Q Tasks : How to Empower Students to Ask Questions and Care about the Answers [2 ed.] 9781551389028, 9781551383019

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Q Tasks How to empower students to ask questions and care about the answers

Carol Koechlin, Sandi Zwaan

2nd edition

Pembroke Publishers Limited

© 2014 Pembroke Publishers 538 Hood Road Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 3K9 www.pembrokepublishers.com Distributed in the U.S. by Stenhouse Publishers 480 Congress Street Portland, ME 04101 www.stenhouse.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, scanning, recording, or any information, storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts from this publication may be reproduced under licence from Access Copyright, or with the express written permission of Pembroke Publishers Limited, or as permitted by law. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for permission to reproduce borrowed material. The publishers apologize for any such omissions and will be pleased to rectify them in subsequent reprints of the book. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the assistance of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Koechlin, Carol, author   Q tasks : how to empower students to ask questions and care about answers / Carol Koechlin, Sandi Zwaan. -- 2nd edition. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-55138-902-8 (pdf)   1. Critical thinking--Study and teaching (Elementary). 2. Creative thinking--Study and teaching (Elementary). 3. Questioning--Study and teaching (Elementary). I. Zwaan, Sandi, author II. Title. C2014-902874-1 LB1027.44.K64 2014   372.13 C2014-902875-X Editor: Kat Mototsune Cover Design: John Zehethofer Typesetting: Jay Tee Graphics Ltd. Printed and bound in Canada 987654321

Contents

Preface to Revised Edition 5 Introduction  7 The Question is the Answer to Understanding 7 Silent-Head Questions 9 What Is Inquiry Learning? 9 Assessing Questioning Skills 11 Collaborative Technologies 12 Using this Book 14 1: Encouraging Curiosity  16 What are the benefits of curiosity? 18 How does curiosity empower students as questioners? 19 How can we use 20 Questions?  22 Q Task Quickies: Variations on 20 Questions 24 How can riddles engage reluctant readers? 25 How can I help students create riddles? 26 Q Task Quickies: More Riddles 28 Q Task Quickies: Question Quiver 29 How can I arouse students’ curiosity about a new curriculum topic? 32 Q Task Quickies: Building Wonder 33 2: Understanding Questions  37 How can I use Question Hunt? 38 How can I help students observe different question types? 40 How do I teach open and closed questions? 42 How do we help students understand that questions have different functions? 44 How can I help students create questions for specific purposes? 45 How can coding questions help students look for the answers? 47 Q Task Quickies: de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats 49 What can we learn from famous quotations about questions? 51

3: Learning to Question  53 How can the 5 Ws and How help students in Question Trekking? 55 How can I help students organize data? 57 How can questioning help students explore a topic? 59 Q Task Quickies: KWL Quickies 61 How can creating a question web help students develop a focus?  65 How can I introduce the Question Builder to students? 67 How can the Question Builder be used to help guide research? 69 Q Task Quickies: Using the Question Builder  70 How will a rubric help students create better research questions? 72 How can students narrow and focus their questions? 75 Q Task Quickies: Power-Up Q Cards  77 How do I help students create a statement of purpose? 78 Q Task Quickies: Question Blooming 80 How do students get to the right question? 81 How can I help students move from question to thesis statement? 88 4: Questioning to Learn  90 How can teacher-guided questioning improve experimentation in art? 92 How can questions enable students to read visual images? 93 How can questioning enable critical analysis of visual text? 95 How can I help students identify perspectives and understand opinions? 96 How can questioning help form personal opinions? 98 How do questions facilitate working with web text? (for younger students) 100

How do questions facilitate working with web text? (for older students) 104 Q Task Quickies: Questioning on the Web 107 How can questioning help students take a stand on bullying? 108 How can questioning help students become good digital citizens? 109 What is the role of questioning in clarifying understanding? 111 What is the role of questioning in testing ideas and theories? 113 How does a journalist develop interview questions? 115 How do students create effective interview questions? 117 How can students prepare to effectively question an expert? 118 How can primary students create survey questions? 120 How can questions enable comparison? 121 How do students know which attributes to compare? 123 What role do questions play in building understanding? 126 How can students use FAQAs to demonstrate or share their learning? 128

How can peer questioning enhance student creative writing? 129 How can we use Book Talking Strategy? 130 5. Questioning to Progress  132 How can self-questioning help students manage time and resources? 133 Q Task Quickies: Developing a Growth Mindset 136 How can students create a quiz for a test review? 138 How can I teach the SQ4R study strategy? 139 How do students know which resource is the best for their needs? 141 Q Task Quickies: Questioning to Progress 143 Q Task Quickies: Big Think 147 6: Moving Forward  150 Resources  154 Index  156

Preface to Revised Edition

We originally developed Q Tasks to help teachers empower students with questioning skills. The strategies we developed for the book were designed to build understanding of question types and purposes, and thus to enable learners to become critical and creative thinkers and questioners, working with any kind of information or ideas to build personal meaning. Questioning skills and smarts are even more important today for students. Although the strategies in the original edition are as valuable today as they were at first publication, shifts we have observed in pedagogical approaches to learning prompted us to refresh this important book. What we would like our readers to consider now are changes in education driven by the unique opportunities for learning offered by advancements in information and communication technologies. Although the realities of the Internet, social networking, and mobile devices have presented new challenges to educators, the positive impact these technologies can have on learning potential far outweighs the transitional growth pains. The perceived distractions to learning and the adjustments to working and learning in digital spaces can put educators and students at odds. We hope that educators will find that the suggestions we make for almost every task in this edition will give them and their students many new ideas for harnessing the potential of easy and reliable technology tools to boost their experiences with developing questioning smarts. There is so much information now available to students on any one topic, how can we help them make sense of it all? But information overload is no longer the main challenge, as David Weinberger points out in his book Too Big to Know. The depth, breadth, and boundary-less fluidity of information on the Net today means that we will never be able to process everything there is to know about a topic. This changes traditional ideas about knowledge, but networked environments also open up great potential for participatory learning, for knowledge-building and creation that was never before possible. As knowledge becomes networked, the smartest person in the room isn’t the person in front lecturing us, and isn’t the collective wisdom of those in the room. The smartest person in the room is the room itself: the network that joins the people and the ideas in the room, and connects to those outside of it. (Weinberger, Too Big to Know)

This perspective opens new doors and possibilities for students not only to drive their own learning, but also to create and contribute their ideas to the room. Collaboration is a sought-after skill in future-oriented learning. Every study of 21st-century skills places collaboration high on the list of desired competencies; e.g., Shifting Minds, prepared by Canadians for 21st Century Preface to Revised Edition 5

Learning and Innovation, charts desired competencies and provides Canadiancontext rationale for shifts in learning. Educators are making the shift to inquiry learning experiences that apply critical thinking, creativity and innovation, collaboration and communication, transliteracies, responsible digital behaviors, cultural and global citizenship, and character traits that will empower a growth mindset. These abilities are important to rounding out the desired skill sets for the future, and we advocate for continued efforts to engage learners through these approaches. For this revision of Q Tasks, we concentrate on additional strategies that enable learners to not only build their personal questioning skill set and attitudes, but also build their ability to work with others, especially in digital environments. Naturally, this revision cannot stand as a full discussion of the many facets of learning with technology; however, it can provide teachers with some ideas of how to best apply technology tools in combination with the questioning approaches. It can support teachers in designing a learning experience for students that adds potential benefits that would not be possible without the technology. Now with focused innovation we must invest in new practices that integrate pedagogy and technology, with the former as the driver. (Fullan, Great to Excellent)

Collaborative learning has always been a driving force in our work with teachers and students, so it is our pleasure to enhance each Q Task with additional ideas that combine opportunities to boost learning potential with best technologies and collaborative approaches. The results elevate questioning to a new dimension for learners—a place where they are in the driver’s seat, directing their learning journeys, while also taking the journey of participating and contributing to collaborative knowledge creation.

6  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

Introduction

What an important task we have…to create learning that compels our students past twilight, imbued with a feeling of investigating something enormous! (Abilock, Knowledge Quest)

You understand it only if you can teach it, use it, prove it, explain it, or read between the lines. (Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design)

This imaginative definition of the important work of educators eloquently expresses what we hope readers will feel as they explore this book. Teaching and learning are exciting, but ever-so complex. For this reason alone we will attempt to keep it simple. We all want our students to be successful. We can measure success with a sigh of satisfaction when we realize, They got it, they understand. Having said that, we all know that there is nothing simple about the ability of the human mind to acquire and demonstrate understanding of skills, knowledge, and ideas. Fortunately there are many scholarly studies and resources available to assist us in working out our own personal understanding of what student understanding looks, sounds, and feels like. Individual teachers will build and rebuild their own schema over and over as their experiences build and new challenges unfold. The more we understand the brain the better we’ll be able to design instruction to match how it learns best…certain activities and strategies are more effective than others in increasing student understanding. (Wolfe, Brain Matters)

One point all the academic experts would agree on is that understanding is a process, not a destination point. With this in mind, we suggest that the most critical key to understanding is the question. Without an inquiry catalyst, student learning would be forever stuck in memorization-and-recall gear. It is the question that stirs the intellect, wakes up the neurons, and provides the stimulus for students to do something with the raw numbers, facts, and data they have gathered or been presented with. The question can be prompted by both the curiosity of the student and the instructional intent of the educator. Both these sources of questions are necessary if students are to learn and ultimately reach real understanding of topics and issues.

The Question Is the Answer to Understanding Questioning is often thought to be an innate skill, right up there with eating and walking. If you think about it, though, eating and walking are nurtured skills. So it is with questioning. Introduction 7

In spite of the fact that our wee Kindergarten students arrive at school bursting with “why?” and “how come?” questions, by the time they are in middle school many have lost this delightful and valuable curiosity. They are so used to answering teacher questions, worrying about marks, and giving the “right” or expected answer that they are stuck in answer gear. How can understanding ever be achieved in this atmosphere? It is not surprising that some students in the middle years become very jaded about school and feel it has no relevance for them. They are tired of answering “fake” questions, those generated by the need to cover curriculum content. We are not saying that teachers should not develop questions for students to answer. These questions are a necessary component of teaching students how and when to question. What we are saying is this: Just try letting go; put the spoon in a student’s hand and see what happens. It is not so difficult to turn the tables and teach students how to develop real questions, those that uncover personal understanding for them. Allowing students the exhilaration of learning in an environment where their questions are valued and celebrated will reap rich rewards. When students have some ownership of their learning experience, you will find that enthusiasm, effort, and efficacy will be generated. Motivation is part of our rationale for teaching students to question. Our main objective is the chemistry that takes place between questions and understanding. The number-one reason that many research projects in classrooms are ho-hum bristol-board displays or plagiarized reports is that they are driven by the “all about” syndrome, the misperception that collecting facts is adequate. But this is very easy to fix! If you really want your students to demonstrate their personal growth and understanding through assigned research projects, then they must process the data they have gathered through the lens of a good inquiry question or challenge. “The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.” Albert Einstein “At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the story comes from asking questions of myself. I guess you might call it the ‘what if–what then’ approach to writing and illustration.” Chris Van Allsburg

8  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

Students cannot be expected to think critically and creatively about the ideas and knowledge of others unless they possess that magical chemical ingredient—the question—to kickstart the process. The question can take the form of an inquiry question or statement. It can be a challenge, problem to solve, or decision to make; but it must be there, or the assignment becomes an exercise in pretend research. We all know the result—cut, paste, and plagiarize! The information available to students makes it impossible to approach learning without questioning skills. The vast volumes of data available today on any given topic can be managed and analyzed only by people who are information literate. Educating students for the 21st century requires that educators teach students how to be critical and creative users of information. Neither attribute—being critical or creative—can be accomplished unless students are also effective questioners.

Silent-Head Questions

“The only questions that really matter are the ones you ask yourself.” Ursula K. LeGuin

Questioning also plays a huge role in learning to learn. This kind of questioning is not as easy to define as the research question. These are questions that often are not voiced, but are mumbled inside our heads as we proceed with a task. Making students aware of these inner mumblings will help them develop metacognitive abilities. To nurture learning, it is necessary for students to question so that they have better strategies for interacting with text; it is the question that allows students to make the important self-to-text relationship. Without the silent-head question, analysis of data and ideas would not take place. We can model these questions for students in think-alouds, showing them how we question in our heads as we read a newspaper article, analyze a bill from the hydro company, or examine an art object. Help students become conscious of these silent-head questions, and control the quality of their quests by having them write down questions until the process becomes intuitive. We offer several tasks in this book to help with this strategy. Without strong questioning skills, you are just a passenger on someone else’s tour bus. You may be on the highway, but someone else is doing the driving. (McKenzie, Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn)

Questioning skills will also equip students with the tools to self-analyze. It is with self-questioning that we assess our results and our effort, as well as setting goals for improvement. Again, you need to model how this works and give students ample opportunities to “drive their own bus.” It is our belief that questioning is at the very core of understanding. Every nugget of learning germinates from an investigation of some kind. Questioning needs to be nurtured and developed at all ages and for all disciplines. Questioning is an essential skill. Questioning is the answer to understanding.

