INSTRUCTIONAL LEADER INSTRUCTIONAL LEADER

AskingQuestionsThat PromptDiscussion

The types of questions

teachers ask influence

how students read.

By Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey

Douglas Fisher (dfisher@maii.sdsu.edu) is aprofessor of teacher education at San DiegoState University and a teacher leader at HealthSciences High and Middie Coiiege in San Diegc,CA.

Nancy Frey (nfrey<Simail.sdsu.edu) is aprofessor of teacher education at San DiegoState University and a teacher leader at HealthSciences High and fvliddle Coiiege.

They are the authors of Guided Instruction: Howto Develop Confident and Successful Learners(2010, ASCD).

Watch the Video!Watch a teacher guide anin-depth discussion aboutliterature, www.nassp.org/pl1111 fisher.

When asked a series of recallquestions, students focustheir reading on details that

allow them to respond to questionsabout facts. Alternatively, when askedquestions that require evaluation orsynthesis, students' reading changesand they focus their attention on globalissues and compare those issues withtheir own thinking. The following twoexamples illustrate this difference.

Over the course of the semester,Morgan has been asked a number ofquestions that require her to recalldetails and events from the text. Forexample, when the class was studyingThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins(Scholastic, 2008), Morgan was askedsuch questions as. When did the storytake place? Where did the story takeplace? and. What happened when Kat-niss first met Gale? As a result, Morganbecame a close and detailed readerwho could not respond to the question.What would it take, in terms of socialchanges, for the events in The HungerGames to happen? She fiounderedand instead of answering it, retold thestoryline from the text.

In another school, Jessie has par-ticipated in a number of discussionsabout texts and has had an opportunityto respond to a number of differentquestions including. What might havehappened if Peeta had not given Katnissbread? Was there anything that puzzledyou in this chapter? When she wasasked the same question about the socialchanges that could create The HungerGames, Jessie responded with a seriesof possible events, some based on herextrapolation from the text (e.g., "Therewould probably have been a war") andsome from her experience (e.g., "I thinkthat the power of government wouldhave to change; I don't think that thiscould happen in a democracy").

Types of Ouestions MatterOf course, teachers have knownabout question types and the skillsrequired to answer different typesof questions for years. Who hasn'theard of Bloom's taxonomy and thelevels of knowledge, comprehension,application, analysis, synthesis, andevaluation? There's also a revisionof Bloom's taxonomy for the 21stcentury (Anderson & Krathwohl,2001) that focuses on remembering,understanding, applying, analyzing,evaluating, and creating.

What may not be as clear, despitea strong understanding of questioningtaxonomies, is the effect of repeatedlyasking certain kinds of questions onthe reading habits of students. Overtime, when they are asked lower-orderquestions, they read for that type ofinformation only. As a cautionary note,we are not suggesting that teacherseliminate knowledge, comprehension,or application questions. That infor-mation is vital to students' ability toanswer complex questions. After all,Jessie would not have been able toanswer the question if she didn't havea basic understanding of the text.

Shifting ExpectationsThe Common Core State Standards(www.corestandards.org) will requirethat students provide evidence fromthe text and justify their responses.These may be new expectations forstudents who are accustomed to mak-ing personal connections with the textand not accustomed to supportingtheir conclusions or justifying theiropinions (Fisher, Frey, & Lapp, 2011).Of course, students need practice ifthey are going to succeed in meetingthe new expectations, and the typesof questions that students are askedwill guide how they read the text.

58 • Principal Leadership i NOVEMBER 2011

With that in mind, we have developeda number of questions that teacherscan use to get students started think-ing about the text, justifying theiranswers, and discussing the text. (Seefigure 1.] The major departure fromtraditional practice is that studentsmust be reminded to provide justi-fications and evidence from the textfor each of their answers. The videothat accompanies this article shows ateacher as he moves around to vari-ous literature discussion groups in hisclassroom and uses the questions toguide student discussions.

Interestingly, when teachers usethese types of questions with studentsto press for evidence and justification,the questions that students ask oneanother also change. Students beginto phrase questions to peers in a waythat is similar to the phrasing used bytheir teachers. Their discussions, then,become more than amateur interac-tions about texts. Their group interac-tions help students learn the type ofthinking required by experts.

As an example, consider the fol-lowing discussion students had aboutthe book Night by Elie Wiesel (Farrar,Straus & Giroux, 1972]. The studentswere talking about the reasons that theJewish people in this book did not fightback right away, but rather went alongwith the plans for relocation.

Maria: I don't think that they reallythought that it would be that bad.I mean, who would have imaginedthat? But did you find somethingin the text that really shows that?We need more evidence.

Deon: Yeah, like it says right here,"Annihilate an entire people?Wipe out a population dispersedthroughout so many nations?So many millions of people! By

what means? In the middle of thetwentieth century?" It's on pageeight. They just didn't think it waspossible. I agree with you.

Jessica: Yeah, I agree too. But I alsothink that it was because life waskinda normal. Yeah, they movedand lost things. But at first theirlife seemed kinda normal. Seeright here—on page 11—where itsays, "Little by little life returnedto 'normal.' The barbed wire thatencircled us like a wall did not fillus with real fear. In fact, we feltthis was not a bad thing; we wereentirely among ourselves."

