Deep
or Shallow
Lessons for
Teaching Children to Ask or Answer Questions
By: Rebecca Smith
Rationale: Comprehension
should be a major focus when teaching reading.
If we did not comprehend anything the story would not be
worthwhile. To help students learn to
comprehend what they read, it is important that students learn how to
start
asking themselves questions. It is also
important that students learn to ask good questions.
That is what this lesson focuses on. Students
should learn to ask deep questions
that are important, ones that make them search for more.
They should not be asking shallow or factual
questions. This lesson will encourage
students to begin asking themselves questions that will help them to
comprehend
the story.
Materials:
1. Hank the Cowdog, copies for each student
(I
have tailored
this lesson to this story, but it would be very easy to tailor it to
any other
chapter book you may be working with at the time.)
2. Sticky notes, plenty for the whole class to have several each
3. Chalkboard and chalk
4.
Checklist
(below), a copy for each student
Can I find the
answer to my question by rereading?
Do I
have to make
an inference to answer my question?
Could
there be
more than one answer to my question?
Procedures:
1.
Explain Why:
-Ask
students if they know why it’s important to read. Allow
the students to answer, but also make
sure that they understand that, “it is important to learn to read so
that we
can communicate with each other and so that we can understand written
language.” Ask the students to give
examples of reasons why it is important to read. Some
examples are items in the grocery store,
driving signs, newspapers and many more.
“It is also important to comprehend what we read so that we can
understand the full message. Otherwise
we just read and never get anything out of what we are reading.”
-To
review with
the students you can discuss silent reading or other reading strategies
that
you have been working with. “Can anyone
tell me about silent reading? What is
it? Why is it important that we learn
how to read silently?” Make sure that
the students understand that silent reading is the way most adults
read,
otherwise, think of how loud the grocery store would be, reading labels
and
things! Explain to the students that
reading silently means that you are reading alone, but you need to make
sure
you are actually reading and comprehending.
-“A
good way for
us to make sure that we are comprehending what we read when we read
silently is
to ask ourselves questions. These
questions will help us to think about what we are reading and help us
to
remember what it is that we are reading.
If we ask good questions we will better understand the story. So today we will begin a new story and learn
about different types of questions and which ones are better to ask
ourselves
while reading.”
-“There
are two
types of questions you can ask, deep or shallow. Shallow
questions are
factual questions." Write on the board, "Sally is wearing a
bright pink shirt." "An example of a shallow question would be,
what is the color of Sally's shirt today? Pink,
that is a fact, but it does not make you think further. Now what
if I
asked you, why do you think Sally is wearing the bright pink shirt
today. There could be a lot of
different answers to that question, and you have to think about
it. I think maybe she was wearing it because she was in a very
good mood, or because pink is her favorite color. One
way to remember which question is which is to think of the ocean. In very shallow water, do you find many
fish? No, they are usually in deeper
water. Just like in the shallow water
one question doesn’t lead anywhere, but a deep question opens up to all
of the
other questions around. Does that make
sense?” Make sure the students grasp
this concept. In fact, you may want to
ask the students to provide you with examples of a shallow or deep
question.
5.
Simple
Practice:
-“Now
lets talk
more about how you know when a question is shallow or deep. If you can find your answer by rereading the
story or if it is something that was clearly stated in the book, what
kind of
question do you think that would be? A
shallow question. What if you asked a question where you had to
guess
about some information you have not yet read about or if there is more
than one
answer to it? That would be a deep question. I will start
this new
story off by reading the first chapter to you.
Then we will talk about some questions afterwards.”
Read the first chapter of Hank the Cowdog to
the students. When you finish, ask the
students to give you
some examples of deep questions and shallow questions from the reading. An example of a shallow question could be,
what kind of animal did Hank pounce on?
An example of a deep question could be, why do you think Hank
has such a
since of responsibility and
6. Whole Texts:
-“Now,
I want each
of you to read the second chapter on your own, silently.
As you do so I want you come up with a few
deep questions that would help you to comprehend the story. Look at your checklist to make sure that you
are writing deep questions. Then, write
those questions down on sticky notes and we will look at them once
everyone is
finished.”
7. Assessment:
- I will look at the questions they wrote on
the sticky notes, asking students to share what they wrote. In this way, I will assess each of the
students individually to make sure that they comprehend the types of
questions we discussed today. Then I will wrap up with asking the
students
once again what it means to ask deep or shallow questions and why this
is
important.
References:
Erickson,
John
R.. Hank
the Cowdog. Penguin Books, Ltd.,
1983.
Fat or Skinny by
Sarah Stanley
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/explor/stanleyrl.html
W-W-W-W-What
do
you know? By Jessica Freeman
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/explor/freemanrl.html
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