Why Ask WHY???!!!!!!
Rationale:
The ultimate goal of reading
is comprehension. In order to become independent readers we must
adapt key components that make us independent readers. One of the
most important components of comprehension is being able to ask
meaningful questions. Research has shown that kids who ask thought
provoking and open-ended questions while reading had higher test scores
than those asking/answering literal questions. We can think of
questions that will help us connect the information we are reading to
our own lives or other parts of the text. Generating questions
while we䴜re reading is a good strategy because it engages
us with the
text and ensures that we are active readers. In this lesson we
will learn to develop good questions. We will really examine the
difference between a good question and unhelpful one.
Materials:
Class collection of Tuck
Everlasting ,plenty of sticky notes (enough for each child to have
several), checklist for each student {What do I want to know?
What am I wondering?
What have I learned? Can I find the answer to my question by
rereading? Could there be multiple answers to my question?}
Procedures:
1. Ask students:
‰¥þWhy do we
read?‰¥ÿ Allow the students to answer. ‰¥þWe
read because we are
trying to figure out information about a subject or are interested in
learning more about a particular subject. Also sometimes a story
may seem entertaining and just catch you attention.‰¥ÿ.
I will tell
the students that most importantly we need to take the information we
read away with us in our minds. Understanding reading is
something that is a part of our daily lives. Can anyone tell me
some places it is pretty necessary to be able to read?
(Right driving on the highway, In
classrooms and in grocery stores.)
2. To review with the
students you can discuss silent reading or other reading strategies
that you have been working with. ‰¥þCan anyone tell me
what silent
reading is? Why is it important that we learn how to read
silently?‰¥ÿ Make sure that the students understand that silent reading is the way most
adults read Explain to the students that reading silently means that
you read to yourself silently in your head, but you need to ensure you
are actually reading and comprehending.
3. ‰¥þTo
make sure that
we understand the message, comprehending, it is important to ask
ourselves questions. These questions help us evaluate the events
going on in the story, the charcters feelings, the problems they are
struggling with and maybe even predict what they might do in the
future. Good questions let us understand the story better. So
today we are going to learn to ask good questions while we read so we
can comprehend the story.‰¥ÿ
4. ‰¥þWhile you're
reading you
can generally ask yourself two different types of questions, questions
that are answered easily and questions that you have to think
about‰¥Ï‰¥ÿThese questions are the
why questions. (The book I䴜ll use for my example is Tuck
Everlasting) Why was it so hard for the Tucks to decide
whether to stay hiding in the woods? Or why did Mae not want her
Winnie to be around After I have read chapter one aloud to the
class, "I䴜ll model the example of a bad question 'What is
Mae eating
for a snack?‰¥ÿ Mae is eating an apple; since that
question is
factual and you can easily read the answer and no reasoning is require
it is not a question that will help you comprehend any text. I will
explain that these bad questions are what we commonly call literal
questions. An example of a better question would be
‰¥þWhy is Mae
not telling the little girl why she can䴜t drink the
water?‰¥ÿ Since there
are a lot of different answers to that question you would have to
reason to figure out the answer. (Ideally you are teaching the
kids to reason) ‰¥þI think maybe Mae
doesn䴜t want her to drink the
water because something in the water would hurt her. Why do you
think Mae is keeping the water from her? When you are reading and
think of a question you can remember if it is a good question or not by
asking yourself 䴝Did I just read the answer? The good why
questions
will seem to have personal input and involve reasoning. As a
reader they will force you
to think about how you feel about the situation at times and at other
times maybe force you to relate the situation to your own real
life. Ask the students to give you an example of a good
question and a bad question to ensure that they grasp the concept.
5. Explain to the kids that
asking questions is important when you are reading fictional text and
expository text. ‰¥þNow, on your own I want you to go
to the read
chapter 6 of tuck everlasting silently in your small groups.
Through out the reading make good why questions and place them in your
book on the pages that they pertain to the reading. After the whole class is finished reading we will
come back all together as a good and take turns sharing our questions.
6. After the class has shared
questions and discussed certain events I will check everyone sticky
notes. I will look at the questions they wrote on the
sticky notes, and if may be one we did not get to in discussion I may
ask them for their own personal answer quickly. In this way, I
will assess each of the students individually to make sure that they
comprehend the types of questions we discussed today, using the
checklist they each have to evaluate their questions.
References:
Babbit, Natile. Tuck Everlasting,
Douglas and McIntyre Publishing Group. Copyright 2000. 171, pages.
Smith, Melanie
‰¥þTo question or not to
question?‰¥ÿ
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/smithmrl.html