Deon: Exactly, that's why they didn'tfight. They couldn't imagine thingswould ever be like they turnedout, and that their lives got back tonormal—well, kinda normal—nottoo bad so that they would fight.There's lots of evidence for this.

This discussion demonstrates thepower of the types of questions thatthese students have been asked. Theirreading is deeper and focuses on theevidence that the author is presenting.Like their classmates, Maria, Deon,and Jessica have learned to focus theirreading on a wide range of questionsand in the process, they came tounderstand that they must provideevidence and justification for theirresponses.

ObservationThis is one of the things that an edu-cational leader should look for in theclassroom. What types of questionsare students asked about their read-ings? If the questions focus exclusivelyor even predominately on recall andknowledge, then the teacher mayneed to expand his or her repertoire.If a wide range of questions are being

used, the next thing to look for is thestudents' ownership of the discussion.Do the students ask one another ques-tions and provide evidence for theiranswers? If not, this is an appropriateteaching point. If they do, we'd expectthat the students are well on their wayto demonstrating proficiency on thenew Common Core State Standardsassessments that will be implementedin a few years. PL

REFERENCES• Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R.(Eds.). (2001). yl taxonomy for learning,

teaching and assessing: A revision ofBbom's

Taxonomy of educational objectives: Com-

plete edition. New York: Longman.

• Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Lapp, D. (2011).Teaching students to read like detectives:

Comprehending, analyzing, and discussing

text. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

NOVEMBER 2011 I Principal Leadership i 59

ÍNSTRUCTIONAL LEADER ÍNSTRUCTIONAL LEADER

Figure 1

Questions About Texts

THE STORY

What happened in the story?

Were you abie to predict the ending?

What other way might the story have ended?

What will probably happen next?

What might have happened If [a certain action] had not taken place?

What was the most important part ot the story?

List important words in such categories as people, animais, places, or things.

SETTiNG

Where did the story take place?

Why did this setting mrk?

Do you know ot a piace iike this?

When did the story take place—past, present, or tuture?

Which part of the story best describes the setting?

What words does the author use to describe the setting?

AUTHORWhat do you know about fhe author?

Why do you think the author wrote the book? What is he or she trying to tell

you in fhe book? What does this book tell us about the author?

What sorts ot things (people, places, behavior, feelings, and so on) does fheaufhor like or dislike?

What did the author have to know about to write this book?

CHARACTERS

Choose one character: Why is this character important in the story? Whatlesson did the character learn?

Do any ot the characters change?

Why did they behave as they did?

Was fhe behavior of a particular character right or wrong?

Are people reaiiy iike these characters?

BASiC QUESTiONS

Was there anything you iiked about this book? What especiaily caught youraffenfion? What would you have liked more of?

Was there anything you disiiked?

Were there parts that bored you?

Was there anything that puzzled you or that you thought strange?

Was there anything that compietely surprised you?

GENERAL QUESTiONSWhile you were reading, or now when you think about it, were there words

or phrases or other things to do with fhe language that you liked or disliked?

Have you noticed anything special about fhe way language is used in fhis

book?

If fhe wrifer asked you whaf couid be improved in fhe book, what wouid you

say? If you had written fhis book, how wouid you have made if better?

Has anyfhing fhaf happens in fhis book ever happened fo you? Whaf parfs

in fhe book seem fo you fo be fhe mosf frue-fo-life? Did fhe book make you

fhink differently about your own simiiar experience?

When you were reading, did you "see" the story happening in your

imagination? Which detaiis—which passages—helped you see it best?

Which passages stay in your mind mosf vividiy?

We've lisfened fo one anofher's fhoughfs and heard aii sorts of fhings fhafeach of us has noficed. Are you surprised by anyfhing someone else said?Has anyone said anyfhing fhaf has changed your mind abouf fhis book? Hasanyone heiped you undersfand if better? Teli me abouf fhe fhings people saidfhaf sfruck you fhe mosf.

How long did if fake fhe story fo happen? Did we find ouf abouf the story inthe order in which the events actually happened? Do you always teli a storyin sequentiai order? Why or why not?

Where did the story happen? Could it just as well have been set anywhere?Did you fhink abouf fhe seffing as you were reading? Are fhere passages infhe book that are especially about the piace where the story is set?

Who was narrating the story—do we know? Is fhe story told in firsf personor fhird person? Whaf does fhe person feiiing fhe sfory fhink abouf fhecharacfers? Do you fhink he or she likes fhem?

Think of yourseif as a spectator. With whose eyes did you see the story?Did you only see what one character in the story saw. or sometimes did yousee fhe sfory fhrough anofher characfer? (Were you inside fhe head of onecharacfer or a number ot characters?)

When you were reading the sfory, did you feei if was happening now, or didyou feel it had happened in the past and was being remembered? What inthe writing made you feei fhis way?

Did you feel as fhough you were an observer, wafching whaf was happeningbut not a part of fhe acfion? It you were an observer, where were youwafching from—beside characfers, above fhem looking down on the action,or somewhere else? Were there particular places in the book where you feitthat way?

60 I Principal Leadership • NOVEMBER 2011

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