1. Ladders of Questioning

2. Types of Questions Literal Interpretive Experience-Based Factual
Address key elements
Interpretive
Inferential
Motive of author or a character
Experience-Based
Connecting
Link text to prior knowledge, other texts, or experiences

3. Level 1: Literal Questions Answers Factual Address key elements
Found directly in text
Good answers lead to an accurate and complete summary of text

4. Level 2: Interpretive Questions Answers Inferential
Motive of author or a character
Answers
Found by following patterns and seeing relationships among parts of the text
Good answers lead to an identification of the significant patterns

5. Level 3: Experience-Based
Questions
Connecting
Link text to prior knowledge, other texts, or experiences
Answers
Found by testing the ideas of a text against readers’ schema
Good answers lead to an appreciation of the text and further discussion
an internal representation of the world; an organization of concepts and actions that can be revised by new information about the world 

6. Example: “Marigolds” Level 1
Describe Lizabeth’s actions in this scene.
What are the meanings of the words “sterility,” “verve,” and “poignancy”?
How is Miss Lottie described?
What sense words are used to describe the marigold garden?
What does Lizabeth do right after she destroys the flowers?

7. Example: “Marigolds”
Level 1 – English 10 Questions

8. Example: “Marigolds” Level 2
Why do you think the narrator destroyed the marigolds?
Why is Lizabeth unable to stop her actions?
Why did Miss Lottie so tendery care for the marigolds?
Why had Lizabeth’s understanding of Miss Lottie changed?
How do you interpret the last line of the story?
Can you identify any stylistic devices? How do they add to the meaning of the story?

9. Example: “Marigolds”
Level 2 – English 10 Questions

10. id est (Latin for "that is")
Example: “Marigolds”
Level 3
Can you think of a time when your anger got out of control? What were the consequences of your behavior?
Have you had an experience that changed your perception of another person? (i.e. divorce, failures, sickness)
id est (Latin for "that is")

11. Example: “Marigolds”
Level 3 – English 10 Questions