cause/effect
Author and
Me
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Red
Predict, Why did the author..., Do you
agree with, What lesson, What character
trait, How did the character feel, Infer
On My Own
Evaluating
Creating
Red
Have you ever, If you could, What are the
pros/cons, How do you feel about, What
can be exciting about, What would you
do, In your opinion
Right There
• These questions can be answered from a
single sentence in the text.
• The student can point to the answer.
• The answer is usually in the same sentence as
the question, or uses the same wording as the
question
• When students begin creating Right There
questions, practice turning a fact into a
question.
Your Turn
• With your partner/table, create 2 Right There
questions from Duke Ellington: A Life in Music.
• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q
Our Questions
• Where was Duke Ellington born?
• How old was Duke when he started playing
the piano?
• What was the name of Duke’s first song?
• Define orchestra.
Think and Search
• The answer is in the text, but not all in one
place.
• You have to search through the book and put
pieces together to find the answer.
Your Turn
• With your partner/table, create 2 Think and
Search questions from Duke Ellington.
• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q
Our Questions
• Describe the music Duke’s Orchestra played.
• Who were two famous guest singers who sang
or played with Duke’s Orchestra?
• What are 3 reasons people still remember
Duke Ellington as a famous musician?
• “Duke Ellington was the most famous jazz
musician of his time.” Support this statement
with 3 reasons from the text.
Author and Me
• The answer is not in the text.
• You have to use your background knowledge
and what the author says to answer the
question.
Your Turn
• With your partner/table, create 2 Author and
Me questions from Duke Ellington.
• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q
Our Questions
• What was the author’s purpose for writing
this book?
• How do you think Duke felt when he wrote his
first song?
• What character trait describes Duke?
On My Own
• The answer is not in the text.
• You have to use your background knowledge
to answer the question.
Your Turn
• With your partner/table, create 2 On My Own
questions from Duke Ellington.
• By Erick Montgomery, Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers, Level Q
Our Questions
• What do you already know about jazz music?
• If you play an instrument, what is the best
thing about creating music?
• What are the pros and cons of being a
musician?
Resources
• 40 Reading Intervention Strategies for K-6 Students:
Research Based Support for RTI by Elaine K. McEwanAdkins
• The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson
• QAR info and lesson resources
http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/QARQuesti
onAnswerRelationshipTeachingChildrenWheretoSeekA
nswerstoQuestions.pdf
• Bloom’s Taxonomy posters
http://naomiharm.org/05-2Bloom-13+Elem+Posters.pdf
Flocabulary
• http://www.flocabulary.com/
Any Questions??