Question Answer Relationships QAR Question Answer Relationships Welcome Today we are going to talk about QAR. You may have heard of it in ELLA or ELF or somewhere else It is not a new fad or something dreamed up to meet the demands of NCLB It has been around since the late 70’s early 80’s Taffy Raphael was a graduate student under the tutelage of P. David Pearson who came up with this concept

What is it? Comprehension Strategy Strategy for Metacognition A common language for Comprehension Instruction that helps students think about and talk about where they find answers to questions. Many would say that QAR is a comprehension strategy. Many would say that QAR is a way to get kids to think more metacognitively The bottom line is that QAR gives students of all ages and backgrounds a common language to use when they search for answers to questions either generated by the teacher or themselves.

Why use QAR? Provides a purpose for reading the text Helps students monitor and assess their comprehension Encourages Elaborative and Critical Thinking Helps students understand that they can be co-author of a text. QAR is not a canned program that you have to add as something new and different from your current instruction It falls into the category of working “smarter not harder” Share Bullets

Components of QAR In the Book In My Head Author and Me On My Own Right There When we look at the relationship between questions and answers that relate to a particular text, we see that sometimes we can find the answers to our questions in the book and in our heads. We can even be more specific by saying that some answers that are found in the book are right there but some we have to look in several places in the book to find the answers. Some answers can only be found in your head. We cannot find the answers to those questions in the book. We have to bring our experiences and background information to the text in order to answer. We can even go so far as to say that I need to use What the author has to say and what I know to answer the question. Sometimes I have to answer that question all by myself and use only the information that I bring to the table. Share Bloom’s Chart and QAR Correlation Sheet Think and Search

Question Stems In The Book In My Head Right There Author and Me Who is . . . Where is . . . List . . . What is . . . How Many . . . When did. . . Name . . . What kind of . . . Author and Me What is the author trying to tell you. . . By looking at the title, what do you think this story will be about What is the theme. . . Why did the author use . . . Summarize. . . T-T T-S T-W Questions Think and Search Find two examples . . . What is the problem . . . What role does this character play . . . What are the important events . . . Summarize . . . Retell . . . List at least 2 . . . On My Own What do you think . . . Prove . . Apply . . . Create . . . Initiate . . . Predict . . . What if . . Solve . . . Evaluate . . .

Goldilocks and The Three Bears How it Works Goldilocks and The Three Bears Think about the storyline in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Now look at these questions and decide which category they fall in. In the Book, or In your head.

Your Turn! Read the passage Read the multiple choice questions Classify the questions *In the Book *In your Head Share Your Thinking Now that you have seen Doris work with the students in classifying questions, take the remaining questions and look at the book and as a group decide which category they should belong in. Remember, it is not so much being right or wrong with the category as to have a strategy that will help you arrive at the correct answer.

Now You Try It! Look at the article on your table Write questions for the article *In The Book *In Your Head Share Your Thinking Now that you have seen how QAR works and have classified questions that someone else has created, I would like you to look at the picture or book on your table and write questions that could be either in the book or in the head. Once you have done that, we will share our thinking with the group.

Developmental Progression Primary Level K-1 In the Book In the Head 2nd Grade Differentiate between Right there / Think & Search Middle Level Grades 3-5 Differentiate between all four QAR question types Apply QAR to Comprehension Strategy Instruction Integrate QAR into Content Areas

School – Wide Implementation

So What? QAR “demystifies” where questions come from and gives them strategies to find the answers. QAR empowers students to be more active in their reading. Students can systematically analyze questions on high stakes tests and have confidence in their answers. We have all had a lot of fun watching a teacher in action, reading new books, and generating questions but so what? Why should we take the time to do this with our students? Share Bullets

So What ? (continued) QAR levels the playing field for disadvantaged students by providing a common language *for high level comprehension instruction *across grade levels and ability levels Enhances Literacy Curriculum NOT Adding to already packed curriculum The research showed that by using QAR in many disadvantaged school systems who implemented school-wide, they were able to show that they were making a difference in closing the achievement gap due to the fact that the common language gave teachers the tools to ask even their low level readers higher level thinking questions. This of course we know are the questions that are most frequently asked on the Benchmark.

Resources QAR Now by Taffy E. Raphael QAR: Enhancing comprehension and test taking across grades and content areas By Taffy Raphael (The Reading Teacher Vol. 59, No. 3) Comprehension Tool Kit – by Fountas/Pinnell Readwritethink.org – by IRA and NCTE