What is Inquiry Learning? “Inquiry is a dynamic process of being open to wonder and puzzlement and coming to know and understand the world. As such, it is a stance that pervades all aspects of life and is essential to the way in which knowledge is created. Inquiry is based on the belief that understanding is constructed in the process of people working and conversing together as they pose and solve the problems, make discoveries and rigorously testing [sic] the discoveries that arise in the course of shared activity.” (Galileo Educational Network)

Introduction 9

Inquiry Is a Learning Process The best inquiry learning experiences represent a process intended to engage learners in discovery, not as an assigned task or an event. To support school curricula, look to the school library community for excellent learning standards, inquiry process models, and information-literacy instruction strategies: • AASL Learning Standards and Program Guidelines (http://www.ala.org/ aasl/standards-guidelines) • CLA Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada (http://clatoolbox.ca/casl/slic/llsop.html) • Discovery and Guided Inquiry, Ontario (www.togetherforlearning.ca) • Points of Inquiry, British Columbia (https://www.bctf.ca/bctla/pub/index. html) • The Inquiry Process, Quebec (http://theinquiryprocess.ca/) In all models, continuous questioning is a key student strategy. Inquiry Is a Social Process Inquiry is at its best when teachers design the learning experience to include plenty of opportunity to work with others. Inquiry learning does not have to be a group project, but there must be interaction with others to harvest the best learning. Peer conferencing at stages in the process is one way to ensure that everyone is contributing to skill and knowledge-building. Providing collaborative virtual spaces to work in is another way to design for learning with others. It is also easy to provide immediate feedback to students and archive their progress when their work is digital. The role of the student [in inquiry] is like that of an athlete: inquiry is a team sport in which we work together and excel when all participants contribute and are helped to do their best. (Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design)

In Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, the authors establish that inquiry learning needs to be a participatory experience, to take place in a community of learners. Questioning will undoubtedly be more successful when all students know they are valued members of a learning community. Establishing a Community of Learners • • • • • •

Model personal connections Create a safe atmosphere Encourage students to speak freely Accept varied points of view Listen to ideas Consider students’ ideas carefully

(Kuhlthau, Maniotes, and Caspari, Guided Inquiry, page 36)

Questioning should become a natural way of thinking and communicating for students in their learning community. However, ensuring that questioning is natural and spontaneous takes some deliberate design approaches, such as • Considering your own questioning techniques • Modeling effective questioning in think-alouds 10  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

• Displaying good questions and quotes about questioning • Designing activities that prompt critical and creative thinking and spark a desire to know • Overtly teaching questioning skills in the context of curriculum content • Providing time for students to play and experiment with questions • Designing collaborative question-building activities • Utilizing best technologies for collaborative knowledge-building • Teaching strategic questioning with games and drama • Building a shared language for questioning • Building background knowledge before inviting students to question • Designing assignments that give students opportunity to practice being skilled questioners • Building a learning-to-learn mindset • Celebrating questions • Conferencing with students about their questions • Valuing and assessing questioning

Assessing Questioning Skills How do you design for questioning success? Establish the essential questions (McTighe and Wiggins 2013) for the lesson or unit, target the curriculum learning expectations and questioning approaches you wish to apply, and design how they will be assessed. Now share this information with students and develop their learning goals together. Chart the goals on anchor charts as a visible reminder of expectations and return periodically to monitor class progress. Essential questions do more than focus the learning for students and teachers. They specifically model the kinds of thinking that students need to emulate and internalize if they are to learn to high levels independently. Put simply, the essential questions model for students the kind of questioning they need to be able to do on their own. (McTighe and Wiggins, Understanding by Design)

What counts as evidence of student growth? Many student products and demonstrations substantiate achievement: for example, the question-building worksheets in this book, learning logs and journals, exit cards, inquiry portfolios, peer conferencing records, videotaped discussions. You can develop tools to measure growth based on assessment criteria: rubrics, checklists, and rating scales (see Evidence of Questioning Success rubric on page 12). Observation of students’ growth over time, supported by timely teacher feedback that provides students with improvement strategies, might be the best form of assessment to ensure questioning success. We suggest keeping track of student application of questioning knowledge, behaviors that indicate positive attitudes about questioning, and indications that questioning is becoming a natural attribute of the student’s learning-to-learn toolkit.

Introduction 11

Evidence of Questioning Success Knowledge

Behaviors

Transference

• Student can articulate language of questioning and inquiry. • Student meets expectations on assignments and demonstrations that require questioning. • Student develops good inquiry questions. • Student can explain and defend his/her inquiry questions. • Student can develop different kinds of questions for different purposes.

• Student voluntarily contributes questions to class and group discussions. • Student is a confident questioner. • Student participates in collaborative questioning activities. • Student assists others with questioning techniques. • Student respects the questions of others.

• Student applies knowledge of questioning techniques to curricular tasks and problems. • Student applies knowledge of questioning techniques to personal tasks and problems. • Student self-reflects with questions in learning logs and journals. • Student asks thoughtful questions in literature and inquiry circles. • Student develops questions to review for quizzes and tests.

Collaborative Technologies

The collaborative tools suggested at the time of this publication are almost all free to educators. One of the best sources of free technology suggestions is Richard Byrne’s blog Free Technology for Teachers (http:// www.freetech4teachers.com/).

In this revision we have added Q+ suggestions to extend or enhance the questioning task using collaborative technology approaches or tools. To “plus” something is to improve it. This concept was used successfully by Disney and Pixar as a strategy to encourage employees to make good ideas even better, but it is not only design teams that benefit from plussing one another’s work. We suggest that student questioning, like most skills and learning approaches, is greatly improved when students are given opportunities to build on the ideas of others. Individual schools and districts may vary according to technology tools available to them. It doesn’t matter so much what the specific tool is. What matters? • The technology is deliberately selected to accomplish learning goals. • The technology is leveraged to transform the learning experience into something not possible without it. • The technology is easy to access and proven to be reliable. Ask for help if you have trouble finding a technology tool just right for your need. Your school teacher-librarian or technology coach will have ideas. Invite your students to share tools they find successful. Make a call-out to your professional learning networks. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Share your successes.

12  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

 13

Using this Book Our hope is that the ideas presented in this book will be a starting point for teachers.

We trust that the title of this book, Q Tasks: How to empower students to ask questions and care about answers, will help readers understand that this book is not about teacher-directed questions in the classroom. It is, in fact, about turning the tables and empowering students to develop questions themselves. Modeling good questions is an important part of the learning process, and we have woven this important step into the tasks we have developed. There are many professional texts devoted to the teacher as questioner; we saw a need for more practical support for the Student as Questioner. Our goal is to help students build a repertoire of effective strategies and learn to create questions for all kinds of tasks: • • • • • • • • • •

connecting with literature and the arts exploring scientific and mathematical concepts delving deeper into world issues self-analysis and goal-setting problem-solving real-world as well as personal queries guiding research quests evaluating the reliability of information testing new ideas inventing and more…

The mercuric nature of questioning made our job as authors very tricky. Questioning is not like other skills in the curriculum, for which set rules and processes apply. Effective questioning relies on the inner thoughts, experiences, specific needs, and emotions of the questioner. Questioning is just as much spontaneous and reactionary as it is thoughtful and planned. Having said that, we firmly believe that effective questioning can be taught and practiced. If we are to fully prepare students to participate and thrive at learning, working, and playing in the 21st century, we must equip them with questioning know-how. In organizing the Q Tasks, we have attempted to analyze the nebulous structure of the question. We have arranged our strategies to create a continuum of approaches. We hope our readers will be able to work with this structure and adapt it to fit their own needs, as they go about building a culture of inquiry in their classrooms, libraries, schools, and communities. The Q Tasks are organized in six chapters. Chapter 1 Encouraging Curiosity This section builds on innate human nature and provides points for nurturing curiosity and cultivating wonder and imagination. Chapter 2 Understanding Questions The question comes under the microscope and is analyzed for structure and purpose. Chapter 3 Learning to Question Collections of tried and true processes for building good questions are shared.

14  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4 Questioning to Learn Many applications for questioning in multiple disciplines, age groups, and abilities are presented. Chapter 5 Questioning to Progress These tasks provide transference for students, allowing them to be able to selfquestion and apply their questioning skills for continuous growth. Chapter 6 Moving Forward This chapter will bring our readers full circle, back to the introduction and the importance of questions in building understanding. This is not a final chapter but the beginning of a quest for teachers. Within each chapter, the Q Tasks have been developed to teach the specific skills and attributes that effective questioners need. The order of the tasks is not intended to be rigid, but simply demonstrates a possible skill-building approach. Classroom teachers and teacher-librarians will need to design a continuum that works for their own student needs. Each Q Task addresses a teacher need in the form of a question. The Q Task description appears on the notepad at the left in student-outcome language. Curriculum context for the task is explained in Clarifying the Task. Teaching and learning strategies for the lesson are outlined in Building Understanding. What students will be asked to do to show that they can use the skill, as well as other assessment tips, are in the section called Demonstrating Understanding. Extensions using collaborative technology are headed Q+. Finally, Q Tips in the left margin offer further resources or extensions. Within each chapter there are also one or more pages of Q Task Quickies. These are usually extensions to a skill already introduced. We hope we have been successful in lassoing and tying down our questioning ideas and melding them with the excellent work of others before us.

Introduction 15

1. Encouraging Curiosity How can we harness the power of curiosity as a catalyst for learning?

Curiosity and questioning go hand-in-hand in the development of higher-level thinking skills and teaching for understanding. Curiosity fuels imagination and leads to wonderment; thus it is a prerequisite to good questioning. Engagement is sparked by curiosity, then deep thinking is guided by the question. So curiosity is a critical factor in the learning process, as both a motivator and a facilitator. To engage this natural energy we must surround students with a rich learning environment—access to a school library that is well-stocked with resources and rich with programs. Borrow bushels of books from the school library to build your rotating classroom libraries. Make sure that classroom collections are always fresh and stimulating. Use these excellent resources as springboards to wonder and imagination about other people, places, events, places, times, and feelings. Link students to even more experiences vicariously through selected web sites, good educational videos, virtual museums, and archives. In today’s information glut, it is of paramount importance to ensure that students have access to the best sources of information. Work toward providing 24/7 virtual access to rich resources and support through thoughtfully crafted school library web pages. Provide real-time access to information experts through guest speakers, performances, field trips, and interactive video conferencing experiences. To stimulate curiosity, provide lots of hands-on and minds-on (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998) learning experiences, in all subject areas and for all ages. Although questioning is a valued component in most well-designed process approaches to learning, it is not often that student questioning is guiding the process. Young children seem to have endless questions about their environment; in later school years there is little evidence of this innate ability to question. If we can rekindle this natural interest and wonderment, then students are likely to take a more active role in their learning and to sense a greater relevance. How can we do this? First we want to develop an awareness of their curiosity quotient and how it factors into their learning success. Then we must encourage enthusiasm for the art of questioning. We need to create an environment where asking questions is recognized as part of the learning process, where it is applauded, where it is encouraged and spontaneous. To help do this, we have revisited some of the games that children have played with great enthusiasm over the decades. We will also utilize the power of excellent picture books as a catalyst for building wonder and curiosity. The tasks that follow are designed to help spark and develop more curious students. 16  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

• • • • • • • • • •

What are the benefits of curiosity? How does curiosity empower students as questioners? How can we use 20 Questions? Q Task Quickies: Variations on 20 Questions How can riddles engage reluctant readers? How can I help students create riddles? Q Task Quickies: More Riddles Q Task Quickies: Question Quiver How can I arouse students’ curiosity about a new curriculum topic? Q Task Quickies: Building Wonder

“The whole task of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.” Anatole France

Encouraging Curiosity 17

What are the benefits of curiosity? Q Task

Students will reflect on their own curiosity and how it empowers their learning potential.

Clarifying the Task Curiosity is an important factor in the learning process, both as a motivator and as a facilitator. In this task, students will consider some well-known quotations to help them develop a personal understanding of curiosity, allowing you to tap into their natural curiosity to get them hooked on the subject and engaged in the activity. Building Understanding • Select a quote to model this task; for example, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths” (Walt Disney). See Curiosity Quotes box below for more. Ask students what they think the quotation means. Discuss how the quotation might inspire them to be more curious. Chart responses. • Divide the class into groups and provide each group with one curiosity quote in the centre of a large piece of chart paper. Allow time for the group to discuss the quote and “graffiti” their reactions on the chart paper around the quote. Have groups rotate to visit each quote and add additional responses to the graffiti. Post the charts around the room. Curiosity Quotes • “Curiosity killed the cat.” (Unknown) • “Curiosity did not kill the cat. This is a silly myth. A dangerous message.” (Jamie McKenzie) • “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” (Dorothy Parker) • “Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.” (Samuel Johnson) • “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” (Albert Einstein) Demonstrating Understanding q Use question prompts to help students make links between curiosity and ­learning:

Q Tip

I still remember an English classroom at college with a sign over the door stating, “A love of literature is caught, not taught.” While I don’t recall the professor’s name, I do remember his passion for literature and I did catch the bug. I was immediately intrigued, curious about how to facilitate the “catching.” Was I more receptive to the enthusiasm he exuded because my curiosity was tweaked by the sign?

18  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

• Which subjects are you most interested in? What is it about them that interests you? • Are there topics within these subjects that hold more interest than others? Which? Why? • If you could study/investigate anything, what would it be? • How does your curiosity about a topic affect how you approach it? How hard you work at it? How much you remember? q Debrief. Allow students time to write a reflection for their learning logs by selecting a quote and relating how it is reflective of their beliefs about curiosity.

How does curiosity empower students as questioners? Q Task

Students will begin to understand the connections between curiosity and questioning.

Clarifying the Task Welcoming and encouraging natural curiosity is a first step in building a culture of inquiry. In this task, students will explore curious characters in a story, and then examine their own curiosity quotient. Building Understanding • Introduce this activity by reading and discussing a story that has an overtly curious character; e.g., The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems. • Ask students to define curiosity, then ask them to show evidence that the duck in this story is in fact the curious bird he claims to be. • Have students brainstorm for other characters in books, film, or TV that have a high degree of curiosity. • Provide students with the How Curious Are You? organizer (page 20). Read the questions together and ask students to answer this self-survey as honestly as they can. Explain that you are not looking for right or wrong answers. The purpose of the survey is to help everyone gain confidence and understand the connections between curiosity and becoming a good questioner. • Discuss with students any thoughts and concerns they are comfortable sharing after completing the survey. Demonstrating Understanding q Provide students with the My Point of View organizer (page 21). q Instruct students to think about the story you explored, and to reflect on their survey and discussions about curiosity. q Ask students to think about the positives and negatives of curiosity, and to complete the organizer using the prompts to help them form a point of view. Q+ Create a survey (e.g., using Google Forms) for students to complete anonymously. Have students form groups to review the survey submissions (e.g., using Google Spreadsheets) and analyze the collective results for patterns and trends in the data. Groups share their discoveries and decide on the key findings as a class. Discuss possible next steps arising from findings.

Q Tips

• Curiosity is a valued trait for inventors, artists, and entrepreneurs. This task could be an excellent prelude to study of famous people, inventions, or artistic experimentation. • Build on natural curiosity to study the environment. Begin by visiting a site such as Natural Curiosity: A Resource for Teachers (http://www. naturalcuriosity.ca/).

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

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© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How can we use 20 Questions? Q Task

Students will apply strategic questioning skills in the game format of 20 Questions.

Clarifying the Task This is an excellent strategy for developing the strategic application of questioning skills. It is an engaging activity to review course content. In this task example, the class has just finished a unit on the classification of animals. Building Understanding • Group students in teams of five. Assign one student in each group to select the animal that the other four students will work together to identify with their questions. • The questioners can ask only questions to which the answer is “Yes” or “No”; the total number of questions they can ask is 20. • The student who selected the topic will keep track of the questions or assign one student to be the record-keeper and timer (setting a time limit will move the questioning along). • At any time a team questioner can guess by asking, “Is it…?” If the guess is incorrect, the game continues. You can set a limit to the number of direct guesses that can be asked in any round. • The object is to question strategically so as not to waste questions, and for students to build on one another’s questions. • As each animal is identified, a new student decides on the next topic to be guessed; the process continues until all students have had a turn or until time for the activity expires. • As with all new strategies, model this with the entire class first and keep practicing until students have the skills to work in small groups. Demonstrating Understanding Debrief the activity with the students; list the strategies they thought worked well and some of the problems they had. Ask them to reflect on the game process and to complete the My Thoughts About 20 Questions learning log (page 23), so they can learn to articulate how their teams used strategic thinking and good questioning skills to guess their animal.

Q Tip

Use 20 Questions at all age levels for review of historical figures and events, geographic locations, children’s authors, popular cultural figures, and science topics. It is a wonderful activity for rainy-day recess or long bus trips.

