Questioning That Force Successful Scaffolding

Questions are a common way for teachers to check for understanding, right? The answer we’re looking for is yes.?Who hasn’t questioned a group of students to determine whether or not they understood the content? Unfortunately, not all questions are created equally. We suggest four overarching questions that can be used to scaffold students’?thinking about complex texts. You can tailor these questions to any book that your pupil are reading:

• What does the text say?
• How does the text work?
• What does the text mean?
• What does the text inspire you to do?

Students think literally

Questions in this category require students to think literally about the text. These essential questions focus on the big ideas or general understandings as well as key details. We believe that understanding the text at the literal level is important in order for students to eventually understand it at deeper levels. In fact, we think it’s unfeasible for students to make logical inferences about a text that they don’t understand literally.

Generally the amount of time teachers spend at the literal level will vary based on student responses. When we read over our students’ shoulders, check on their annotations, and listen to their collaborative conversations, we know when they’re ready to move on. Questions are a common way to check for understanding sometimes?we have to ask a lot of literal questions; other times, not so many. We have learned that asking these questions is much more effective than telling students what to think about the text. To do so requires that we develop several questions, knowing that we might not use them all, depending on how students respond.

Questions at this level could include:

• What is the relationship between the narrator and the main character?
• Does the author use any symbols? What do they mean?
• What is the role of _____ in the book?

Students deeply understand

When students deeply understand a given text, they want to take action. They want to do something with the information they’ve gained or the perspectives they’ve developed. This is when we know that students comprehend the text.

Not every student will be inspired in the same way. Some?students want to write about a text. Others want to engage in research or further investigation for deeper understanding. Some students may want to present their ideas and understandings, while others may choose to take part in a debate or Socratic seminar.

Classrooms that engage in learning this is where the learning gets exciting. Students want to take action?based on a text they read and understood deeply, because now they are in person invested. In acting, they become stewards of their own learning, and teachers can provide guidance about the types of products that can demonstrate deep understanding. Of course, teachers should provide examples of quality work so that students will know what’s expected of them for each of these acts of inspiration.

These questions include:

• Do you want to draw your own illustrations for the book?
• Do you want to write a letter to the author?
• Do you want to meet with a group of friends and talk about the book?
• Do you want to read other books by the author?

Teach thinking before jumping

To teach thinking before jumping into reading a challenging text in the classroom, it’s important to first provide meaningful context around the content, giving students a framework and enough background knowledge to be able to engage with it. Wanzek likens this phase to extending a “comprehension canopy” and suggests it should consist of three parts: “establishing a purpose, asking an overarching question, and priming initial background knowledge.”

A little introduction should help build background knowledge, introduce key concepts, and get kids thinking about the material. A short video, for example, with a few guided questions as a follow-up, can accomplish this neatly. Your overarching question functions as a sort of guiding light through the unit—broad yet detailed enough to cover key ideas, its purpose is to help students “organize the critical information they learn” so that by the end of the unit, they’re able to answer it fully, Wanzek notes. We must think that an overarching question for a unit on the Gilded Age, for example, might be: “During the Gilded Age, how did the economic, political, and social landscape of America change?”

Guiding Students Through Key Texts in Class

In order for all students, including those still developing as readers, to work through and understand what they’re reading, essential texts need to be read during class time so teachers can expertly guide and support students through the material, intermittently checking for understanding.

Students may wish to read as a class along with the teacher, in pairs or small groups, or individually. It’s important to understand that students are the ones doing the reading, Wanzek notes, not the teacher. “Students can only gain practice in reading and understanding content-area text independently if they are actually reading,” she writes.

We know that to prevent students from skimming texts without absorbing and understanding, have them stop at several predetermined spots to answer a few quick questions either in writing or verbally.