TEACHER GENERATED QUESTIONS Welcome back! Please sign in.

TEACHER QUESTIONS CAN HELP INCREASE STUDENT COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING

After Strategy Instruction Left Right normalized Good Strategy Instruction Normalizes Brain Activation Patterns. Before Strategy Instruction

First-Grade Seventh-Grade

5 An fMRI Study of Strategic Reading Comprehension While there have been neuroimaging studies of text comprehension in the past, little was known about the brain mechanisms underlying strategic learning from text. Up until recently these studies have not examined the differences in brain activity associated with different reading strategies.

WHAT DO THESE BRAIN IMAGING STUDIES TELL US ABOUT QUESTIONING IN OUR CLASSROOMS? Teacher questions help students understand what they are reading. Teacher questions help students elaborate, or link information to what they already know. Teacher questions help students bridge or link different parts of the text together. 6

TEACHING STUDENTS TO THINK AS THEY READ StrategyPurposeBrain Function Teacher Sets a Purpose and Reads Aloud for at least 10 minutes per day from text Get a sense of what the text is about Link new information to background knowledge Students read a range of text daily from words individually or collaboratively Relate what is already known to what is being read Hook new information to what is already known. Manage short term memory with long term memory Directed Note Taking Constantly monitor, think and react to the text as it is being read Brain needs to understand information to accept it, stay clearly focused to help commit information to memory Adapted from Irene Gaskins 7

TEACHING STUDENTS TO THINK AS THEY READ StrategyPurposeHelps the Brain Question Generation To check own understanding or clarify what is not understood Must understand information for it to be committed to memory Teacher teaches from written cognitively complex question To check own understanding or clarify what is not understood Must understand information for it to be committed to memory. Working memory can only hold limited ideas at one time Adapted from Irene Gaskins 8

DIRECT TEACHING Research shows that reading comprehension can be improved through direct instruction in cognitive strategies (or ways of thinking about the ideas in text) Our focus will be teaching students how to think during reading through questioning. How do you use questioning in your classroom? Do you have a system you use? Discuss at your table. 9

ONE TEACHERS SYSTEM EXPLAINED: BLOOMS TAXONOMY 10

11 Blooms Taxonomy is not about the Verb.

BLOOMS TAXONOMY Knowledge – You must KNOW key vocabulary, concepts, ideas, people, etc., in order to understand the ideas presented in a text. Comprehension – You must UNDERSTAND the basic ideas and literal meaning of the text before you can interpret the authors objectives, the hidden meanings, etc. Application – You must be able to apply the ideas to your own world and experience to have a frame of reference for the text. 12

BLOOMS TAXONOMY Analysis – You cannot understand the authors purpose or the main idea unless you first take the text apart and study it. Synthesis – Once you have taken the text apart, you are in a better position to pull all the ideas together to determine the main idea or authors purpose. Evaluation – You must study all aspects of a document before you can intelligently make judgments about the authors message. 13

DEVELOPING A SYSTEM What is the big idea you want the students to take away from the text? Develop an overarching question for your text. (SYNTHESIS, EVALUATION) Review the text to determine the knowledge level ideas that could be an obstacle to comprehension. Highlight or mark those passages and develop questions for your students. (KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION) 14

DEVELOPING A SYSTEM Are there places in the text where students will lack background knowledge or experience? Mark or highlight those passages. Create a question that links student experience with the new idea. (APPLICATION) Are there places in the text that are complex and need to be broken down for students? If so, create a question that asks students to study different parts to develop meaning. (ANALYSIS) 15

DEVELOPING A SYSTEM It is now time to bring the text together. Pose questions about the theme, authors purpose, explicit or implicit main idea. (SYNTHESIS) Pose questions that get students to think about right or wrong, agree or disagree, or questions that get students to evaluate the authors point of view. (EVALUATION) 16

LETS APPLY THIS SYSTEM TO THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 17

SOURCES Anderson, R.C., Wilson, P.T., & Fielding, L.G Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly 23 (3), p Armbruster, B., Lehr, F; Osborne. J Putting reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children to read, kindergarten through grade 3. National Inst. for Literacy, Washington, DC.; National Inst. of Child Health and Human Development (NIH), Bethesda, MD.; Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.; Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, Ann Arbor, MI. Beck, I., & McKeown, M Text talk: Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences for young children. Reading Teacher, 55:1. Baumann, J. & Kameenui, E Vocabulary Instruction. Research to Practice. New York: Guilford Press 18

SOURCES Baumann, J. & Kameenui, E Vocabulary Instruction. New York: Guilford Press Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L Bringing Words to Life. New York: Guilford Press. Biemiller, Andrew Language and reading success. Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts: Brookline Books. Carlisle, Joanne & Rice, Melinda Improving reading comprehension: Research-based principles and practices Felton, R., & Lillie, D. (2002). Teaching Students with Persistent Reading Problems (a multi-media CD-ROM). Greensboro, NC: Guilford County Schools. Fielding, L., & Peason, D Reading comprehension: What works. Educational Leadership, 51:5, pp Florida Center for Reading Research – fcrr.org. Researchers presentations link. 19

SOURCES Gaskins, Irene. et al Helping struggling readers make sense of reading in Block, C., Gambrell, L., & Pressley, M. Improving comprehension instruction: Rethinking research, theory, and classroom practice. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association Gunning, Thomas Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Hart,B. & Risley, T Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing. Maria, Katherine Reading comprehension instruction: Issues and strategies. Parkton, Maryland: York Press. Morris, Darrell The Howard Street tutoring manual: Teaching at-risk readers in the primary grades. New York: Guilford Press. 20

SOURCES National Reading Panel Report of the National Reading Panel:Teaching children to read – Reports of the subgroups. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH Pub. No Oczkus, L Reciprocal Teaching at Work. Delaware: International Reading Association. Palinscar, A. & Brown. A Interactive teaching to promote learning from text. Reading Teacher 39, April, pp Pearson, D., & Gallagher, M The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8:3, pp

SOURCES Reutzel, D., Camperell, K., & Smith, J Hitting the wall: Helping struggling readers comprehend in Block, C., Gambrell, L., & Pressley, M. Improving comprehension instruction: Rethinking research, theory, and classroom practice. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association. Smith, Margaret Teaching comprehension from a multisensory perspective in Birsh, Judith, Ed. Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills. Baltimore: Brooks. Stahl, K. Proof, Practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction in the primary grades. The Reading Teacher Vol.57. No.7, April 2004 Stahl,S. & Nagy, William. Teaching Word Meanings. Lawrence Ehrlbaum Assoc.,

SOURCES Stahl, K. and McKenna, M. Reading Research at Work. New York: Guilford Press Spires, H., & Stone, P. The directed note taking activity: A self- questioning approach. Journal of Reading, 33:1, pp Sweet, A., & Snow, C Reconceptualizing reading comprehension in Block, C., Gambrell, L., & Pressley, M. Improving comprehension instruction: Rethinking research, theory, and classroom practice. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association. Hiebert E. and Kamil, M Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Lawrence Ehrlbaum Assoc. Block & Pressley Comprehension Instruction. Guilford Press. 23