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Q+ • Arrange for a Mystery Guest or Mystery Guests to contact your class or each group via a social media video conferencing or chat tool. Students have 20 questions to use, either to pinpoint where the guest is calling from or to guess who the Mystery Guest is. • The My Thoughts About 20 Questions worksheet on page 23 could easily be a form that would allow students to turn responses into a spreadsheet for analysis; e.g., using Google Forms and Google Spreadsheets. Students can use the spreadsheet to observe trends and develop collective understandings of how to question strategically. You can use results as a diagnostic tool to determine where there are gaps in knowledge and what next steps are needed.

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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Q Task Quickies

Variations on 20 Questions The Question Box • Decorate a medium-sized box with a lid. Inside the box, place an item you want your students to discover. The item could have a specific purpose for your program or be an interest item, such as a signed baseball. It could relate to a theme or content unit you want to introduce; e.g., a popular book to introduce teen reading week, a lunchbox to introduce a unit on nutrition. Younger students could bring in their treasures as a diversion from traditional Show and Tell. • The exercise should take no more than three to five minutes. Making it a timed activity will encourage more participation. The class can ask Yes or No questions, but they have only 20 altogether. • The purpose is to practice questioning skills and strategically build on the questions of others so the class can deduce the answer to “What is in the Question Box today?”

I’m thinking of… What is it? This old game, usually played on long car trips, is another great strategy for practicing purposeful questioning techniques. One student thinks of something for the others to guess and provides clues. • I am thinking of something that is green. What is it? • I am thinking of something that begins with the letter K. What is it? • I am thinking of an animal that lives on the farm. What is it?

The class then has 20 questions to guess the answer.

Picture Quest For those who like to draw • Each student makes a sketch of something they are interested in; e.g., sports equipment or icon, road sign, logo, etc. The sketch could also be more specific, like something that gives a clue to a book or song title. • Instruct students to fold their sketches and place each in an envelope. • Group students in triads. • One student per triad opens his/her envelope and shares his/her sketch. The other two students take turns asking questions, using the 20-questions technique, to determine what each sketch represents. • The next student in the triad shares a sketch, and 20 Questions is resumed until all three sketches have been identified.

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How can riddles engage reluctant readers? Q Task

Students will examine riddles and look for similarities and patterns.

Clarifying the Task Riddles are quite a sophisticated form of questioning, requiring complex thought and problem-solving skills to both create and answer. Riddles are also engaging for reluctant readers. Often riddles can be linked to popular media characters, giving students an opportunity to make connections with personal knowledge and experiences. Riddles can also be an engaging way to share or review newly acquired facts in content subjects. Building Understanding Introduce the Q Task with a group circle sharing. Read a few riddles from your favorite book, such as the award-winning Ha Ha Ha by Lyn Thomas. Invite students to share their favorite riddles, in turn, around the circle. (To ensure that all students are prepared to participate, assign the creation of a riddle for homework on the previous day and have them bring riddles in for sharing.) When sharing is complete, ask students if any of the riddles they heard sounded similar. Did they hear any repeated patterns? Create a Riddle Patterns chart of their ideas and discuss their discoveries. Demonstrating Understanding q Form small teams of three or four students. Provide each group with a recording sheet, some sticky notes, and a good selection of riddle books. Each group will need four to five books. (Supplement the school classroom and library collection of riddle books with copies borrowed from your local public library, as well as favorites brought to class by the students.) q Invite students to read, share, and examine the riddle books, looking for similarities and patterns in the riddles. q Have students attach sticky notes to pages to record where they found riddles with similar patterns. q Have the group keep a record of the similarities and patterns they find and be prepared to share their discoveries: • • • • • •

Q Tip

Web sites are also a rich source of riddles • Funology: http://www.funology.com/ riddles/ • Enchanted Learning: http://www.enchantedlearning. com/jokes/ • Kids World Fun: http://www.kidsworldfun.com/ riddles.php

“Knock, knock” “Who/what am I?” “How many _______ does it take to change a light bulb?” “How do you know…?” “What do you get when…?” “What did one ______ say to…?”

Q+ • Have students work together to turn riddles into comic strips using a comic-creator tool that allows them to save and share. • Build a riddle page on your web site or blog to feature student work.

Encouraging Curiosity 25

How can I help students create riddles? Q Task

Students will apply riddle questioning patterns and word associations to create their own riddles.

Clarifying the Task Students are now familiar with riddle patterns and questions. They will learn how to apply this knowledge to create their own original riddles that are based on familiar texts and concepts, such as fairy tales, classic stories, and nursery rhymes. Building Understanding • Review similarities and patterns found in riddles in the Q Task on page 25. • Read a familiar story, such as The Shoemaker and the Elves. Ask students to list characters and objects from the story. Using the Just Like organizer (page 27), have students select objects or characters and brainstorm connections. Students could also create a web about the story to expand their thinking about possible connections. • Revisit the Riddle Patterns chart (see page 25) and give students some time to think of a riddle based on the story. Share and chart the riddles. • Reread the story in another version; if possible, show a video adaptation. Again, give students some think time to compose their new riddles. Share and chart. This is a good time to establish some class guidelines regarding acceptable riddle content. Discuss the difference between clever riddles and those that are mean or rude. Demonstrating Understanding Have students search for a fairy tale or classic story they would like to compose riddles about. Remind students to prepare by making a web or using the Just Like organizer (page 27). A dictionary and thesaurus could also be useful for expanding ideas. Encourage them to refer to the Riddle Patterns class chart for ideas to get started. Have students test their riddles with other students and revise as necessary. Q+ Turn the riddles into a collaborative virtual activity using a sound recording tool. Mount recordings/podcasts on a web page, or choose a multipurpose tool that has an audio component (e.g., VoiceThread) so students can respond to riddles and add their own. Riddles can be shared with other students and classes anywhere, to open up new learning opportunities and to generate lots of new questions as students explore each other’s environments.

Q Tip

• Riddles can be assembled into a class book, displayed around the school, or published in newsletters and on the school web site. • A collection of homonyms can be very useful for creating riddles.

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Q Task Quickies

More Riddles For these versions of riddle tasks, instruct students to recall important information from your focus topic and jot down key facts. Now have them turn the facts around to formulate trivia-type questions that have short-phrase or one-word answers. Who, what, when, where, and sometimes how are usually the best question starters for this task.   Students share their riddle-type questions in a creative format. Have students trade and solve each other’s questions. This is an engaging way to build language skills and to consolidate and review course content for all ages and curricula.

Crosswords There are digital crossword makers available online—e.g., Puzzlemaker, offered by Discovery Education Canada (http://www.discoveryeducation.ca/free-puzzlemaker/)—that make the creation of a crossword easy, once you have the trivia questions and answers.

Lift-the-Flap Page or Booklet Instruct students to record trivia questions on medium-sized sticky notes or colored paper shapes. They will fasten one edge of their question flap to the paper and write or sketch the answer to each question under the appropriate flap. There are endless possibilities for format.

Interactive Riddles Teach students how to use the features of slideshow and video collaborative creation technologies (e.g., Google Presentations) to produce interactive riddle shows. Hyperlinks, animation, and other special effects have great potential to spark the imagination of your students. Creating the shows together is even more fun, because students can chat back and forth as they work on slides, even if they are working from different locations. Mount the riddle shows on the school library web site to spread the fun!

Riddle Tweets What fun is there in creating a riddle if you can’t see or hear what the guesses are? Students can Tweet out their riddles and enjoy the responses and Retweets they get.

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Q Task Quickies

Question Quiver This is an old, time-tested game that students still enjoy. Create Question Quivers, commonly known as Cootie Catchers or Fortunetellers, using instructions on page 31. Label with numbers and colors as usual, but use the inner flaps, where the answers traditionally go, for questions. See how many other applications you and your students can find for this strategy.

Book Review Motivate students to discuss a book they have recently read by using their Question Quivers as a game. Use questions like these: • • • • • • • •

Why would someone else like to read this book? Who else might like to read this book? Which character would you like as a friend/relative? Why? What made the plot believable? How did the setting affect the story? What feelings did you experience as you read the story? What did you like best about the book? What suggestion do you have for the author?

Group-Work Evaluation To motivate student reflection after a group-work activity, use Question Quivers with questions about the group work. • • • • • • • •

How did group members support each other? What helped your group stay on task? What could your group do to improve? What did your group do best? Which group role do you prefer? How did your working as a group make this a more valuable experience? What did you discover about the talents/skills of group members? How did your group make sure everyone could contribute?

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Q Task Quickies

Question Quiver (continued) Pre-reading Activity You are about to begin a novel study with your class. To stimulate interest and thought about the book, have students quiz each other with Question Quivers. • • • • • • • •

Based on the title, what do you think this book is about? Judging from the cover illustration, what are you expecting? How did the blurb on the back of the book affect your opinion? Where do you think the book will take place? Why do you think the teacher chose this book for the class to read? What do you know about the author? How does what you know about the author affect your expectation for the book? Having seen the cover, and read the title and back-cover, what are you curious about?

Discussing Issues To prompt deep thought about issues and problems, have students use Question Quivers in small groups. This would be a great activity at the end of a unit to build collective knowledge. • • • • • • • •

How is ___________ related to ____________? What is the impact of…? What might happen if…? Why is _____________ important to…? What is/are the alternative/s to…? How might ___________ change in the future? What is your opinion of…? Which perspectives are/are not represented?

Test Preparation Once students have had several experiences using teacher-prepared questions for their Question Quivers, have them apply what they have learned to create their own questions. As students are preparing for a unit review test, have them individually create eight quiz questions about the unit for their Question Quivers. Allow time to quiz several other classmates to prepare for the test.

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How can I arouse students’ curiosity about a new curriculum topic? Q Task

Students will begin to question using I Wonder prompts.

Clarifying the Task The class is finding out about the importance of community workers; e.g., nurse, doctor, teacher, police officer, fire fighter, postal worker. They will become familiar with the language of inquiry and record their own personal wonderings and discoveries. Building Understanding Prepare for a guest community worker to visit the classroom. Before the guest arrives, ask students what they wonder about the work this person does. Create a class chart of wonderings. Wonderings can be elicited with prompts such as • We wonder if… • We wonder when… • We wonder how…, etc. Refer to this chart to focus learning during the visit. When the guest leaves, review the session by collectively answering the wonderings and recording the discoveries. “He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.” M.C. Escher Demonstrating Understanding The students will create their own wonderings about a community worker of their choice. Create I Wonder booklets for students to record their “I wonder…” questions and research findings. Provide students with several resources at their reading level so they will be able to find the answers to their wonderings. Students who have low language skills may need a learning buddy to help them read and record. Very young researchers can record with pictures, and learning buddies can scribe for them. Q+ Students can create digital I Wonder books with free tools that allow for creating and editing by several students at the same time; e.g., Storybird (https:// storybird.com/).

Q Tip

I Wonder booklets can be made in the form of folded books, fan books, flipbooks, flap books, tall books, or books of different shapes. There are good web sites with clever ideas and step-by-step instructions in video format; e.g., Making Books by Susan Gaylord (http://www.makingbooks.com/ freeprojects.shtml).

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Q Task Quickies

Building Wonder Imagine Good picture books develop imagination. Many can be used as a catalyst for student writing and illustration. • Imagine a Night and Imagine a Day by Rob Gonsalves provide a wonderful framework for patterning. After celebrating these delightful works, ask students to “Imagine a… (Holiday, Family, Time, Town, Summer, etc.),” and to write and illustrate their own Imagine Book. Or they can work collaboratively to create a class book. • Travel back in time with Aunt Violet as she reminisces about her long life and all the changes she has experienced in Jane Wilson’s historical picture book, Imagine That. Build wonder with your own students by having them interview an elder and develop their own Imagine that…, Imagine when… timeline story.

What If…? • Have students work in small groups of three or four. Provide each group with a different short story (at their reading level) to read and work with. • Instruct groups to read the story and then think about alternative endings using the What if…? prompt. • Have students record their What If…? ideas, then individually select one and rewrite the ending to the original story.

I Wonder Wheel Any topic can be explored with the I Wonder Wheel (page 35). • Provide students with background information about the topic of study. Children cannot demonstrate curiosity about a topic they have little or no experience with. Background information can be quickly built by viewing a short video, showing pictures, reading books, listening to a guest speaker, etc. • Make the I Wonder Wheel: • Cut out the wheel and glue it to a paper plate. • Glue the arrow onto cardboard and cut out. • Attach the arrow to the centre of the wheel to create a spinner. As an alternative, you can build a larger class wheel. • Instruct students to spin the dial. The question starter the dial stops at is used to generate an I Wonder question about the topic. This exercise is designed to explore a topic further by developing questions orally, but students could record their I Wonder questions as well.

Encouraging Curiosity 33

Q Task Quickies

Building Wonder (continued) Scientific Wonder Have students develop wondering questions before, during, and after working on a science experiment or technology exploration. Model the process for students in a demonstration lesson. Even very young scientists can learn how to record their findings and wonderings on the My Scientific Discoveries organizer (page 36). They might need a learning buddy to help them record their findings.

I Wonder to 1000 Set up a virtual collaborative page where students, parents, and teachers can contribute their questions. Set a target number to reach and watch the excitement grow as your school gets closer and closer to the target number.

Wondering with Artifacts Set up a learning centre with an artifact, such as an unusual tool or device. Have students record their I Wonder questions on a chart so others can build on the questions they have. Make it a virtual activity by recording I Wonder questions about unusual images in a digital format; e.g., pasting images into a Google Doc.

Genius Hour This approach to encouraging self-directed learning is growing in popularity in classrooms and school libraries. For students to be ready with an idea or project they are keen to pursue, have them keep a log of I Wonder questions to be tackled during Genius Hour. For more information, visit the Genius Hour web site (http://www.geniushour.com/).

Makerspaces Hands on experimentation, play, and the Makerspace movement are proven strategies for engaging students in authentic learning. Capture the learning by videotaping conversations with students as they play with ideas, materials, and technologies. You can find out more about Makerspaces in libraries at these sites: • A Librarian’s Guide to Makerspaces at http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/a-librarians-guide-tomakerspaces/ • Library Makerspaces at http://aasl.ala.org/essentiallinks/index.php?title=Library_Makerspaces

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2. Understanding Questions How can we help students develop understanding about questions and questioning?

The Question is the Answer … Smart questions are essential technology for those who venture on to the Information Highway. (Jamie McKenzie, Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn)

When we empower students to differentiate between types of questions, they can begin to understand not only how to answer questions but how to create them as well. We want them to think about the purpose of the question and how that affects the construction of the question. The process of generating questions depends on the ability to identify different cognitive levels of questions (Ciardiello, 1998). This is a complex feat, because there are many types of questions and many purposes for asking them. It’s important to gather lots and lots of question samples and to lead students through a process of discovery to help them uncover some patterns for themselves. We build on that experience by introducing and modeling several basic questioning and thinking organizational structures, such as the ReQuest Strategy, deBono’s Six Thinking Hats, and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Once students can classify questions, they will be able to identify the appropriate action and make an effective plan to source the answers: reading the text independently, making inferences, discussing with peers, or doing some research. The ability to identify the question type and the source of the answer will have a positive effect on their reading comprehension of both fiction and nonfiction text types. The following strategies direct students to consider the question type and look for clues about how and where to seek the answer. • • • • • • • •

How can I use Question Hunt? How can I help students observe different question types? How do I teach open and closed questions? How do we help students understand that questions have different functions? How can I help students create questions for specific purposes? How can coding questions help students look for the answers? Q Task Quickies: de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats What can we learn from famous quotations about questions?

