We teach the Questioning strategy. “Today we’ll learn about a very important strategy that helps us understand what we read, and helps us study. Do you remember the last movie you watched? Do you remember the movie better than you remember the subject you studied? Why do we remember movies more easily? Among other things, we remember more easily because when we watch a movie, we ask ourselves questions subconsciously. We are not aware of it, but we think, “What is the movie about?”, “Is it a scary, romance, adventure, or crime movie?”, “Who stars in the movie?”, “What happens to the main character?”, and “Who are the good guys and who the bad guys are?” When we read, it’s really important to ask ourselves questions to clarify what’s happening. This way, we understand it better and we also remember it easier. In this text, who’s the main character? The child. Are there any other characters? The father. What does the child do? What does the father do? What’s the message of the text? How was the child? Savage and unfriendly. Why was he like that?”. The adult gives the answers to these questions.
- Everyone asks questions about the reading. You compare the questions with the questions you would have if the text was a movie. We focus on questions about the words in bold, “magnate”, “gifted”, and “frustration”. TO help them ask the questions, you tape cards in front of every student, asking what, why, who, etc. Come up with group questions that include these words.