Question-Stems
Determine the basics
What are the
characters doing? (& why?)
The
characters are NOT doing what… (& why?)
What do they
want very badly? (& why?)
Who is
telling the story? (& why did the author choose X as the narrator?)
How is the
story organized? (& why?)
What is the
source of tension? (& why?)
Can you
trust the narrator? (& why?)
Do X’s words match his/her actions?
I notice the author uses… (& why?)
MAKE CONNECTIONS
What
surprised/interested me most was X, because I always thought…
I think X
caused Y because...
X is similar
to/reminds me of...
X is
important because...
What does
character X/author mean by...
I can relate
to X because...
What
does X add to our understanding of Y?
I’m
beginning to think that the title means…
SYNTHESIZE
If I could,
I’d ask the character/author about X…
Three
important points/ideas are...
X, Y, &
Z are important because...
The author
wants us to think...
Why did the author make X happen instead of Y…?
At this
point, the story is about X, rather than...
I still
don’t understand X because...
This metaphor (or any other literary technique) adds X to the
novel’s meaning
because…
How is theme X developed? (& why?)
The whole narrative so far seems to be summed
up in this passage: …o
I love these prompts, Susan. I think the key to developing student learning is asking good questions, and it's a skill that takes time and practice to perfect. Bringing an array of possible angles with which to view the material to the conversation is important to generating as diverse and thoughtful a discussion as possible.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about adding question stems that focus on choices or decisions the characters made? One way to do this would be to provide stems such as, "When ___________ chose to _______, I thought.....", "How would you have made a different choice than....." and "Which character made the best decision......and why?"