“If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time insight into and understanding of many things.” Vincent van Gogh

Understanding Questions 37

How can I use Question Hunt? Q Task

Students will begin to understand that there is a broad range of questions with different purposes.

Clarifying the Task This task can be used for students at varying levels of expertise and experience to build background knowledge about questioning. Don’t rush this activity. Allow a sufficient period of time for students to build up a rich collection of questions. Building Understanding • Introduce this activity by reading and discussing a story about collecting things, such as If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian. Each of the rocks in this story has a different use or purpose, as well as a different structure, but they are all rocks. So it is with questions. • Inform students that they are going on a Question Hunt. Provide students with newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets, and ask them to look for and clip questions. Students can keep their question collections in an envelope. • Give students copies of the I Love Questions organizer (page 39) and ask them to maintain a log of questions they hear or read over a period of time. Let them fill up as many organizers as possible; you will need lots and lots of samples. • Model the next step in the process. Record a dozen or so of the questions on large strips of paper. Post and read the questions and ask students to look for similarities in the questions. Can they think of ways to sort and organize the questions? Organize and reorganize the questions in as many ways as possible, so students can see that questions have different structures and different purposes.

Q Tip

Possible criteria for sorting: • Starter word: who, what, when, where, why, how, if, should, could, etc. • Common verb: is, are, was, were, did, does, can, could, might, etc. • Concept: feelings, time, place, events, facts, people, opinion, etc. • Complexity: simple facts, requires research, decision making, open-ended, etc.

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Demonstrating Understanding q Have students cut their own I Love Questions sheets into strips and assemble the questions with the ones clipped from newspapers and magazines. q Group students in partners. Provide the pairs with a large piece of paper and glue sticks. Instruct each pair to read their questions, look for similarities and differences, and sort their collective questions into categories. Allow them time to move the question strips around on the page as necessary. q Once students are happy with their organization, ask them to glue their strips in place and name their categories. q Share results and collectively build a bank of ideas for organizing questions for structure and/or purpose. Fill the walls and halls with We Love Questions. Q+ Questions can be collected, posted, and categorized on virtual walls using collaborative tools such as Padlet (http://padlet.com/) or Stormboard (https:// stormboard.com).

Stormboard screenshot used with permission.

I

Questions

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How can I help students observe different question types? Q Task

Students will develop a basic understanding of the structure and function of questions.

Clarifying Understanding Questions do follow some basic rules. Allow students to look for patterns and build their own understanding through analysis of a variety of sample question types and formats. Building Understanding • Have students work in groups using the Close-Up Look at Questions organizer (page 41). • Provide students with text from a novel that has lots of questions in it. Ask one student to read the text aloud. • Have students look for similarities and differences in the questions, and record their findings on the organizer, using the headings Looks Like, Sounds Like, and Uses of Questions.

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

• Select video news clips, interviews, or dramatic productions that overtly model different styles of questions. Have students watch and listen to them, observing body language and listening to voice changes as the people in the clips ask questions. Have students add these observations to their lists. • Now ask students when and why we use questions. Have students list the uses of questions on their organizer. Share and build a class list.

Q Tip

Archives for primary source video and sound clips: • CBC Digital Archives: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/ • Library and Archives Canada: http://www.collectionscanada. gc.ca/ • US National Archives: https://www.youtube.com/user/ usnationalarchives

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Demonstrating Understanding Have students work in their groups to build a web about questions, incorporating everything they know about questions. Q+ Students can use a collaborative webbing program to build a web about questions: e.g., Lucidchart (https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/education/K12); MindMeister add-on for Google Docs (http://www.mindmeister.com/help/ google/docs). Digital webs can easily be projected for class sharing. Many webbing tools also allow for layers of information and hyperlinks to other text and media, so students can expand each point with examples they have found.

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How do I teach open and closed questions? Q Task

Students will classify questions as open or closed.

Clarifying the Task Helping students discover that there are different kinds of questions with different purposes is the first step to conscientious design of effective questions. Building Understanding • Put several items in a box and close the box. Pass it around the class and ask, “What is in the box?” • Encourage students to use all their senses to guess what might be in the box. Explain to students that, just as the box is closed, so is the question that you asked. The answer to the question can easily be found by opening the box and looking inside. Questions that can easily be answered by looking for facts and figures or by observation are closed questions. These are the kinds of questions teachers ask when they want to know if you can recall information. They are questions that people ask when they need specific information. • Open the box and show students the items. Ask students the second question: “Which item in the box is the most important?” This is a question that could have many different answers depending on whom you ask. It is an open question because there is no one right or wrong answer. • Ask students to work in groups to make up lots of questions about the items in the box. Have students classify their questions as open or closed. Which questions are more interesting and why? Demonstrating Understanding q Provide a chart of five or six questions about a familiar topic. q Using a think-aloud, model for students how you would classify these questions as open or closed. Instruct students to select a dozen or so questions from I Love Questions collection from the Question Hunt Q Task (page 38). Have them classify these questions as open or closed, and record them on the Thinking about Questions organizer (page 43). q Ask students to select one question that they are really curious about and tell why that question is so intriguing for them.

Q Tip

Continue to reinforce this concept with questions in novel studies and content subjects. Occasionally play a quick game with the class when questions are asked: Have the class raise a closed fist if a question is closed and an open palm when questions are open.

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Q+ • Ask students to work in groups to create two open questions and two closed questions about a topic. • Have students create a digital form (e.g., using Google Forms) with their questions and post them for other students to answer. • Have groups study the answers archived on the resulting spreadsheet and discuss the uses of, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of, open questions and closed questions. • Try the six-step Question Formulation Technique (QFT) Step 1: Teachers Design a Question Focus Step 2: Students Produce Questions Step 3: Students Improve Their Questions Step 4: Students Prioritize Their Questions Step 5: Students and Teachers Decide on Next Steps Step 6: Students Reflect on What They Have Learned (Rothstein and Santana, 2011)

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How do we help students understand that questions have different functions? Q Task

Students will understand types of questions and classify questions by function.

Clarifying the Task This task introduces students to another way to classify questions. Using this strategy will help students realize that questions are designed very purposefully, based on the intent of the questioner and using a process of matching need to question type. It will help students make meaning when they encounter any text. Classification of Questions On-the-line questions: The answers to these questions are found directly in the text; i.e., facts already known. Between-the-line questions: The answers to these questions are formed by putting together clues from the text. Students need to make some inferences based on information available and this will help shape understanding of the text. Beyond-the-line questions: These questions are usually reflective in nature. The questioner makes connections with the text and other concepts related to the text. The answers to these questions require thought about the implications of the facts and clues. (Morgan and Saxton, 2006) Building Understanding • Select and read aloud a classic picture book or tale, such as The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier, that the students are already quite familiar with. • Create on-the-line, between-the-lines, and beyond-the-line questions based on the story. Pose these questions to students and discuss possible answers. Ask students where or how they would find the answers to these questions. • Prepare a chart and introduce the three types of questions. Question

Where/how can we find the answer?

• Continue modeling until students seem confident with identifying question types.

Q Tip

For another application of this strategy, see this video introducing Arthur Costa’s levels of questioning: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=gJZtrrI2M_Y

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Demonstrating Understanding q Select stories and prepare a set of questions for each story with several examples of all three types of questions. q Put students in groups. Give each group a story to read and a set of questions to analyze. q Have groups trade sets of questions and confirm or challenge the analysis. Circulate within the groups and assist with discussion of challenges. q As a class, confirm where there is consensus. Determine correct types if there are questions for which a consensus could not be reached.

How can I help students create questions for specific purposes? Q Task

Students will apply the classifying questioning process to create questions specific to need.

Clarifying the Task Students have already been introduced to classifying questions and have had practice using this method. In this task, students will learn to develop their own questions using this process. This is a cross-curricular strategy and can be used with all types of texts; e.g., magazine articles, textbook passages, novels, press releases, etc. Building Understanding • Select a short article or story for modeling the task. Prepare the text for projection on the interactive whiteboard and provide each student with a copy as well. • Review the three types of questions: on-the-line, between-the-lines, and beyond-the-line. • Team up students and use the Think–Pair–Share strategy to develop questions. Ask students to individually think of on-the-line questions, discuss with their partners, and share one question with the class. Confirm that the question can indeed be answered from the text and chart a few of the questions. There could be endless numbers of on-the-line questions, so set a time limit. • Ask for between-the-lines questions, using the same process. Again, when questions are shared, confirm that there is enough information in the text for an inference to be developed. Record several of these questions. • Finally, ask for beyond-the-line questions. Confirm that the questions shared will extend thinking of the implications about the text. Chart questions. • Continue modeling with different texts until students are ready to try it on their own. Demonstrating Understanding Provide each student with a text and the What’s Your Question Line? organizer (page 46). Have students read the text and develop all three types of questions. Q+ Introduce students to collaborative tools that allow them to interact together with online text—highlighting text, adding sticky notes, responding to one another’s notes, archiving their work for further reference, and much more: e.g., Diigo (https://www.diigo.com/index). The Diigo for Research – Student Guide (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzH-7ZNGvlM) is a good tutorial (prepared by HDMS Library Media Center) for students new to Diigo.

Q Tip

One benefit of this strategy is the potential to match individual reading abilities with specific texts, enabling all learners to be successful.

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How can coding questions help students look for the answers? Q Task

Students classify questions by identifying where and how to find the answers.

Clarifying the Task In this task, students will build on their knowledge of categorizing questions. Classifying questions helps students develop the reading comprehension skills of making connections and inferences. Students first learn to identify questions by determining how they would find the answers, and then learn to apply that knowledge and understanding to create questions. Apply this strategy to articles, textbook excerpts, and video. Building Understanding Model the process. • Source a current article or textbook selection that supports a curriculum topic being studied and create several of each type of question on the Question Codes chart. Question Codes Code

Description

Solution Strategy

?

on-the-line

Skim text

?

between-the-lines

Read text; look for clues; make inferences

beyond-the-line

Study text; make connections

background knowledge

Think about what you and others already know; discuss to find answer

research

Check other sources; make inquiries

?

Q Tips

Students can apply this strategy when reading both fiction and nonfiction text. Provide students with sticky notes so they can record and code questions as they read. • This strategy was inspired by Categorizing Questions (Harvey and Goudvis, 2000). For additional information see Strategies That Work, Second Edition by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis (2007). • Another approach to explore is Question Answer Relationship (QAR), developed by T.E. Raphael (1984). Use Classifying Questions with QAR on page 48 to help students organize their questions when they are working with any kind of text.



• Explain the codes and tell how they assist us to source answers to our reading questions. Share the article and questions with students, and ask them to identify the appropriate code for each question. Ask students to provide an explanation for their classification. Demonstrating Understanding Provide students with copies of another curriculum-related text and questions. Have students work first individually to identify the correct codes, then in small groups to compare and discuss their findings. Remind students to refer to the Question Codes chart and the questions already classified in the modeling sample as they work. Ask each group to select a reporter to provide the group’s classification and rationale. Randomly ask groups to share as you discuss each question, asking others to share their rationale if there is dissent.

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Classifying Questions with QAR Name:

Categories

In the Book

Answer Sources

Right There

Putting It Together

Author and Me

On My Own

How the answer is determined

• stated directly in the text

• by connecting information from the text to draw a conclusion

• by examining a combination of information gained from reading and prior knowledge

• by using prior knowledge only

Create and classify your questions

How did you do?

Adapted from T.E. Raphael (1982; 1986)

In My Head

Q Task Quickies

de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats Edward de Bono’s structured thinking strategy Six Thinking Hats (© 1985) is recognized in education as an effective technique to engage students in critical and creative thinking. Introduce students to this technique of thinking and give them lots of practice using it. Apply Six Thinking Hats to developing questions for specific purposes. Excellent commercial products are available for school applications; see Edward de Bono’s web site (http://www.edwdebono.com/). Six Thinking Hats Summary White Hat Thinking: neutral; identifies facts and details. Black Hat Thinking: judgmental; examines negative aspects. Yellow Hat Thinking: optimistic; focuses on positive and logical aspects. Red Hat Thinking: intuitive; from the point of view of emotions and feelings. Green Hat Thinking: new ideas; requires imagination and lateral thinking. Blue Hat Thinking: metacognition; encompasses and reflects on all the other hats, looking at the big picture.

Current Events Post or project a current-event headline and summary for students to read. Instruct students to create six questions about the current event on the Six Thinking Hats organizer (page 50). If you choose to use this strategy as daily bell work, focus on a different hat each day.

Documentary Response As students view and review a documentary about a curriculum-related issue or event, have them keep track of their questions using the Six Thinking Hats organizer.

Jigsaw As students prepare to select a focus for research, have them process their ideas in Thinking Hat groups. Jigsaw students in groups of six so each group has a representative of each hat. Instruct students to share questions and select/develop those that would be effective research questions.

Literature Circles Assign students questioning roles based on the Six Thinking Hats. Each day students take a different Thinking Hat role and develop questions for literature circle discussions.

Q+ with Hats Create an online form and spreadsheet (e.g., using Google Forms/Spreadsheets) or insert a chart in a document so students can work together to develop Thinking Hat questions. Stormboard (https://stormboard.com) has a template for Six Thinking Hats.

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What can we learn from famous quotations about questions? Q Task

Students will study questions quotations to learn about the use and purpose of questioning.

Clarifying the Task It is important for students to understand the value and purpose of asking effective questions. There are many famous quotations about questions and questioning. Becoming familiar with these quotations will help students develop personal understanding of the importance of this skill. Building Understanding Develop a collection of good question quotes that are appropriate for your students’ comprehension abilities. Select one to model this task. Sample question quote: I had six honest serving men. They taught me all I knew: Their names were Where and What and When And Why and How and Who. Rudyard Kipling Ask students what they think this quote means. Discuss how it might help them become better questioners. Chart their responses.

Q Tip

Invite students to bring more question quotations to class as they discover them. Remind students to always credit the author of the quote. Some sources of question quotes to get you started: • Wisdom Quotes: Quotations to Inspire and Challenge: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/ topics/questions/ • World of Quotes: Historic Quotes and Proverbs: http://www.worldofquotes.com/ topic/Questions/1/ • Brainy Quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/ quotes/
keywords/questions. html

Demonstrating Understanding q Select and print several quotations on strips of paper. q Have students work in partners. Each pair has a quotation strip to analyze. Ask students to think about the quotation and discuss what it means. Have them talk about how the quotation might help them become better questioners. q Ask each group to share their understanding of their quotation. Post the quotation strips around the room or on a bulletin board. q Provide each student with the Quotable Question Quotes organizer (page 52). Instruct students to select their favorite quotation from the ones presented and analyze it using the question prompts. Q+ Make use of social media: ask students to find and share favorite question quotes using Twitter (https://twitter.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook. com), or Instagram (http://instagram.com/). If students can find copyright-free visuals, they can illustrate their question quotes and develop a collaborative slideshow using presentation tools; e.g., Google Presentation.

