Reading Relationships: A Two-Sided Conversation

If you were going to go for a ride in a hot air balloon, and the hot air was missing and the balloon was deflated, you probably would feel pretty unsatisfied!  The hot air is what brings the experience to life and without it, not only would you be grounded, but you'd probably feel frustrated, like you'd wasted your time.  Its when the air fills up the balloon and you lift off the ground that the experience becomes real and has meaning.  Its almost like an interaction or conversation between the balloon and the air that brings life to the experience.  The same is true with reading -- if their is no life in the reading, no interaction, it is useless.  Teaching students to question one of the best methods to bring about that interaction that brings life to what students are reading.

One of my favorite things to do as a teacher is to get my students to ask questions.  I've felt for a long time that you can really tell if a student is learning when they start asking questions, so I was really excited to read the materials this week as they related to that, as they gave specific insight into how to get students to ask those important questions.  The statistic in the Commeyras reading is one that I've seen play out many times in the classroom when working to get students to ask quality questions - the article pointed to a study where students asked questions, and out of the 508 questions they asked, 64.5% started with 'why?'  While that's a start, whats really needed is the deeper questions. 

Buehl brings up a good point when he says "questions are used to assess if students got it, but rarely are designed to help students get it" (p171).  Its when a student can ask a question, we know that they have interacted enough with the text, had a conversation with the text and grasped something to have a question about, and that is what I think shows learning more than any other thing!  Over the past two years, I've often had students use QAR's (Question Answer Relationship) - which involved students using four different levels of questioning (right there, think and search, author and me, and on my own) to engage the students interaction with the text and make it a conversation.  As I had them in small reading groups, they would use cards with info on each type, and every couple of pages, they would stop and have to come up with the type of question they had on their card for the text and then discuss it.  They would then switch cards so they would have to experience all the different types of questions.

This is a link I just found to a short explanation of those types of questions!  I haven't used this website before, but because I can't the cards, I found this link and the first page gives a good overview of the QAR's!

http://education.ky.gov/curriculum/lit/Documents/RF_LS_8_Handouts.pdf

As much as I liked this method, the materials this week really gave me a deeper understanding of how to get students to use questions in a way that really engages them more fully and so that they can be involved in an 'active process of constructing meaning (Beck)' from the text.  I think the method of Questioning the Author (QtA) is incredible!!  It reminds me of that reading that spoke about when students approached the same reading from a different role, they each got something different from it.  When we shift the purpose of the reading from simply reading to read to reading to question the author, it changes the students interaction.  It no longer becomes a one sided conversation, where the author is automatically right, but it gives students a purpose and instead of just putting the info through there minds, they are dissecting it - its like the air being blown into the hot air ballon - they can then soar!  Having students have a dialogue with the author means they must grasp the material.

To me, looking at my students questions is a much more accurate assessment of what they are understanding than simply asking them questions.  I also believe that the questions they ask can help us, as teachers, to see more clearly their identities and where they are at and what their needs are as learners. 

The many questions in the Buehl text, specific to the different disciplines are really helpful and practical.  It also seems to me that with the students asking the questions, it opened up the classroom environment for students to help each other and to really unite the classroom - if done the right way!!  I can't remember which of the articles it was, but one of the students in it had felt unsure about somethings, and by asking a question that seemed obvious, it opened  up the door for the other students to step in and help, and to then explore deeper as one question ended up inspiring another question! 

As I was reflecting on my experiences with QAR's in my classroom - I remembered that as I was first getting students to use them, they were actually very resistant because it made them really work!!  They had to converse with the text and engage in a reading relationship. I think it goes back to students needing to struggle to really learn sometimes.

My question this week is:  Our educational system is focused on Standardized Tests, where students are asked questions and simply have to answer.  If a teacher invests a lot of time in teaching students to question, will it help or harm them for the test?  Would it be beneficial to look at changing our testing system to one that incorporated having students ask questions?