Submit by 11:59 p.m. Sunday of Week 7, March 6, 2015. Please use the required template.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS TUTORIAL

CREATING: LITERALINFERENTIAL, &

APPLIEDQUESTIONS

LIST 4373SPRING 2015

Dr. Peggy Semingson

Prior to completing thisassignment, please read thistutorial in its entirety.

▪ Overview of the book and author

▪ Background of comprehension questions.

▪ Examples of each type of question: literal, inferential, and applied.

▪ Tips for completing this assignment.

Overview of the Book andAuthor

This book is written in the form of a poem. It was written in 2014 by the award-winning author, Jacqueline Woodson.Please Google the book and author to explore a bit about the book itself. Be sure to read the Author’s Note at the end of the text itself. Consider the key themes of the text prior to starting to write comprehension questions.

Optional: Discuss the book and your thoughts on the book with 1 or more classmates.

Directions:

▪ The purpose of the assignment is to develop your skills at constructing a variety of comprehension questions at various levels. Using the book Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, come up with your own original comprehension questions (literal, inferential, and applied) using the required template. The scenario would be if you were to use this book as a read- aloud or for guided reading in an upper-grade (4th-6th grade) classroom.

Steps

▪ Read Brown Girl Dreaming closely and carefully. Optional: discuss it with one more people. Consider reading reviews on goodreads and/or Amazon. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821284-brown- girl-dreaming)▪ Read through the entire Comprehension

Questions Tutorial PowerPoint prior to completing this assignment. Read it closely and carefully.▪ Create your questions. Remember, you are

creatingquestions that you would potentially pose to students in a4th-6th grade class. You must come up with your own original questions!

▪ As you create questions, they should be from the beginning(first 1/3), middle (second 1/3) and end (last 1/3) of the book.

▪ Hint: Remember to avoid “yes/no” questions.

Balanced Literacy: Comprehension questionscan be asked primarily during the “I do” and “we do” components of balanced literacy

• Read Aloud (I do, teacher modeling)• Shared Reading (I do, teacher modeling)• Guided Reading (We do, guided practice)

• Literature Circles/Book Club-students can learn to ask one another questions during book club. This is primarily done in upper-grades.

Gradual release of responsibility*(Pearson & Gallagher, 1983)

Questions can be asked before, during, and after reading. In the classroom, try not to ask too many questions during the reading. Asking too many questions also is to be avoided as it can interfere with experience with the text itself.

Read-aloud, shared reading, and guided reading are typically when comprehension questions are used.

Questions should be carefully constructed to maximize reflection and dialogue.

Chunking the Text for Scaffolding andMonitoring of Comprehension• “Chunk” the texts at strategic stopping points to discuss

what’s happening, ask open-ended comprehension questions to check for understanding and to set a purpose and revisit the teaching focus often.

• Model the type of comprehension conversation you wouldlike them to have.

• Encourage students to come up with comprehension questions, as well.

• Help parents/caretakers to make a habit of weaving in comprehension questions when reading text with students at home.

Questioning should be a mix of literal,inferential, and applied questions.• Make them as authentic as possible, allow wait time for

response, be equitable in turn-taking, actively listen to students, chart their responses, if possible and time permitting, and build on their ideas.

• Keep instruction student-centered and engaging!

Comprehension and posing questions—demonstration and practice.• There are three key types of questions1. Literal2. Inferential3. Applied**

• *Let’s read through and explore each type of question.

• *The “Three level question guide” is a technique developed by Herber in 1978. Source: Herber, H. (1978). Teaching reading in the contentareas. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

• The three level reading guide is the technique we will be practicing in this tutorial and in the assignment. Feel free to Google “three level reading guide” for more information if you wish.

Designing Questions to Foster OralConversation and Authentic Dialogue• You are designing questions as if you were using

them during either a read-aloud, shared reading, or guided reading with this book.

• The goal is to foster oral conversation; therefore, the questions should be written as if you were intending to foster conversation with either a small group of students or as a whole class.

• Questions should be authentic. Please make them interesting.

Example: The Hundred Dresses• This book is about a group of girls who bully another girl,

Wanda, because they feel she is inventing that she has a hundred dresses at home. The book’s key theme is bullying, social class (Wanda is poor while the girls who tease predominantly are not), friendship, and character study.

• Most of the inferential questions get at ethical dilemmas.• This book is appropriate for upper-grades, with a focus on

4th/5th graders.

Examples using The Hundred Dresses byEleanor EstesExamples of Literal Questions:• Who are the main characters?• Who wrote the book?• Where does the story take place?• What are some of the settings of the story?