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3. Learning to Question Why do we need to be good questioners?

The art of crafting good questions is key to both teaching and learning. Being able to create probing questions empowers both teachers and students. Questioning is a lifelong learning skill that is critical for success in the 21st century. Who needs to be a good questioner? Teachers, students, researchers, pollsters, interviewers, planners, journalists, diagnosticians, mechanics, technicians, repair people, doctors, nurses, personal trainers, designers, builders, architects, salespeople, travelers, tourists, consumers, investigators, inspectors, parents, lawyers, etc. Asking effective questions is an important life skill. What is a good question? There are many different types of questions. Basically a good question is the one that gets us the information we need at any given time. Sometimes the answer will be a simple “yes” or “no”; however, on other occasions it will be much more complicated, and so will the question required to prompt that answer. A good research question is one that guides the questioner through a quest to build personal meaning and understanding. Again, this can be very simple or very complex. Where does questioning belong in the curriculum? The role of questioning runs throughout the curriculum. Motivation to learn is often spurred on by questions. Clarifying details and thoughts, developing understanding, sourcing information, and selecting relevant information are among the crucial aspects of all disciplines that depend on effective questioning skills. Critical thinking, regardless of the subject content, depends on the ability to ask effective questions. The need for questioning skills is ubiquitous. When do we teach questioning strategies? In the primary years we teach students to differentiate between statements and questions. We also introduce them to the “5 Ws.” We need to continue to take a systematic approach to teaching questioning skills. It is crucial that questioning skills are introduced and taught formally (Ciardiello, 1998). Regardless of the grade level, take time to observe and assess student skill levels so that you can intervene with appropriate learning experiences. How do we teach students to become good questioners? What tools can we use to help develop and hone questioning skills? The tasks in this chapter are designed to help you do just that. “You can’t understand Google unless you know that Larry [Page] and Sergy [Brin] were both Montessori kids. They’re always asking, why should it be like that? It’s the way their brains were programmed early on.” Marissa Mayer, former Google executive, head of Yahoo

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Berger (2014) reminds us that inquiry-based Montessori schools, which have an emphasis on letting students explore, direct their own learning, and work on projects instead of taking tests, have a track record of adult success. Today, so many former students of Montessori (including Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Jeff Bezos of Amazon; Sergy Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google) are now running major companies in the tech sector that these alumni have become known as the Montessori Mafia. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

How can the 5 Ws and How help students in Question Trekking? How can I help students organize data? How can questioning help students explore a topic? Q Task Quickies: KWL Quickies How can creating a question web help students develop a focus? How can I introduce the Question Builder to students? How can the Question Builder be used to help guide research? Q Task Quickies: Using the Question Builder How will a rubric help students create better research questions? How can students narrow and focus their questions? Q Task Quickies: Power-Up Q Cards How do I help students create a statement of purpose? Q Task Quickies: Question Blooming How do students get to the right question? How can I help students move from question to thesis statement?

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” Albert Einstein

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How can the 5 Ws and How help students in Question Trekking? Q Task

Students will apply basic question starters to develop questions specific to their need.

Clarifying the Task In this example, the class is beginning a study of mechanisms and structures. They are to go on a trek in their neighborhood to search for interesting mechanisms and structures. As they observe these sites, they will keep a record of the questions they have about them. Building Understanding Model this task by showing students an interesting mechanism, such as specialized kitchen or garden tool, they might not be too familiar with. • Pass the tool around the classroom for students to examine. • Review the question starters: who, what, when, where, why, and how. • Give students time to think about what they know about the topic the tool relates to and what they are curious about. • Chart what students know and what questions they have. As you chart their questions, highlight the question starters and encourage students to develop their questions using all five starter words. Demonstrating Understanding Prepare students for their trek in the neighborhood. Provide each student with copies of the Question Trekking organizer (page 56) so they can keep good records of their discoveries and questions. Students will make a quick sketch; they will jot down what they know and questions they have about the mechanism. You will need to plot out the walk ahead of time, making sure that students will be able to spot a variety of mechanisms and/or structures on the route you take. Q+ • Have students use their smart phones or tablets to capture photos of structures. They can insert photos in an online chart (e.g., using Google Docs) and keep track of questions in the chart. Have students share documents with others who can add more questions in a different color font or using a commenting feature. Documents can be restricted to invited participants. • Using a slideshow app, (e.g., Explain Everything at http://www. morriscooke.com/) students can place their photos on an slide on the device with which they took the picture. They can use drawing tools to annotate the photo: i.e., to circle structural features, etc. They can use the voice recorder to record their questions and their peers’ questions on the slide. The slide or slideshow can be exported for sharing.

Q Tip

Teach students observation skills to help them to become better questioners. Start with objects they can see, touch, and smell. Have students sketch the object. As they draw, they need to pay attention to detail, then they will be able to ask more questions.

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How can I help students organize data? Q Task

Students will develop questions to guide searches in several sources.

Clarifying the Task In this example, the class is studying nocturnal animal life. They have read stories, viewed videos, and talked about nocturnal animals. Now they are ready to select an animal they are curious about and search for more information. This simple Q Task provides a framework for young and inexperienced researchers to organize their findings. Building Understanding • Once students have selected an animal, ask them to fold a paper in half to create a T-chart. Have students brainstorm everything they know about their topic and record the information on the left side of the chart. Then ask students to brainstorm all the questions they have about the animal they have selected and record the information on the right side of the chart. You can prompt their thinking with cards that have question starter words (e.g., Who, What, Where, When, Why, How) printed on them. • Ask students to find a partner, share their questions, and talk about which questions would be good search questions. Have students eliminate or revise any questions that would have one-word answers. Each student should select four good search questions and record them on the My Search Record organizer (page 58). • Arrange for students to search in the school library for resources that will help them answer their questions. Review strategies for evaluating the usefulness of a resource. Students should select four resources. Encourage students to select a variety of sources if possible; e.g., books, encyclopedias (both print and electronic), web sites, magazines, etc. Demonstrating Understanding Assist students with the process of using their questions to guide their searches. q Model for them how to find keywords in their questions that will help them to use tables of contents and indexes to target the information they need. q Review how to skim and scan, and how to take jot notes. q Return to the My Search Record organizer and instruct students to use each resource, focusing on only the questions they have recorded, as they make their notes in the appropriate boxes.

Q Tip

Students might not find information to answer all their questions in every source; make sure they know that this is okay. They could find conflicting information in the sources they have. This is a great teachable moment to talk about the importance of using more than one resource, and the need to make sure sources are up-to-date and reliable.

Q+ My Search Record can easily be constructed in a spreadsheet (e.g., Google Spreadsheets), making it a collaborative tool to archive the data collected. Each student in the group could work with a specific resource and record the data found that address each question, or each student could work with a specific question and search for data from each resource. When notes are finished, ask students to analyze the collective work and look for similarities, discrepancies, and key ideas or conclusions.

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How can questioning help students explore a topic? Q Task

Students will use questions to guide their exploration of a new topic.

Clarifying the Task In this example, students will be studying the impact of European explorers on North America. Students need to gain some general knowledge of explorers before they embark on their own voyage of discovery. In this Q Task, students will explore a variety of resources to discover general information about a number of European explorers. Building Understanding • Introduce the topic of European explorers with a short video clip; establish the time period and some general knowledge about Europe and North America at the time. Ask students what they know already about European explorers. Chart their ideas. • Introduce the question starters Who, What, When, Why, and Where. Ask students to think of what they need to know about European explorers. Chart their questions. • Ask students where they can find information about European explorers and chart their responses. Ask students for keywords that would help them target information they need. Collaboratively develop a list of key words students will use for their searches.

Q Tip

Students need to have background knowledge before they can develop questions about a topic. Discover why building background is important for learning success at Make Room for Building Background Knowledge by Literacy GAINS (http:// www.edugains.ca/resourcesLIT/ AdolescentLiteracy/AL_ Resources/BackgroundKnowledge ALERT_8X11.pdf) and in Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement (Marzano, 2005). This Q Task was adapted from Koechlin and Zwaan (2005).

Demonstrating Understanding q Introduce the resource stations (print encyclopedia, electronic encyclopedia, books, pictures, and video) set up in the library. Provide students with blank copies of Quick Fact Trading Cards (page 60). q Instruct students to rotate through the stations. They will skim, scan, read, view, and listen to a variety of carefully selected resources and complete as many trading cards as possible in the time available. q Now help students make connections. • Have students gather in small groups and sort their trading cards alphabetically by explorer’s last name. • Have students sort their cards chronologically, by departure point, by destination, and then by reason for the excursion. • Have them share the quick facts they recorded on their cards and take note of any conflicting data. • Ask groups to share how they sorted their cards, and to point out interesting connections or patterns they see, as well as conflicting information. Discuss how to verify information when you have a conflict. Students now have a working background knowledge. They should be ready to decide on a focus for further investigation of European explorers. Q+: Building Background Collaboratively Older students can use an archiving tool, such as Scoop.it (http://www.scoop. it), to build a bank of the best digital sources they can find on their topic. They can add questions or quick facts to each “scooped” site and share with others to build collaborative background on their topic.

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Q Task Quickies

KWL Quickies KWL is a tried and true technique for developing students’ metacognitive skills. It also confirms for students that learning is a thinking process and that there are steps to take when trying to comprehend something new. Developed by Donna M. Ogle in the 1980s as a strategy to encourage active reading of expository text, this strategy—like all good teaching strategies—has increased in value and diversified in application over time. One of the many benefits of this strategy is that it values student questioning. We have provided a few variations for you to consider.

Exploring a Topic Successful research is built on the opportunity to explore a topic and to build a knowledge base from which inquiry can sprout. Use KWL after activating prior knowledge with a story, video clip, scavenger hunt, speaker, etc. The KWL Chart (page 64) can be built collaboratively on chart paper or on the interactive whiteboard. • In the K column, record information students already know about the topic. • In the W column, record what students want to know or what they wonder about. • Provide students with exploratory experiences, such as browsing through books and selected Internet sites. • In the L column, record new information students have learned. Students can complete KWL charts individually, but be sure that you build in opportunity for students to talk about what they are recording. Debrief by asking students how the KWL chart has helped them gain interest in the topic.

Preparing for Research Before students embark on a search to find information for their research project, they need to get their thoughts organized and make some plans. The KNoWLedge organizer (page 64) will spur questioning, and will help students activate prior knowledge, identify sources, and focus on keywords to guide searches. When students complete this organizer, they will be ready to use their searching time more efficiently and will have more time for actually processing the information they find.

Assessment • Before starting a unit, use the KWL strategy as a diagnostic assessment of student knowledge about a topic. q Have students record what they think is important about the topic in the first column of a KWL Chart (page 64) and questions they have in the second column. q In the third column, have students make a web of their understanding about this topic. • Post-unit, have students complete another KWL Chart. Have students compare their pre- and post-unit KWLs and write a reflection about their growth.

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Q Task Quickies

KWL Quickies (continued) Comprehending Text KWL is an engaging alternative to note-taking and is a true demonstration of comprehension of text. • Select an article or textbook passage to support the curriculum topic. • Develop an anticipation-guide activity to provide clues to the reading passage and activate thinking about the topic. • After this introduction, ask students to record what they think is important and relative to this topic in the K column of a KWL Chart (page 64). • Give them some time to think, and then have them develop questions they would like to find answers to in the W column. • Remind students to use their question-building skills to develop different kinds of questions, such as fact-gathering, analysis, reflective, and predicting questions. • Ask students to read the text, keeping their assumptions and questions in mind. As they read, instruct them to record what they are learning in the L column. • After reading, have students meet with a partner, compare their learning, and revisit the text as necessary to confirm information or understanding. • Debrief with the entire class, discussing new knowledge as well as how the KWL process helped them comprehend the text.

Science Projects Use the KWHLQ Chart (page 64) to track growth during a science project. Students use the H column for recording plans for how they will find out what they need to know. The reflective Q box is for new questions.

Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Use the KWHLQ Chart (page 64) to provide structure to the difficult processes of problem solving and decision making. • Try it out collaboratively to explore classroom and playground problems, such as bullying, vandalism, littering, etc. • Demonstrate how the KWHLQ can be tool to help when making decisions, such as making major purchases. • Let students apply KWHLQ to solve problems and make personal decisions such as career choices.

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Q Task Quickies

KWL Quickies (continued) Storybook Wishes • Use the KWW Chart (page 64). • Show the cover of well-illustrated picture book and ask students to tell you what they know about the story from reading the illustration on the cover. • Record responses in the K column. • Now picture-walk though the book, asking students to read the pictures and tell you what they know from the illustrations • Before reading, invite students to ask questions about the story and record these in the middle Wonder column. • After completing the reading, go back and confirm the ideas recorded in the K column, or correct incorrect assumptions. • Revisit the Wonder questions and see if you discovered the answers to all the student questions in the story. • Now ask students to think about the events in the story and think about anything they would like to change. Record their thoughts in the Wish column.

Compare Fact and Fiction Use the KWL Chart (page 64) when comparing fact and fiction. • After reading fictional stories, say, about monkeys, record the characteristics of monkeys identified in the stories in the K column of a collaborative chart. • Discuss how authors of fiction give animals attributes that aren’t consistent with real animals. In the W column, list the attributes from fiction that they question. • Explain the purpose of nonfiction materials and the difference between fact and fiction. Share selected nonfiction books and/or video clips on the topic. • In the L column, list the factual characteristics of monkeys identified from the resources. Review the K column to confirm and highlight fictional characteristics of monkeys. Students would now be ready to use an organizer to record similarities and differences between monkeys in fiction and monkeys in nonfiction.

Virtual KWL Collaboration For group projects or whole-class preparation for a unit of study, build KWL charts (see page 64) in a spreadsheet, insert a chart in a document, or use a form that builds in a spreadsheet for collaborative analysis; e.g., using Google Docs/Forms/Spreadsheets. Students and teachers can use the chat feature or insert comments for group members as they work.

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How can creating a question web help students develop a focus? Q Task

Students will brainstorm and web questions about a topic.

Clarifying the Task In this example, students will use the background knowledge on European explorers they build in the Q Task on page 59. They will work collaboratively to explore the breadth and depth of the topic and use this experience to narrow down a large topic to a focus for their personal inquiry. Building Understanding Introduce the Q Storming strategy and model how to use it. • Brainstorm for questions about a topic students are familiar with; for example, transportation. Use an interactive whiteboard, a data projector, acetate on an overhead projector, or chart paper to begin building a web of questions about transportation. • Then brainstorm for more questions about the original questions, and record them with arrows from the original questions. Continue to expand the web as long as questions flow. You might need to model this strategy with several topics, as students are used to brainstorming for what they know, but are not accustomed to brainstorming for what they need and want to know in the form of questions. Demonstrating Understanding q Ask students to meet in small groups with others who are interested in the same European explorer. Have them develop questions using the Webbing Questions worksheet (page 66). q Remind students that they are not brainstorming what they know, but rather what they want to know in the form of questions. Also, the questions need to build out from the original question. q In groups, they will share questions with the class. Have students revisit their trading cards from the Q Task on page 59, and consider the group questions to help them settle on the aspects of European exploration or the particular explorer(s) they want to investigate. q Have them individually complete a Webbing Questions organizer and select a few questions they are interested in exploring further. Q+: Q Storming Use a webbing tool, such as Inspiration© (http://www.inspiration.com/) to build questions about questions

Q Tip

To add a tactile dimension, have students work in groups to brainstorm questions on sticky notes. They will be able to move their questions around and stick them on chart paper to build a web of questions. Post the webs around the room to build a gallery of interesting questions on the topics and have students do a Gallery Walk before they try to Q Storm on their own.

