Re-Reading & After Reading

ReQuest

A questioning strategy for use with a short (or chunked) text; after re-reading, students formulate questions and answers based on a text passage; can be used as a partner activity or a whole-group activity

Steps:

1. Allow the students to read and familiarize themselves with the text selection.
2. Teacher hands out task cards (see below). Review these with the class.
3. Teacher models with class (especially important if this is the first time you’ve used this strategy). Teacher may model being the Respondent first. The students generate text-based questions (meaning that the answers must be found in the text). The students ask the questions of the teacher, who does his/her best to answer. The students check the answers in their text.
4. Then the roles are reversed, and the teacher becomes the Questioner, modeling writing the questions and then asking the students to answer them.
5. Once the students are familiar with the strategy, they can use this in pairs or small groups.
6. Teachers can modify this in many ways. They can ask the students to validate their answers with evidence from the text. As students get even more familiar with the strategy, they can move from asking simple comprehension questions to asking questions that require inference.

Questioner Task Card Read the passage silently. Pay attention to the information it contains. Think of questions to ask. Try to use your own words, not exact phrases from the passage. Keep your book/article open while you ask your question. Listen to the answer, then check to see if it is accurate.  If it is not, ask another question to help the person arrive at the correct answer. When finished, change roles. Repeat 2-3 times.

Respondent Task Card Read the passage silently. Pay attention to the information it contains. Think of questions you might be asked. Check the passage you just read for possible answers. Answer each question you are asked. You can ask the questioner to rephrase or clarify a question you do not understand. When finished, change roles. Repeat 2-3 times.

Five Sentence Quick Write

The students will summarize what they have learned in the lesson with five complete sentences that are pertinent to the material read during the lesson.  Non-volunteers can share what they have written, students can turn-in the sentences for grade, or students can pair share their sentences.  This portion of the lesson can be customized in many different ways.

Pair Summary (new partner)/Non-Volunteers

The teacher asks students to select partners (if pair sharing has not been part of the lesson to that point) or new partners (if pair sharing has been part of the lesson) and discuss the key points of the reading/class.  The teacher then calls on non-volunteers to summarize what pair groups have discussed.

Question-Answer Relationship (QAR)

This strategy describes four types of questions: Right There, Think and Search, Author and You, and On Your Own.  The strategy is based on three categories of questions: text explicit (the answer is directly quoted in the text); text implicit (the answer must be implied from several passages in the book); and script implicit (requires both the text ad prior knowledge and experiences.)  QAR requires teachers to model the different levels of questions that are associated with a text.  This strategy also considers the reader’s background knowledge and the text.  QAR is a student-centered approach to questioning because it clarifies how students can approach the task of reading texts and answering questions.

Passing Notes Activity

Coming soon!

Reciprocal Teaching

A Student-directed Small Group Close Reading Strategy

Arrangement: Student groups of 4

Tools needed: a short text or text chunked into three or four short sections (The chunking can be done by the teacher or by the students depending on their experience level.)

Strategy: Reciprocal teaching allows the students to check their understanding periodically throughout the reading. They use structured discussion with four roles. The roles may change with each section, or the students may keep the same roles throughout the activity.

At the end of each chunk of text, the students use four kinds of comprehension strategies in order to understand the text. Each student becomes the ‘expert’ in one strategy.

• Questioner: Student I questions the text, asking literal and inferential questions of the other students, while also knowing the answer to the questions
• Clarifier: Student II clarifies and explains any confusing points. This may be accomplished using the dictionary, checking the glossary, asking the teacher, or working with group members)
• Summarizer: Student III summarizes the main ideas of the passage
• Predictor: Student IV predicts what the author will discuss next, based on the text and on prior knowledge
• (Other roles that could supplant the ones above might include Vocabulary Master, a student who identifies confusing/unfamiliar words and finds out what they mean; and the Explainer, who explains to the other students WHY the text and the main points within the text are important.)

Introduction of Strategy: Students must be taught the four comprehension roles. Students should also be comfortable using collaborative groups. A teacher might introduce and model each role separately before asking the students to jump in and do it on their own.

Role Sheets may come in handy in helping the students to stay focused on his/her individual tasks and as aides in discussion.

Justification of Strategy: All four comprehension strategies are excellent practices to use during the reading process. The discussion generated should engage all students in the learning and comprehension process. In various studies, Reciprocal Teaching has been found to benefit EL students and to positively impact standardized test results on reading comprehension.

Note: Students will need practice in all comprehension strategies before doing a Reciprocal Teaching activity.

See Role Sheets and Reciprocal Teaching Note-taking Guide documents for more ideas.