• Literal Questions (can easily be answered by locating and retrieving directly from the text with little to no interpretation). They are “lower-level” and align with the knowledge level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. However, they help the teacher to assess basic understanding of the text. In the classroom, do not spend too much time here, unless students (usually in a small group) are facing challenges with basic comprehension.

Inferential Questions• Inferential Questions (involves making inferences or

drawing conclusions based on the reader’s prior knowledge and schema).

• Answers must be sought from multiple places in the text; they cannot simply be retrieved from one place.

• These answers require students to read “within thetext”, however, they must use clues inside the text.

• Questions are not student’s opinions; they MUST use clues from inside the text to form their answer. Help students to “revisit the text” to find clues for their answer.

Try to use the language of inferencing inyour questions….• “What can we conclude about the character

whenthe author states ?”

• “What clues tell us about the main character, ?”

• Other terms to weave into inferential questions might include:

• -clues• -conclude/conclusions• -predictions [making predictions is a type of

inference]

More on the language of inferencing• Important: Try to weave some or most of these terms into

your inferential questions. Memorize these terms for your future teaching. I suggest writing them on an index card to review often!

• inference, infer, conclusion, conclude, determine,• implied, implication, not stated, author’s message,• text evidence, clues, background knowledge

• Examples: “What evidence in text tells you…..”; “What background knowledge can you draw upon to infer what the character is feeling about ?”

• *Source: Austin ISD http://curriculum.austinisd.org/la/resources/documents/Biography_Infe rences.pdf

Examples of Inferential Questions..

• Inferential Questions (Notice when I do ask yes/no questions they are always followed up with a prompt asking for supporting evidence.)

• What kind of person is Wanda? What are words to describe Wanda and why?

• Is Wanda lying when she says she has a hundred dresses? Why orwhy not? Use text evidence to support your answer.

• Is anyone a bully in this book? How so? What makes someone a bully in the story? Is Maddie a bully? What in the text tells you that?

• Why does Maddie not speak up even though she struggles with the bullying of Wanda?

• Why does Maddie constantly envision defending Wanda? What doesthis mean about Maddie? Why doesn’t she say anything?

• How are Maddie and Wanda alike? How are they different?• What do you think happened to Wanda? Why do you think so?

Applied Questions (“Beyond the text”)• Applied questions are mainly opinion questions that work

“beyond the text”. They are more difficult to assess because one could really ask them without having read the text. They are harder to use to assess student’s understanding of the text.

• Use applied questions, but focus more on inferential questioning in your classroom. However, applied questions can be very engaging for students and teacher to discuss!

• Applied questions connect to the “real-world” and help students to make connections between the text, their own opinions, and scenarios.

Applied (“real-world”) questions [opinion-seeking; scenarios]Applied Questions• Who is your favorite character and why? Who is your least

favorite character and why?Are you reminded of another book, movie, or real-life scenario from this book?

• Why do you think the author wrote this book? Do you think it would make a difference to a child after reading this book in their behavior, either about bullying or standing up to bullies?

• Did you like the book? Why or why not?• Would this book appeal to boys, as well? Why or why not?

Applied Questions (“real world” questions that involve application to an invented scenario, interpretation of the text, inclusion of the reader’s judgment, opinion, and personal response)

Placement of QuestionsBefore Reading: Activate Schema, Set Purpose, Guide

Reader

During Reading: Help Reader Process Text

After Reading: Help Reader Organize & Summarize

Embedded Questions: Foster Ongoing Summarizing

Hint: Write thoughtful pre-planned questions on sticky notes or index cards as a cue for you. Have older students come up with questions, too. Provide modeling for using text evidence and justification to support response. Use accountable talk to help students engage in cross-talk.

Connect back to the text; keep students’dialogue text-centered.• “Let’s revisit the text.”

• Use follow-up “prompts often such as:

• “Why do you think that? Where in the text did it say that?What evidence led you to believe that?”

• Make these questions “conversational” and friendlyand not like an interrogation!!!

Review: Comprehension Questions:Literal, Inferential, Applied• Comprehension questions to ask along the way

(incorporate literal, inferential, applied). Questions should be carefully chosen and invite authentic dialogue.

• No “yes/no” questions or “known answer” questions.

• Use follow-up prompts. How did you know? What in the text told you that?” Use accountable talk. Include page numbers (if available).

Encouragement to practice (OPTIONAL)• NOTE: I encourage you to continue practicing writing and

trying out the different levels of comprehension questions in your work with students (e.g., tutoring, subbing, and interactions with school-aged children).

• Final tips:• Email me if you have any questions!• Please take your time on this assignment and do your best

work possible.• Make your questions connect to the text, Brown Girl

Dreaming.• Proofread for typos or errors.

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