© 2008 Inspiration Software, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

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How can I introduce the Question Builder to students? Q Task

Students will learn the structure of the Question Builder Chart (page 68).

Clarifying the Task This task will help students learn about a structure and pattern of questioning they can experiment with in developing their own questions. The purpose of the Question Builder Chart (inspired by the Q Matrix in Wiederhold, 1995) is to give students question starters or prompts to help them construct questions for specific purposes. Building Understanding In this example, the class is working on a theme unit on Leaving Home. • Select a picture book. Show the cover and initiate discussion. Invite students to ask questions. Record the questions. • Read to a climactic point in the story and ask for more questions. Record. • Finish the story, review, and discuss recorded questions. Again ask for further questions. Record. • Review all the generated questions for the purpose of learning more about different kinds of questions and their purposes. • Clip questions from the chart and ask students to look for similarities. • Cluster by question starter: who, what, when, where, why, how, or which. • Instruct students to look at the second word of each question: is, are, were, would, will, etc. • Use a large wall space to sort and organize questions into a matrix. Discuss which questions were easy to answer and why, which were more difficult, and which had no direct answer in the story but are really interesting questions.

Q Tips

• Q Wheels, using the Q Matrix approach to questioning, engage students in spinning a hand-held wheel to prompt questions and are available from OLA Bookstore (https://www. accessola.org/). Watch this video of a teacher-librarian in Saskatchewan using Q Wheels to help students build inquiry questions (https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=uBZ_Etx6oDg). • More excellent commercial materials to support questioning using the Q Matrix are available from Kagan Cooperative Learning (http://www. kaganonline.com/catalog). This Q Task was adapted from a task in Koechlin and Zwaan (2004).

Demonstrating Understanding q Group students and provide each group with a large copy of the Question Builder Chart (page 68), or have the students make their own chart on a large piece of chart paper or the interactive whiteboard. q Instruct students to skim newspapers and magazines to look for questions to clip out. q Have students glue the questions they discover onto their chart. q Debrief with the entire class and discuss their successes and challenges with this task. Q+: Question Builder Chart Create a chart as on online spreadsheet (e.g., using Google Spreadsheets) to enable collaborative question-building.

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

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How can the Question Builder be used to help guide research? Q Task

Students will experiment with the Question Builder Chart (page 68) to formulate focus questions to guide their research tasks.

Clarifying the Task Students are familiar with the Question Builder Chart on page 68. In this example, the class has explored the topic—the world of insects—by taking a nature walk, browsing nonfiction books, viewing videos. They have discussed and recorded interesting discoveries and are now ready to select an insect they are really curious about for their personal research project. This informationquestioning strategy enables beginning and experienced researchers, as well as students with low language acquisition, to experiment with many possible questions until they find the “just right” question(s) for their project. Building Understanding Prepare a large Question Builder Chart (page 68). Model how to use the Question Builder prompts to develop questions. • Select a topic the class has some general background knowledge about, such as planning a party or a school event. • As students volunteer questions, record them directly on the Question Builder. Students will discover that not all the prompts work well for every topic. Caution students not to force questions. • Ask students to think about which questions might make good research questions. Share and highlight these questions.

Q Tips

• Very young students will need a volunteer or a learning buddy to help them record their discovery questions and read to find answers to their questions. Search findings can be illustrations, or text printed by the learning buddies. • More experienced researchers can use index cards, folded paper, or templates for organizing their research notes. See Using Graphic Organizers in Building Info Smarts (Koechlin and Zwaan, 2008). • Create a master Question Builder spreadsheet and make a copy for each class or new topic. Rename your spreadsheet when you save it.

Demonstrating Understanding q Ensure that each student has selected an insect topic for his or her personal research project. Provide each student with a Question Builder Chart (page 68). Instruct students to experiment with formulating questions about their insects. Have them record their efforts on the chart. q Now have students work with a partner to discuss their questions and select the best five for their personal project. q Have students construct a search booklet. Have them create a cover and write a guiding question at the top of each page. q Students will use teacher-selected resources at their reading level to search for the answers to their questions. They will record the information in their search booklet under the appropriate question. Q+ Enable students to support each other as they build questions by creating the chart in a spreadsheet. Teach students how to add comments and respond to each other’s questions.

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

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Using the Question Builder Your students will need many opportunities to use the Question Builder prompts. Have them work in small groups at first so they can support each other. When they have had lots of practice experimenting with the prompts, they can use the strategy independently to brainstorm questions for specific purposes. The Question Builder Chart (page 68) and Question Builder Frames (page 71) can be adapted for endless applications for all grade levels. Use collaborative technology tools, such as Google Docs and Spreadsheets, to enable students to build questions together and archive their results to share with others. Use this questioning strategy to critically examine information and develop understanding.

Interpreting Graphs and Charts As a pre-reading strategy, have students examine charts and/or graphs in a text selection. Using prompts from the Question Builder Chart or Question Builder Frames, have them develop questions about what they see. Post-reading, have students go back to their pre-reading questions and try to answer them. If any of their questions cannot be answered from the text, have them develop a plan to try to find the answers.

Analyzing Primary Artifacts Provide each group of students with a photograph, letter, poster, or other primary artifact that will help them discover first-hand information about people, places, or events being studied. Ask students to examine and discuss the artifact and, using prompts from the Question Builder Chart or Question Builder Frames, develop questions about what they see. Have each group share their questions. Chart any common issues or concerns arising from their questions. These ideas could form the focus of further class investigations about the people, places, or events under study.

Looking for Patterns and Trends Provide students with statistical data; e.g., population breakdowns over a period of time. Have students work in groups to examine the data and use the Question Builder Chart or Question Builder Frames to develop questions about the data they are examining. Instruct students to swap questions with another group and answer their questions based on the raw data. Share any patterns they have discovered, as well as potential trends for the future.

Textbook Twist Note-making, answering teacher questions, and completing fill-in-the-blank worksheets from textbook content become tedious for students. Occasionally twist the process: instruct students to read the textbook selection and develop some thought-provoking questions about the material they are reading, then select their best for sharing as a record of their content understanding.

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How will a rubric help students create better research questions? Q Task

Students will use a rubric to guide the design of inquiry questions.

Clarifying the Task In this example, students are preparing to conduct research on issues related to safe drinking water. The teacher will facilitate several exploratory activities. Students will use a rubric to guide them as they create their individual inquiry question(s). Building Understanding • Introduce the topic by charting the essential human needs for survival. Discuss what could happen if any or several of these needs are not met. • Use a video dealing with issues related to safe drinking water to further discussion. Have students use the RVL Connect organizer (page 73) to record their thoughts during the video. Share the student thoughts. • Collect news articles or passages from texts that deal with water issues, such as unsafe or limited drinking water in various locations in the world, the impact of flooding or other disasters, polluted water, etc. Group students and provide each group with copies of the same article. Ask students to read the article and highlight key passages they are curious about. • Have students individually record questions they have after reading the article. Have them share with the group, then ask the group to compile a list of questions they feel would make good inquiry questions. Each group then shares the question list. Display question charts. Demonstrating Understanding q Introduce the Your Research Question rubric (page 74). Select a few questions and, with students, rate them using criteria from the rubric. Discuss how to make them better inquiry questions. q Have students develop their own individual inquiry questions. Conference with students and use the rubric criteria to make each question as effective as possible.

Q Tip

Your students cannot ask questions when their knowledge of the topic is limited. Educational video is a perfect medium for sparking interest in a topic and providing vital background knowledge. Video can provide vicarious experiences to new worlds for students.

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Q+ • Introduce students to a collaborative note-making tool, such as Evernote (www.evernote.com), so they can share research notes and questions. Tutorials to help students get started can be linked to school web sites, like the one from Melbourne High School Library (http://libguides.mhs.vic.edu. au/content.php?pid=258349&sid=3678213). • Older students can make their own rubric for assessing the effectiveness of inquiry questions. Decide as a class on the main criteria for assessment, such as level of inquiry, general interest, critical thinking, and topic focus. Invite students to work in groups to develop the indicators for each level of success. The rubric can be developed collaboratively (e.g., using a chart or spreadsheet in Google Docs) or can make use of one of many free rubricmaking tools, like Rubistar (http://rubistar.4teachers.org/).

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How can students narrow and focus their questions? Q Task

Students will Power Up inquiry questions for research by using starter and focus words.

A good research question q Stimulates your curiosity q Guides your research quest q Encourages you to dig deep for information q Challenges you to think about your discoveries q Prompts you to analyze your findings q Helps you make personal meaning q Keeps you focused q Sparks your imagination

Clarifying the Task In this example, students have been introduced to the topic of natural disasters. They have explored natural disasters through stories, songs, video, books, newspaper articles, pictures, and Internet sites. They are ready to develop their inquiry questions. Building Understanding • Review the question starters: who, what, when, why, where, and how. Review starters for a statement of purpose: discover, investigate, and compare. • Introduce the elements of a rich research question (see margin). • Introduce students to Power-Up words that will help them develop a focused inquiry question. See the Power Up Your Inquiry Question organizer (page 76). • Highlight question starter words and focus words. Discuss the potential of these questions as rich research questions based on the required elements. Students should be able to see that the focus words help define the inquiry, and that How and Why question starters always produce rich questions. Demonstrating Understanding Using the Power Up Your Inquiry Question organizer (page 76), have each student develop a personal inquity question or questions. Q+ Have students experiment with Power-Up words to create their inquiry questions in a collaborative tool, such as Google Docs, where their peers and teachers can add comments and make suggestions.

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

Q Tips

• For more on the critical first stages of inquiry, see Getting Started in Building Info Smarts (Koechlin and Zwaan, 2008). • You can find support from Library Learning Commons Waterloo Region DSB (http:// library.wrdsb.ca/research/ research-process/exploring/).

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Power-Up Q Cards Thinking is enhanced and memory reinforced by tactile and visual experiences with information. Turn developing effective research questions into a hands-on as well as minds-on (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998) experience for your students.

Create Packs of Power-Up Q Cards See the Power Up Your Inquiry Question organizer (page 76). Make a card for each Power-Up word. Handprint them on card stock, or print out several sets at a time on business card stock. Print one word on each card. Color code the word if possible; e.g., question starters in green, focus words in blue, relationship words in orange.

Using the Power-Up Q Cards • Model the process. • Strategically pre-select a few cards based on the topic being studied. If students are studying human anatomy, you might give them a pack containing the following assortment. Question Starters: How, What, Discover, Investigate Focus Words: function, survival, defence, role, purpose, structure Relationship Words: consequence(s), significance, effect, cause, compare

• Have students work in small groups and use a few of the Power-Up Q Cards to help them create effective research questions. Instruct students to manipulate the cards and experiment with different combinations to spark ideas for good research questions. • Students should keep a print record of their best questions.

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How do I help students create a statement of purpose? Q Task

Students will understand that focus questions or statements of purpose can be used to guide inquiry.

Clarifying the Task An inquiry does not have to be guided by a formal question with a question mark at the end. A statement of purpose is also a legitimate guide to an inquiry task. In this task, the organizational structure of Bloom’s Taxonomy will help students consider the type of thinking that their question or statement of purpose will produce. Although Bloom’s Taxonomy is traditionally applied to the questions and tasks teachers ask of students, it is also an understandable structure for discussing levels of thinking with students. Higher-level inquiry is not only possible but also desirable in today’s information-rich learning environments. Building Understanding • Introduce the structure of Bloom’s Taxonomy; give students some history of the importance of this work and how much it has influenced education since the mid-1950s. • Read a popular story, revisit the novel you are reading aloud to your students, or select a thought-provoking article dealing with an issue related to current subject matter. • Develop a range of sample questions and focus statements you might ask students to apply to the reading material. Ensure that all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy are addressed and that students understand what a statement of purpose is (e.g., Discover the role of frogs in a swamp habitat). Types of Thinking Creating: generating new ideas to build personal meaning and to create something new Evaluating: making and justifying judgments and decisions Analyzing: taking information apart and looking for relationships Applying: using facts, rules, and principles in new situations Understanding: making meaning of facts, ideas, and key concepts Remembering: identifying and recalling information • Discuss the type of thinking each question or focus statement will generate. Invite students to make up more questions or focus statements.

Q Tip

Display Bloom posters so students become familiar with terms and cognitive purposes: • Bloomin’ Apps: http://www. schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps. html • A Simplified Bloom’s Taxonomy Poster for Students: http://www.teachthought.com/ teaching/a-simplified-bloomstaxonomy-poster-for-students/ • Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy with Verbs: http:// anethicalisland.wordpress. com/2014/06/05/bloomsrevised-taxonomy-with-verbs/

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Demonstrating Understanding Provide students with Stretch Your Thinking Questions (page 79). q Group students and give each group a picture book or an article at their interest and developmental level. Instruct students to read and discuss the book and then create a question or task statement for each of Bloom’s levels, using the Stretch Your Thinking Questions organizer (page 79). q Have groups exchange books and questions, and assess if the questions and task statements match the assigned Bloom category. Discuss discrepancies and any other problems the students encountered.

← Stretch your Thinking Questions → Creating

When you really want to get serious about building, designing, creating, inventing, or doing something serious, use these verbs: invent make solve develop construct devise plan design produce compose

Evaluating

When you want to develop an argument, state a position, defend an idea, make your case, convince, or build solid evidence to support your conclusions, use these verbs: recommend test prioritize appraise justify defend critique check hypothesize infer question judge

Analyzing

When you are faced with a great deal of information, conflicting ideas, differing points of view, and different people telling you things for their own reasons and gain, use these verbs: compare classify contrast sequence organize deconstruct distinguish relate structure integrate investigate

Applying

When you are using facts, rules, and principles in new situations or to solve problems, or even demonstrating what you know and can do, use these verbs: implement prepare calculate simulate execute solve use manipulate

Understanding

When you are investigating unknown ideas and trying to build background knowledge leading to deep understanding, use these verbs: relate interpret summarize outline infer explain paraphrase visualize

Remembering

When you are studying for a test or trying to recall information from prior learning, use these verbs: list tell describe state identify label recognize recite retrieve name

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Question Blooming Although Bloom was originally intended to map out cognitive growth processes starting with lower-level thinking and moving to higher-order critical and creative thinking, current teaching practice is shaking up this approach. Educators are discovering the benefits of learning from play through sandbox-type experimentation and maker movements, as well as making use of the many technology tools that enable creative manipulation of media and information. It is still important to move students through levels of thinking by starting with what they know and building on it. For many situations, however, the learning can be just as effective and more engaging when we flip Bloom and begin with creating something new that has immediate relevance for students.

