Generating and Sharing Questions
After reading, students are encouraged to share their initial responses in the form of questions. These questions don't need to be interpretive; they may be about vocabulary, context, confusing events and passages, or anything that strikes the student. This activity helps students learn to value their own responses to a story, and use them as the starting point for interpretive thinking.
Sharing questions as a group helps to set the selection more firmly in students' minds. It provides opportunities to clear up misreadings, get help with difficult vocabulary, identify any necessary contextual background, and articulate interpretive issues of interest.
More important, it allows students to begin expressing their ideas and exercising their curiosity. Since comprehension issues are driven by student needs and interest rather than the teacher's determination of what is needed, reading becomes an individualized journey of discovery, right from the beginning.
|
