For instance, the following sentences could be used to spark discussions: To begin a series of lessons that will focus on improving visualizing skills, you might choose to start with a short passage taken from a text or of your own creation. It is not necessary to start with an entire book-even a well-crafted sentence or short paragraph can provide a rich springboard for a visualizing lesson. When selecting a text for a visualizing activity, start with a piece that contains descriptive language and strong verbs and that lends itself to conjuring vivid images. Visualizing is a skill that can be helpful in many domains, and while it is often associated with teaching early readers, even experienced readers can benefit from practice with this skill. This makes for a more meaningful reading experience and promotes continued reading. Readers who can imagine the characters they read about, for instance, may become more involved with what they are reading. Visualizing text as it is being read or heard also creates personal links between the readers/listeners and text. Students who visualize as they read not only have a richer reading experience but can recall what they have read for longer periods of time. As students gain more deliberate practice with this skill, the act of visualizing text becomes automatic. Visualizing strengthens reading comprehension skills as students gain a more thorough understanding of the text they are reading by consciously using the words to create mental images. It is one of many skills that makes reading comprehension possible. Strong answers rely on evidence from the text, but they are not simplistic statements of fact.Visualizing refers to our ability to create pictures in our heads based on text we read or words we hear. Answers to thick questions can be subject to argument and interpretation. Thick questions require inferential responses that require the reader to think and offer his opinion and ideas. Thin questions are answered with factual information that can be found in the text and answered with a few words or brief sentences. This activity encourages children to reflect on what they have read and helps them better comprehend it. Effective teachers show readers how to consider what they are reading and how to turn the information into questions. Thick and thin questions can help children remain engaged with text that may be unfamiliar or difficult to understand. Encouraging students to skim the text and place question marks in the margins or on sticky notes is an instructional strategy that can yield information for a Word Wall, for students to develop their own reading glossaries, and for class discussion of words that are flagged by several students in the class as unfamiliar. Reading teachers (and subject area teachers) can use questioning to help build children’s vocabulary. Asking questions after reading the text can stimulate critical analysis and further research on the topic. It creates a dialogue in the child’s mind as he reads. Questioning during reading can take the form of self-questioning, questioning the text, or questioning the author. Both of these activities engage the child’s interest and increase the likelihood that he will connect with the text and comprehend it. When readers ask questions before they read a text, they are activating prior knowledge and making predictions. How Should You Teach Questioning Techniques in the Classroom?Įffective questioning should be practiced before, during, and after reading. Questioning facilitates this personal connection. Reading with a purpose increases reading comprehension because the reader is making a personal connection with the text. The simple fact that a reader is asking questions as he reads is evidence that the child has a purpose in reading. When readers ask questions as they read, they are not only interacting with the text to make meaning of it, but they are also monitoring their own comprehension of what they are reading. Teaching questioning techniques can make strong readers even more advanced. Questioning as an Active Reading Strategy for Strong ReadersĮven children who are strong readers don’t know instinctively that good readers ask questions as they read. Teachers who model how to ask questions while reading help children to learn how to build interest with the text and become stronger readers. Struggling readers tend not to ask questions of themselves or the text as they read. Questioning techniques help the reader to clarify and comprehend what he is reading. Questioning is a strategy that readers use to engage with the text. Questioning Strategies for Reading Questioning as an Active Reading Strategy for Striving Readers There are six strategies commonly associated with active reading:
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