Create to Grow Design tasks in which students start with asking questions to help them create something new, then continue questioning to evaluate their success and move on through the Bloom structure to build understanding and knowledge that they will remember because they own it. For example, students create a book trailer about a novel they have read and enter it in a school library contest. To prepare to create the book trailer (see page 130 for criteria), they need to ask questions about how to make the presentation as well as what needs to be developed as content that will hook other readers. Next they can build questions to evaluate their own work and the work of others.

Literature and Inquiry Circles When students have questioning roles in literature and/or inquiry circles, encourage them to ask questions that address different levels of Bloom thinking.

Collaborative Knowledge-Building Use collaborative technology tools and social networking to design tasks that enable students to build on each other’s questions using each level of Bloom. For example, have students develop good analysis questions for deconstructing advertising that is aimed at children.

Students as Teachers Invite students to develop the questions that will be used for study, review, and assessment of a topic. Encourage them to use all levels of Bloom in their questioning and to make use of collaborative technology tools to post, review, and decide on best questions for the task.

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How do students get to the right question? Q Task

Students will develop effective inquiry questions.

Clarifying the Task Effective inquiry questions or statements of purpose empower students to conduct research that is exciting and meaningful. The purpose is to end the tendency to collect and regurgitate data, and begin the move toward research projects that build understanding, that have personal relevance for the learners and significance for their audience. End plagiarism in your school by teaching students to develop good inquiry questions. Building Understanding Model for students how you would use inquiry questions to help you with a task, such as writing an article for a professional journal, planning a special party, or purchasing a new car. • • • • • • • •

What are you really curious about? Why do you want to explore this topic? What do you know already? What do you need/want to find out? How will you make sense of the data you discover? Who will your audience be? What do you want your audience to understand about your research? How will you share your new understanding?

Demonstrating Understanding q Students need lots of practice as well as strategies and tools to help them develop effective research questions. Provide students with many opportunities to experiment with different strategies and tools for constructing questions. q See the organizers provided: Question Stretchers (page 82), Building a Research Focus (page 83), Focusing My Inquiry (page 84), and Refining Your Inquiry Question (page 85). q When students have narrowed their focus and have some questions to consider, introduce the Inquiry Question Contract (pages 86–87). Have students complete the contract to refine their inquiry question or statement of purpose. q Conference with students and confirm that they are ready to start their research. As students proceed with their research, they might discover that they need to adjust their focus and/or their question.

Q Tip

For further exploration regarding building inquiry questions, see Booth (2003) and visit The Question Mark, Jamie McKenzie’s online journal devoted to questioning (http://questioning. org/).

Q+ Empower students by providing many opportunities to experiment with building questions. The worksheets on pages 82–85 can easily be made collaborative by rebuilding them in a digital format that allows for groups of students to work on the same document; e.g., Google Docs. When students own their inquiry question, they are engaged.

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Refining Your Inquiry Question Your research question so far: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rating Scale Not Yet Great Stimulates your curiosity





1

2

3

4

5

Encourages you to dig deep for your information



1

2

3

4

5

Challenges you to think about your discoveries



1

2

3

4

5

Prompts you to analyze your findings





1

2

3

4

5

Focuses your research quest









1

2

3

4

5

Keeps you on track











1

2

3

4

5

Sparks your imagination









1

2

3

4

5







1

2

3

4

5

Helps you to make personal meaning





Can you improve your question? • Think about the important concepts for this topic, points of view to consider, your assumptions so far, the purpose you hope to achieve. • Conference with a friend and your teacher. • Try to rework your question to make it even more powerful.

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How can I help students move from question to thesis statement? Q Task

Students will use their guiding research questions and teacher prompts to build a thesis.

Clarifying the Task A thesis demonstrates a very high level of understanding about a topic. As young researchers mature, they become more adept at this formal synthesis. When students are developmentally ready, usually at the secondary level, teachers require them to prepare academic papers framed by a personal thesis statement, but the development of a thesis statement should also be a step in the process of preparing any presentation that requires students to synthesize their findings, and to present and defend their personal understandings. In this Q Task, students have explored their topic, developed an inquiry question to guide their research, identified appropriate resources, and started gathering and organizing their data. At this point, the skill of building a thesis should be introduced. Building Understanding Project a sample essay and deconstruct it using a think-aloud. Highlight the thesis statement and explain that it is usually found at the end of the first paragraph. • Examine the essay for the supporting evidence the author uses to defend the thesis. Point out transition words used to link ideas. Identify the kinds of evidence cited; e.g., cause and effect, similarities and differences, illustrations, relationships, etc. Discuss how effectively the author has delivered the argument, and make suggestions for strengthening the essay. • Group students and provide each group with a sample essay to deconstruct. Circulate and provide support as students work. Ask each group to share the thesis statement of the essay they were assigned, and to explain how well the author defended the thesis. • Discuss the elements of an effective thesis and chart student responses: e.g., focused and concise, arguable, supported by effective evidence, original thought, etc. Explain to students that their thesis should pass the “So what?” test; i.e., the thesis should be a strong hook to capture their audience’s attention and pique their interest.

Q Tip

Check out these web sites for examples of thesis statements and support to help students as they become more independent in writing a thesis: • The Writing Lab and Owl at Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ owl/ resource/545/01 • The Center for Writing Studies: http://www.cws.illinois.edu/ workshop/writers/tips/thesis/

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Demonstrating Understanding q Provide students with the Building Your Thesis Map organizer (page 89). Explain that they will use this organizer to help them move from their research question to a thesis statement. Instruct students to record new questions they have about their topic, as well as the connections they are making as they proceed. q Review the question prompts and remind students that visual organizers— concept maps, flow charts, Venn diagrams, etc.—are perfect tools for helping them analyze their data and finding relationships. q Conference with students after they develop their possible thesis statement. q Conference again when they refine it and prepare to write their essays or develop their multimedia presentation. Q+ Now that students know what an effective thesis is and how to craft one, ask groups of students to collaborate to create a very short creative presentation. Post their presentations on the school library web site, available for everyone who needs a quick how-to reminder.

Building Your Thesis Map During the research process, you will be working toward your thesis. Your research question will guide you along your journey. As you gather more information, you will probably discover that you have more questions. This organizer provides a process path and prompts to help you record your valuable thoughts and questions as you build your thesis.

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4. Questioning to Learn How do good questions empower learners?

The best way to ensure that students’ work is original thinking is to enable them to develop their own focus with good inquiry questions.

Questions can be an effective tool for students. Teacher-created questions, used as a scaffold, empower students to work through a rich learning experience on their own. When students themselves become skilled questioners, able to develop situation-specific questions independently, the positive impact on learning is evident in their achievements. They will develop better understanding, interpret media, probe issues with perception, form personal opinions, see relationships, make connections, draw conclusions—they will be able and adept at higher-level thinking. The impact of technology has caused educators to take another look at the meaning of literacy and to expand the definition to include information literacies, visual literacy, and digital literacy. For students to be successful in the cyberworld, they need to hone their critical and creative thinking skills. Effective questioning skills are a catalyst for this achievement. Students who question to learn will take possession of their own intellectual growth. They will apply questioning skills to sort through the information glut, to analyze data, to connect to literature and the arts, to solve problems, to make decisions, to take action, to self-analyze, and to set goals. Questions will become their most useful information tool. Most students need to be taught questioning skills and require lots of practice applying them before they develop independence. In this chapter we have included tasks to provide some of the many possible applications for the tools presented in chapter 3: Learning to Question. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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How can teacher-guided questioning improve experimentation in art? How can questions enable students to read visual images? How can questioning enable critical analysis of visual text? How can I help students identify perspectives and understand opinions? How can questioning help form personal opinions? How do questions facilitate working with web text? (for younger and older students) Q Task Quickies: Questioning on the Web How can questioning help students take a stand on bullying? How can questioning help students become good digital citizens? What is the role of questioning in clarifying understanding? What is the role of questioning in testing ideas and theories? How does a journalist develop interview questions? How do students create effective interview questions? How can students prepare to effectively question an expert? How can primary students create survey questions? How can questions enable comparison? How do students know which attributes to compare?

• • • •

What role do questions play in building understanding? How can students use FAQAs to demonstrate or share their learning? How can peer questioning enhance student creative writing? How can we use Book Talking Strategy?

Once you have learned how to ask relevant and appropriate questions, you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know. (Postman and Weingartner, Teaching as a Subversive Activity)

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How can teacher-guided questioning improve experimentation in art? Q Task

Students will discover how teacher-guided questioning can help them experiment purposefully to develop line design with scissors.

Clarifying the Task In this example, students are engaged in the study of line in art, and will be asked to apply that knowledge while learning to use scissors effectively as an artistic tool. They will consider the characteristics and variety of lines. Building Understanding • Ask students to brainstorm what they know about line, and to identify the varieties of lines they could create. Make a list of different kinds of lines: straight, curved, zigzag, diagonal, arcs, spirals, thick, thin, etc.; angles, combinations, etc. Illustrate on the chalkboard. • Ask questions relating the types of lines to how to create them with scissors: • • • • • •

How can you reproduce these line designs using your scissors? What is the best way to cut a smooth curving line? What is the best way to create a zigzag line? When is it better to move the scissors? When is it better to move the paper? How many combinations can you create?

• Allow students time to experiment with newsprint and cut many different examples. • Add to the list of lines as students discover more line types and combinations. • Discuss how the guided questioning helps students make discoveries about using scissors to create line design. Demonstrating Understanding Review how line can be used to convey a mood in art. Issue a challenge: q How could you cut all the line examples and keep the paper sample all in one piece? Try it! q Create an abstract 3D work of art using the sample piece, with a new piece of paper as background. What do these line forms remind you of? What will you call your creation? Q+ Use your favorite digital drawing tool or app and prepare a different set of guiding questions to help students experiment and get creative with line drawing potential. Make the experience engaging and collaborative with free draw tools like Twiddla (http://www.twiddla.com/). Print the creations and display them, adding student questions about the line art and the drawing program they used. Q Tip

Group students and provide them with art prints that demonstrate a variety of line types. Ask them to find different kinds of lines and discuss the emotions evoked by them. Now have them use one of the many questioning strategies in this book to develop questions about the art.

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Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

How can questions enable students to read visual images? Q Task

Students will use and develop questions to help them read illustrations and photographs.

Clarifying the Task In this example, students will think about what life was like for children in the past. In the 19th century, only the children of the wealthy were educated. Most other children—even the very young—worked at home, in the fields, in mines, and even in factories. Collect archival photographs of children at work in various jobs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. You could print, reference, and mount them as if in an old album, or select from archival Internet sites and bookmark them. Building Understanding • Explore a video about working children to introduce the topic. Introduce the guiding question—What was life like for working children in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?—and display the photo collection. Display the Picture Prompts to guide their picture reading. Picture Prompts • Where is this scene located? • What is happening now? • What might have happened just prior to this picture? • What might happen next? • Who do you see in the picture? • Who do you not see who might be involved? Why? • What does this picture remind you of? • Allow students time to view all the photos and then select a photo they are curious about. Invite students to step into the picture, to project themselves back in time until they are right there with the subject. Ask students to step about inside the photo. What do they see, hear, and smell? • Have students use the Step In/Step About/Step Out worksheet (page 94) to record their findings and develop questions they want to ask the child in the photo. • Have students research in the school library to discover as much as possible about the time period, and the work and life of children. Demonstrating Understanding q Ask students to step out of the photo and use their research notes and the photo to reconstruct a day, or a series of days, in the child’s life, using the form of diary entries. q Students can create a museum-type exhibit with the photo, diary entries, and perhaps an artifact, such as a piece of clothing, buttons, a ribbon, or a coin.

Q Tip

See What do I do about the kid who...? 50 ways to turn teaching into learning by Kathleen Gould Lundy (2004). This Q Task is adapted from Koechlin and Zwaan (2005).

Q+ Build collaborative knowledge about the topic by pasting digital photos in a document (e.g., using Google Docs) and inviting group analysis using the same prompts as on page 94. Use an audio tool like VoiceThread (https://voicethread. com/) to add audio responses, or build pages in a wiki or site to archive and analyze a number of photos or videos on a topic.

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How can questioning enable critical analysis of visual text? Q Task

Students will analyze editorial cartoons through the use of strategic questions.

Clarifying the Task In this example, the class has been studying controversial issues, focusing on sifting fact from innuendo, propaganda, personal opinion, and misinformation. At this point they have a good background on the issue and will begin to consider cartoonists’ takes on it. Building Understanding • Collect a variety of editorial cartoons dealing with different aspects and perspectives of an issue the students are familiar with. • Select and project one of these for the class to view. Watch and listen for different reactions from students. Acknowledge that there are valid and different perspectives within the class and that they will result in different reactions. Encourage students to respect and honor their differences. • Ask students whose reactions were noticeable to share their thoughts and explain what prompted them. Make a chart and record the reaction and what prompted the reaction. Then ask other students to share their responses and continue to build the chart. • Using the charted information, collaboratively create a list of questions to guide students as they analyze editorial cartoons. Analyzing Editorial Cartoons • • • • • • • • • •

Whose point of view is represented? Who or what will this cartoon influence? Whose perspective is missing? How did these factors affect your reaction? What might you infer from this work? How do you feel about it? Why? Do others feel differently? Why? How does the cartoonist make use of exaggeration? How does the cartoonist appeal to the emotions? What special techniques does the cartoonist use?

Demonstrating Understanding Mount the cartoons and the analysis questions on chart paper and display on the walls around the classroom. Have students visit each cartoon and use a marker to record their personal responses, graffiti style, on the chart surrounding the cartoon. Remind students to take some think time before reacting. Students continue their Gallery Walk to visit as many cartoon exhibits as time allows. Q Tips

• Try this before beginning the study of an issue and again at the end of the study. Compare the reactions. • Visit MediaSmarts (http:// mediasmarts.ca/) for other strategies to critically analyze media texts.

Q+ Now that students understand the skills and techniques cartoonists use to develop political cartoons, invite them to create their own using free comic strip programs like Write Comics (http://writecomics.com) or Bitstrips (http://www. bitstripsforschools.com/).

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How can I help students identify perspectives and understand opinions? Q Task

Students will learn how questions help them to identify and understand the opinions of others.

