QuestioningExploring Writing

in the Middle School

Introduction

Welcome!

Are you looking for something that is not just amiddle school language arts program?

Great Books Roundtable is for you!

Program Overview

Great Books Roundtable preserves the features

that have made Great Books programs unique

and exciting for more than forty years—a focus

on the Shared Inquiry™ method of learning supported by high-quality literature.

Sample Unit – “Wolf”

We are going to use “Wolf”, with the video that depicts a middle school classroom working on pre-discussion activities, discussing the selection, and completing post-discussion activities including writing.

Questioning, Exploring and Writing in the Middle School

• PREREADING QUESTIONS

• Please tell us who you are and what interests you in Questioning, Exploring and Writing in the Middle School?

1. ______________________________2. ______________________________3. ______________________________4. ______________________________

Skills

Roundtable provides a superb framework for teaching the skills of

•Reading Comprehension•Critical Thinking•Speaking•Vocabulary•Writing

The Teacher’s Role

• As a Shared Inquiry leader, you do not impart information or present your own opinions, but guide participants in reaching their own interpretations.

• You do this by asking thought-provoking questions and by being an active listener.

Questioning

• TEACHERS -The key to a great discussion is learning how to ask questions

• STUDENTS – It is more important to question answers than to answer questions

4 Types of Questions

• Factual • Interpretive• Evaluative• Speculative

Questioning

The SI Method distinguishes four levels of questions

• Factual – Only one correct answer based on evidence from the text

• Interpretive – More than one answer that can be reasonably supported by evidence for the text

• Evaluative – Ask you to decide if you agree with the authors point of view in light of your own experience

• Speculative – Requires you to make a judgment based on information from outside the text

Types of Questions

One answer Factual Needs text evidence

Two or more answers

Interpretive Needs text evidence

Two or more answers

Evaluative Needs text + personal knowledge

Two or more answers

Speculative Leads one to make a Judgment

Questioning

What types of questions are these for the story “Wolf”?

1. What kind of dog is Wolf? 2. What are some animal instincts you recognize in your pet? 3. What influences you more genetics or upbringing?4. Where in the story does Eisley act similar to Wolf? Different from Wolf?5. According to the author, what kind of power does the remote past have?6. Why does Eisley tell Wolf that there is something in us that we both had

better try to forget?7. _______________________________________________?8. _______________________________________________?

1-F 2-S 3-E 4-I 5-I 6-I 7-__8-__

What makes a good What makes a good interpretive question?interpretive question?

• Genuine doubt about the answer(s)

• Care about the question• Discussible • Clear • Specific to the selection

Why Interpretive Questions?

• Allows for different opinions to be accepted or rejected without judgments

• Builds critical thinking skills by leading students todevelop ideasoffer evidence from the text respond to the opinions of others

• Allows for a student centered discussion sharing ideas from quality literature addressing great ideas and issues effecting middle schoolers

Interpretive Questions

What makes an effective interpretive question?

• Doubt• Interest• Evidence• Clarity• Specificity

Interpretive Questions Need…

Doubt(yes, no different answers) – Are there times when the power of the distant past confronts our present circumstances?InterestWhy does Eisley tell Wolf that “there is something in us that we had both better try to forget”?EvidenceAt the end of the story, why does Easley call the bison fossil “our bone”?

Interpretive Questions Need

ClearIs Easley saying that people as well as animals are what we and “and can not be otherwise because of the shadows?

SpecificWhy does Easley tell us that “even to me the shadows had whispered – to me, the scholar in his study”?

Sequence of Questions

• OPENING QUESTIONOPENING QUESTION (1 question) • Introduces and explores ideas, topics, and themes

• FOCUS QUESTIONFOCUS QUESTION (1 question) • Examines a central point of the text•

• CLUSTER QUESTIONSCLUSTER QUESTIONS• Establishes relevance revolving around the focus question• Interprets a passage, explore a quotations, etc.

• FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS (asked of students to probe and clarify)• “Are you saying that...” • “Where in the text did you find support for that?” • “What do you mean by...” • “Tell us more about...”• “Do you agree with Sally when she says……”

Great Books Shared Inquiry

An active and collaborativesearch for answers

to questions of meaningpresented by a text

Leader’s Steps in Preparing a Selection

1. Read twice and take notes2. Turn notes & reactions into questions3. Test for answers and evidence4. Revise your questions, if needed 5. Select questions for SI Discussion

Step 1: Read the text and take notes

Mark anything that you:

• find puzzling (?)• think is important (*)• feel strongly about (!)

Step 2: Turn Your Notes into Questions

•Character motivation•Unusual language•Important details•Ambiguous words/phrases•Making connections

Step 3:

Test for Interpretive Questions

• How many answers do I come up with? (two or more)

• Where do I find evidence to support these answers? (back to the text)

Step 4:

Revise Your Questions

What makes an effective interpretive question?• Doubt• Interest• Evidence• Clarity• Specificity

Step 5: Select Questions for Shared Inquiry Discussion

• Group questions that deal with the same problem of meaning

• Choose a focus question

• Form a cluster of related interpretive questions

Teacher’s Preparation

• STUDY THE STORY• FORMULATE QUESTONS• REVIEW RULES• USE A SEATING CHART

Focus Question: ______________________Answer: _____________________________

What do you mean by______?

Have you heard an idea you disagree with?

What do you think of ___’s_idea?

Where do you find that in the text?

AGREE

QUESTIONS

DISAGREE

NEW IDEAS

Discussion of Wolf

Writing

• Writing is thinking on paper. Knowing what you think and how to back it up is the first step

• SI Discussion prepares students to explore ideas and conclude an evidenced point of view

• Writing then becomes how to construct that on paper.

• Roundtable included a full featured writing component on CD ROM

Roundtable Features

• High-quality literature• In-depth reading, critical thinking, and writing

activities• Teaching and learning in stages• Differentiated instruction• Common Core and 21 Century Alignments• Assessment options• Standards-and research-based learning• Renowned professional development

Benefits

For Teachers . . .• Paradigm shift in the way you teach

• Integration of 21st century skills in your class

• Integration of the reading and writing processes

• Meeting of Common Core and state standards

• Assessment of students in order to meet AYP

• Flexibility to differentiate

Benefits

For Students . . .

• Improves reading comprehension, critical thinking, speaking and writing skills

• Growth as independent learners and thinkers

• Participation in a collaborative classroom

• Development of cognitive, emotional and social intelligences

• Opportunity to learn and practice 21st century skills

Materials

Roundtable leader Materials include:•Leader's Edition•Audio CDs•CD-ROM•Activity Instruction Cards•Roundtable Road Map•Posters and Bookmarks

(The materials also include a student anthology)

For More Information

For more information contact

Marg Mortimer

Marg.Mortimer@greatbooks.org

800-222-5870 x7123 or visit our web site at

www.greatbooks.org/roundtable