Questioning Strategies Questions and Answers Teachers must modify these questions to suit the students in their class. Choose only those questions, which are relevant to the book being discussed, which meet the needs of the students in the group. Teachers should not use all questions for each book. Tell me when you first saw the book, even before you read it, what kind of book did you think it was going to be? Can you tell me what made you think this? Now that you ve read it, was it like what you expected? Tell me about anything that particularly caught your attention. Will you tell your friends about it? What won t you tell them because it might spoil the story or be misleading if you did? Tell me about the parts you didn t like. Were there parts that bored you? If you have stopped reading, can you tell me where you stopped? What stopped you? Was there anything that puzzled you? Was there anything that you thought strange? Was there anything that took you by surprise? Have you ever read other books, stories, and poems like this? Tell me about them. What sticks in your memory most vividly? Do you hear the words being said in your head when you re reading? If so, whose voice do you hear? Which character interested you the most? Is that character the most important person in the story? Or is it really about someone else? Which character(s) did you not like? Did any of the characters remind you of people you know? Who was telling the story? Do we know? Would it make any difference if we did know/didn t know that someone else told this story? How long did it take for the story to happen? Did we find out about the story in the order the events happened? When you tell about things that happen to you, do you always tell your story in the right order Are there ever reasons why you don t? What are they? Did parts of the story take a long time to happen but you are told about them very quickly? Are there events that happened very quickly but took a lot of space to relate? When you were reading the story, did you feel it was happening now? Or, did you feel it was happening in the past and now being remembered? Can you tell me about anything in the story that made you feel this way? Did you feel as if you were one of the characters in the story and that everything was happening to you? Did you feel as if you were an observer rather than taking part in the action? If you were an observer, from where were you watching? Was it beside the characters, or above them? Can you tell me places in the book where you felt like that? Has anything like this story ever happened to you? Did you feel the same as the people in the story? Where did the story end?
Did it matter where it happened or could it have happened anywhere? What do you remember thinking about the place while you were reading? Did you ever get to know what the characters were thinking about? Did one of the characters (name) think such-and-such? Do you agree with him/her? When you are reading a story, are you able to visualize what is happening? What details in the story helped you see things most clearly? Tell me some of the details. If the author asked you to improve the story, what would you say? We ve listened to each other s thoughts about the story and heard all sorts of things about what we ve each noticed. Are you surprised by anything someone else said? Has anyone said anything that has changed your mind? Did anything that was said help you enjoy the story more? Did anything help you understand it better? Tell me about the things people said that really impressed you. Has anyone read this story before? If so, was it different this time? Did you notice anything different the second time you read the story? Did you enjoy it more or less the second time? Would you recommend that people reread the story? Is the story worth rereading? When you think of this story now, after all we ve said, what is the most important thing about it for you? Should I present this book to other people? To people your age? Older? Younger? How should I present it to them? Should we talk afterwards, as we did, or not? Would anyone you know especially like this story? Non-Fiction What is this book about? Who is the author? When was the book published? Was the book easy to read? Why? Why not? Did the book have pictures, charts, maps, etc.? Did these visuals help you to understand the information better? What were some topic words the author used? What was your favorite part? Did the author tell you enough? What did you discover that you didn t know before? What other books are there on this topic? Author What do you know about the author? What is the author trying to tell you in your book? What did the author have to know about to write this book? Characters Who are the main characters in your story? Do you like the characters? Do you dislike the characters? Choose one character and tell why this character is important in the story? Do any characters change? Do any characters do things that you think are good? Do any characters do things that you think are wrong?
Plot Setting Mood Style Theme Tell me the main things that happened in your story? Were you able to guess what was going to happen at the end? Can you think of other ways the story might have happened? Can you think of other ways your story might have ended? Where does the story take place? Tell me what the place was like. Have you ever been to a place like this? Did the story take place in the past, future, or present? How did you feel while reading the book? Why did you feel that way? What was the funniest part? What was the saddest part? What was the most exciting part or the strangest part? What do you remember most about the story? What special words does the author use to help you hear/see things in the story? Tell me about any pictures the author has left in your mind. What do you like about the way the author has written the story? Why do you think the author wrote this book? What do you think the message is in this story? What is the embedded theme? Illustration Who is the illustrator? Do you like the illustrations? Why? Why not? What do you think the illustrations added to the text? If the illustrations were not there, would there need to be more words? What do you think the illustrator needed to know in order to illustrate this story? MODEL QUESTIONS AND KEY WORDS TO USE IN DEVELOPING QUESTIONS Knowledge Recall Comprehension Who? Where? Describe Which one? What? How? Define What is the best one? Why? How much? Match Choose When? What does it mean? Select Omit Define the word What is a Label the following Identify the in this Who did State in your own words Classify Which are facts, which are opinions? What does this mean? Judge Is this the same as? Give an example Infer Select the best definition
Condense this paragraph Show What would happen if? State in one word Indicate Explain what is happening What part doesn t fit? Tell Explain what is meant What restrictions would you add? Translate Read the graph, table What exceptions are there? Outline This represents Which is more probable? Summarize Is it valid that? What are they saying? Select Which statements support the main What seems to be? Match Idea? What seems likely? Explain Sing this song Demonstrate Represent Show in a graph, table Application Inferences Analysis Predict what would happen if Choose the best statements that apply Select Judge the effects What would result? Explain Identify the results of Tell what would happen Tell how, when, where, why Tell how much change there would be Hypothesize what will happen if Predict what would be true if Conclude what the result will be if What if Distinguish What is the function of What s the theme, Identify What s fact, what s opinion? idea, subordinate idea? What assumptions What statement is relevant, What literary form is What motive extraneous to, related to, being used? What conclusions applicable to? What persuasive Make a distinction What does the author believe or techniques are used? What is the premise? or assume? What is the What ideas apply? State the point of view of relationship of? What ideas do not apply? What ideas justify conclusion? What is implicitly What are the least essential stated? Statements? What are the basic elements in a? What is/are the function(s) of. Inventory the parts of. Categorize the of. Sort the. What order are the steps in? Synthesis Write (following these limitations) Create How would you test? Make up Tell Propose and alternative Compose Make Solve the following Formulate a theory Do Plan How else would you?
Dance Design State a rule Choose Develop Evaluate Appraise Judge Criticize Defend Compare What fallacies, consistencies/inconsistencies appear? Which is more important, moral, better, logical, valid, appropriate, inappropriate? Find the errors What would you do if happened? Why? Judge what would be the best way to solve the problem of. Why did you select that solution? Evaluate whether you would or in this situation. Why?.