Metacogitive Reading Strategies: Part 4 Questioning! Good Readers Use Curiosity to Help Understand the Text

Let’s Review! What’s metacognition? –Thinking about your thinking “Talking with the text” in your head! Activating Schema –What is “schema”? Prior knowledge –What are the ways we can connect what we read to our schema? Text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world

Let’s Review! Visualization –What’s “visualization”? Crafting sensory and emotional images (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, emotion) –Live the text! –Show, don’t tell! Making inferences –What’s an “inference”? Reading between the lines –What are the two necessary elements to craft an inference? Our schema and the text!

And Now Presenting Our Newest Strategy…

Questioning! Good readers ask themselves questions –Before reading Wondering about what they will read –During reading Questioning what they are reading –After reading Continued thoughts about what they read Questioning can help achieve a variety of purposes. –Not all questions are created equal!

Thick v. Thin Questions Questions can be categorized as “thick” or “thin.” –Good readers use a balanced diet of both types as they read. –That way, they’ve thought about the text in a variety of ways! –Each question type helps to achieve a different purpose.

Thin Questions These questions help fix an incomplete or incorrect understanding of a text. These are questions that are fact-based. –This suggests that they can be answered by looking up a quick fact/answer. –They are “thin” because they are minimally complex. They are “hunt and find” types of answers.

Thin Questions These include questions such as –Questions answered simply and directly in the text –Questions answered by very quick research or asking the teacher for more information Extra factual information Definitions Confusions about the literal meaning of the text (“What does this mean?”) All of these questions can be answered by a quick search for facts or a fact-based explanation.

Thin Questions Although these are sometimes minimally complex, they are still TURBO important! How do these questions help our comprehension? –They help us remember and clarify the FACTS! Those are important in history, math, and science! –It teaches us more about the topic by allowing us to learn related information that’s outside of the text. –It helps us understand the words we read so we can understand the ideas! –It helps us to be metacognitive and fix gaps in understanding when we encounter them (because we ask!).

Thick Questions They’re chub-sters because there’s a lot to them! These are questions that are more complex, so they can’t be answered directly in the text or by looking up a simple fact. These include questions such as –Questions that foster inference –Questions whose answers are more complex than a simple fact –Questions that foster connections –Questions that foster analysis –Questions that foster discussion/debate

Thick Questions How do these questions help our comprehension? –They expand our thinking BEYOND the text! –They allow us to understand the reading in more complex, advanced ways. –They help us see the big picture! We see how it all fits together! –They help us REMEMBER the information because we’re thinking of connections and not solitary facts.

Let’s Practice! What do I say when I question? “I wonder…” “Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?...” “Could it…?” “Would it...?” “Should it…?” “Did it…?” “Can it…?” Etc., etc., etc….

Let’s Practice! Label each question as “thick” or “thin.” Some questions may be rationalized as either, but be sure you can justify your choice. _______ What does “alienated” mean? _______ What causes certain people to become dictators and not others? _______ What did Stalin specifically do to people that gave him such an “evil” reputation? _______ Why didn’t the U.S. intervene in WWII sooner? _______ How does Stalin compare to Hitler? _______ Was Hitler so evil because he was simply insecure? Thin Thick Thin or Thick Thin

Why Does it Matter? Questioning helps students… –Clarify the meaning of the text. Both in terms of language and facts –Think beyond the text. Wonder about relevant outside information –Understand the big picture. See relationships between ideas, understand context, etc. –Monitor our comprehension and think metacognitively! Curiosity= Wonderful Helps us monitor for and fix gaps in understanding. –Become ROCK STAR READERS! Woop woop!

The End! (or is it…?)