Clarifying the Task Students are often required to express an opinion on a curriculum-related issue. Everyone has an opinion, but are the opinions expressed really valid? Are they based on fact? Students need to understand to what extent opinions are guided by the amount and quality of information available to them, and by the degree of their understanding. In order for students to learn to develop their opinions independently, we must provide them with opportunities to ask the critical questions themselves. We must hand over the power of questioning to the students. In this task, students will be guided to create questions, to express their opinions about a topic prior to and after viewing a video, and then to assess the impact additional and/or new information had on their opinion. Building Understanding • Define fact, opinion, and propaganda. Present the issue to be investigated. • Present some short news clips, or do an Internet search of current media relating to the selected issue. • In small groups, students will brainstorm ideas gleaned from current knowledge of the topic. • Reconvene the large group. Share and consolidate findings. • Students break into small groups again. Have students questionstorm to • identify stakeholders • assess the validity of the issue • look for facts, opinions, and propaganda • anticipate possible effects of decisions • discover who does and doesn’t benefit or suffer • identify standoff/stalemate points • Select questions to guide first viewing of the video. • View selected video. Allow students time to complete the questions based on their current knowledge of the issue. • Distribute and explain how to use the Who Says What? facts and perspectives organizer (page 97). Show the video again and allow time afterwards for students to record their discoveries. Note that an additional viewing or a stop–start viewing might be necessary for some or all students. Facilitate a class discussion of findings. Demonstrating Understanding Now that students have this new information, have them revisit the pre-viewing questions they brainstormed. Ask them to compare their pre- and post-viewing responses, and identify where and how their answers changed. Have the class share and chart the changes, and then discuss what it was that caused their opinions to change or why they didn’t change.

Q Tip

Archive content-relevant issue-based articles and digital videos from a wide variety of perspectives. Have students work collaboratively to identify the key ideas, the perspective, and factors that influence each. Now have students practice questioning by holding mock interviews with stakeholders.

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Q+ Q Storming (see page 65) in collaborative digital spaces like Google Docs can be more efficient than on paper because the questions can be shared (by projector or interactive whiteboard) and are archived for the post-viewing activity.

Who Says What?

What are the facts to consider?

What are the perspectives? Stakeholder Perspective

What questions would you ask this stakeholder?

Stakeholder Perspective

What questions would you ask this stakeholder?

Stakeholder Perspective

What questions would you ask this stakeholder?

So what? What do I think about it now?

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How can questioning help form personal opinions? Q Task

Students will learn how to form a personal opinion.

Clarifying the Task Forming an opinion is an information process. Students will learn that developing an informed opinion is based on identifying and researching all relevant perspectives on an issue, followed by critical thought and consideration. Building Understanding Students have completed an in-depth study of an issue. They are preparing to write a position paper. • To help students form a personal opinion about this issue, provide them with guiding question prompts such as the ones in the box. • • • • • •

What is the problem or issue in debate? What are the important perspectives to consider? What arguments are presented by the stakeholders? What contradictions or inconsistencies did you uncover, if any? What are the actual facts regarding these inconsistencies? How do you react to these facts? Why do you feel this way?

• After students have considered their answers to the questions, distribute the Take a Position Line worksheet (page 99). Instruct them to think about where they see themselves on the position line. • Have students identify four important stakeholders in the issue being considered—candidates, journalists, lobbyists, government, environmentalists, home owners, students, etc.—and mark where each would sit on the line. Then have students identify and mark their personal location on the line. Demonstrating Understanding Instruct students to draft their position paper using the guiding questions and their position line as a framework for their writing. Have students work with a partner and exchange papers to edit each other’s draft work. Again, instruct students to refer to the guiding questions as they peer edit.

Q Tips

• For ideas on using the Take a Position Model, see Loertscher, Koechlin, and Zwaan (2005). • Give students lots of practice with this process of taking a position and forming an opinion so that the process will become intuitive. Use real-world topics that are relevant for students. Make it active and have students take a position and form a line across the classroom to demonstrate their opinions on an issue. Students need to be ready to defend their opinions.

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Q+ When students are ready to draft their opinion essay, instruct them to work in a collaborative virtual word-processing space. Here teachers can instantly monitor and guide student progress; the peer editing process is efficient and effective, as editors can easily highlight text and add comments and suggestions. Archive the drafts for teachers to assess and for students to refer to as they prepare their final essays. For tips on using Google Docs in the classroom see http://blog.backupify.com/2014/07/15/learn-latest-classroom-writing-tipsgoogle-docs/

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How do questions facilitate working with web text? (for younger students) Q Task

Students will develop questions and apply tips for reading and working with web text.

Clarifying the Task In this sample, the class is preparing to conduct independent study of issues related to air quality. This task will give students opportunities to explore many aspects of air quality, such as smog, car emissions, ozone, heath concerns, etc. Students will explore selected web sites with teacher-developed guiding questions, and keep track of their learning and new questions as they travel from site to site. Building Understanding • Collect news clips and/or articles related to air-quality issues. View/read these current news items and dialogue with students to begin building background information. • Inform students that you want them to gain further insight into multiple issues by exploring some selected web sites. Ask students to explain how they find information they need on sites that are new to them. • Record their ideas and introduce the Tips for Reading Web Text list (page 101). Model the tips suggested by exploring a web site and voicing your thoughts and questions as you explore. Demonstrating Understanding q Provide copies of the Air Quality E-tour (page 102) and prepare students for the tour. Remind them to review their Tips for Reading Web Text and to follow the E-tour itinerary. q Students will record their findings on the Air Quality E-tour Map worksheet (page 103) and keep track of their own personal questions as they tour the web sites. This tour will give students a working knowledge of important issues so they will be able to select an aspect in which they are personally interested in exploring for independent study. q When students have had practice with E-tours and guiding questions, they will be ready to develop their own questions, find reliable sources, and record their initial exploratory findings using an organizer such as KWHLQ (page 64).

Q Tip

It is very easy to get lost in the sea of information available on many web sites. The best way to stay on course is to develop questions that serve as guideposts. These questions can be teacherdeveloped at first. Students need to keep revisiting these questions as they work their way through the site, to make sure they do not wander off track and waste valuable time. This Q Task is adapted from Loertscher, Koechlin and Zwaan (2011).

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Q+ Create the E-tour with a collaborative tool, such as Google Docs, so students can work with others to build knowledge and teachers can check progress and coach students by posting digital comments on their work.

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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• Environment Canada - Air http://www.ec.gc.ca/Air/default.asp?lang=En&n=72F82C27-1 • Environment Canada - Air: Smog http://www.ec.gc.ca/air/default.asp?lang=En&n=13D0EDAA-1 • Health Canada - Air Quality http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/air/index-eng.php • Air Now – Canada Air Quality http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.canada • Earth Observatory http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ • Toronto Environmental Alliance - Smog Facts http://www.torontoenvironment.org/campaigns/climate/ smogfacts • Pollution Probe: The Smog Primer http://www.pollutionprobe.org/report/smogprimer.pdf

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How do questions facilitate working with web text? (for older students) Q Task

Students will develop questions and apply tips for reading and working with web text.

Clarifying the Task In this sample, the class is preparing to write an argumentative essay on a topic of their choice related to Canadian Law. This is a culminating activity, so students have considerable experience with Canadian Law issues. Students have determined a topic of interest and consulted with their teacher for approval. They are ready to develop a focus for their essay and begin research. This task is supported by a Pathfinder, developed to guide students to best possible resources available to them through the school library or district web portal. Building Understanding • Students prepare for research by focusing the potential of their topic with questions using the Researching with Questions organizer on page 105. • Review Tips for Reading Web Text (page 101). Model the tips by exploring a database and voicing your thoughts and questions as you explore. • Provide students with a link to a Pathfinder. Review the suggested databases and links to Canadian Law sources. • Review referencing formats and introduce students to online citation tools, such as Citation Machine (http://www.citationmachine.net/) or EasyBib bibliography creator. Demonstrating Understanding q Students will record their findings to prepare for their essay using a collaborative digital space that they can access from anywhere they have Internet and share work with their teacher(s); e.g., Google Docs. Their notes will be reviewed and assessed by the teacher as a component of their research process mark. q Students will build and archive their reference lists, draft the final essay, and save everything in digital folders as they proceed.

Q Tip

Critical and creative thinking is a major outcome of the Learning Commons when working with any kind of text. Explore the OSLA document Together for Learning (www.togetherforlearning.ca) for ideas.

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Q+ A Pathfinder (see sample on page 105) is a guide for researchers that contains consolidated lists of the best resources on a topic. It is usually developed collaboratively by teacher-librarians and teachers as they plan a unit of study, but it could be developed collaboratively with students as they explore a topic and suggest excellent resources they have found. It includes all the resources students might find useful for an inquiry. The Pathfinder should link students to online subscription databases available from the school library/district portal. It might contain Dewey Decimal numbers to locate materials in the library and vetted URLs to locate materials on the Internet. In addition, it could include primary source documents and contact information for experts who might be able to address specific questions related to a topic. The Pathfinder can be developed simply as a document with live links and mounted on the library/classroom web site, or it can be developed in a collaborative wiki or by using web tools, such as Live Binders (http://www.livebinders.com/), Flipboard (https://flipboard. com), or LibGuides (http://springshare.com/libguides/).

Researching with Questions Topic: ___________________________________________________________  Name: ______________________________________________________ Now that you have decided on your topic, invest some time in thinking about what you want to find out as you research. Think about people and places involved, events that took place, and issues that come to mind. Consider the topic from different points of view or perspectives. What are you curious about? What do you want to learn? What will be the focus of your investigations? Now that you know what you want to explore, develop some questions to guide your research. Select the questions you care most about. They will be the focus of your research. Good questions mean good answers. Remember that questions should be analytical in nature and not merely require a factual response.

Does Can Will Must Should Would Could Have Has Is Are

NOTE: It is okay to keep adding questions during your research as you discover new connections and perspectives. © 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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Sample Pathfinder: Understanding Canadian Law Argumentative Essay Focus your topic with questions using the Researching with Questions organizer. Search Smart and start with our school library web page (make a direct link here). Databases: (these will be specific to the school) Canadian Points of View: Browse by category for overviews and suggested points and counterpoints to investigate; e.g., Crime and Punishment, Drugs, Family Issues, Human Rights, Social Issues, Women’s Issues, etc. Canadian Reference Centre: Refine to Full Text and Academic Journals. Canadian Student Research Centre: Categorize results by subject and type of publication. Current Sources: Search Newspapers and Images and Media. Search our library catalogue for books on your topic. (Specific recommended texts are added and annotated here) Hint: Use Boolean search strategies to focus on a world issues topic: for example Copyright Infringement AND (Canada) Family AND (Law) AND (Canada) Specific sites to locate government documents and generally aid your research for this project: (These are sample sites only; on the Pathfinder they should be annotated to help students know a bit about the content) • Government of Canada Department of Justice, Reports and Publications http://canada.justice. gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/index.html • Ontario Law and Safety http://www.ontario.ca/law-and-safety/law-and-safety • Ontario Justice Information Network http://www.ojen.ca/ • Justice Laws Website, Constitution Acts 1867 to 1982 http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/index.html • Supreme Court of Canada http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/home-accueil/index-eng.aspx • Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Documents Gallery http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadian-state/023012-1600-e.html • The Law Society of Upper Canada, Case Studies for Study Groups http://www.lsuc.on.ca/For-Lawyers/Improve-Your-Practice/Education/CPD-Professionalism-CaseStudies-for-Study-Groups/ • The Canadian Legal Information Institute http://www.canlii.org/en/ TIPS: • Keep track of the sources you use. • Check for resources at your public library. • Ask your teacher-librarian when you need help. © 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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Q Task Quickies

Questioning on the Web E-Tours Your students can create their own e-tours (see pages 100–103) as a presentation/product to demonstrate both their understanding of a topic and their ability to navigate the Internet and select the best web resources to support their topic. Students will develop guiding questions to help their readers uncover important information and develop their own understanding of the topic or issue. Encourage them to use archiving tools; e.g., LibGuides or Scoop.it.

Scavenger/Treasure Hunts This web activity—essentially a fact-finding mission—is usually used when teachers want to give novice web users practice in navigating the web and using search tools effectively. Turn the tables by inviting students to demonstrate their new web navigational skills in the creation of their own scavenger hunts and treasure hunts for other students to complete. The strategy can also be used to build background information about a topic: instruct students to explore web sites and evaluate them to select the best, and then develop factual questions for students to discover the answers to. For more information, see Scavenger Hunts: Searching for Treasure on the Internet (http://www. education-world.com/a_curr/curr113.shtml).

WebQuests A well-crafted WebQuest is an engaging inquiry experience that allows students to use the potential of the web to make quick links to the best information. An effective WebQuest poses a problem or question for students to explore and provides adequate learning advice to prompt analysis and synthesis. The conclusion should raise more questions and spark further investigation. There are many teacher-developed WebQuests on the web; many are able to elevate students to think critically and creatively. For more information, see The WebQuest Page—Bernie Dodge  (http:// webquest.sdsu.edu/) and Best WebQuests (http://bestwebquests.com/).

Comparisons This activity is useful for helping students understand that some sources of information are better than others, depending on the specific needs they have. Instruct students to create their own questions for comparing two resources. Encourage students to experiment with making lots of questions, using tools such as the Question Builder Frames on page 71. Students could compare • web sites on the same topic •  a web site and a book • online encyclopedias •  an online encyclopedia and a print encyclopedia • search engines

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How can questioning help students take a stand on bullying? Q Task

Students will collaboratively build questions to develop understanding of bullying.

Clarifying the Task In this task, a powerful picture book or video is used to provide an emotional hook into the issue of bullying, and students build questions to develop understanding together. Building Understanding • Read It’s Not My Fault (Kristiansson and Stenberg) and discuss the main idea of the story, who was involved, and who wasn’t involved but should have been. Discuss why the author included the powerful black and white photos at the end of the book. • Provide students with a copy of the Question Builder chart (page 68), or have students build their questions in a digital format (e.g., a Google spreadsheet), and review how the matrix works with question starters and verbs. Ask for a couple of examples from class; e.g. What should a bystander to bullying do? • Students think about the story It’s Not My Fault and bullying incidents they have heard of or witnessed; they individually create a few questions in the matrix. • Have students form small groups of three or four. Students share individual questions and add the ones they like to their own charts. Groups keep building questions in the Question Builder. They can have more than one question in a cell. • Ask each group to review their questions and select one really unique or powerful question to share with class. Demonstrating Understanding q Students create anti-bullying posters using questions and visuals. The poster should be centred around many questions, or focus on one powerful question developed in the Question Builder activity, surrounded by graffiti, poetry, or word art. Create an anti-bullying wall using the posters. q Continue the campaign and encourage students to create initiatives to support positive bully-free relationships; e.g., write and perform a play Q+ Students can build their posters on a digital platform like Glogster (http:// edu.glogster.com/) or create them collaboratively (e.g., using Google Draw). Because they are digital, the posters can be shared on the school web site for the school community to see.

Q Tip

For more literacy and arts strategies to promote bully awareness in the classroom, see The Bully-Go-Round by Larry Swartz (2013) and Creating Caring Classrooms by Kathleen Gould Lundy and Larry Swartz (2001).

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How can questioning help students become good digital citizens? Q Task

Students will apply questioning skills and strategies to build understanding of various aspects of digital citizenship.

Clarifying the Task The topic for this task is cyberbullying; however, the questioning strategies for this task can be used for any aspect of digital citizenship: responsible use, plagiarism, safety, digital footprint, privacy issues, etc. .

Building Understanding • Build background information and capture students’ attention using realworld examples of digital citizenship problems and issues. Explore ideas at MediaSmarts (http://mediasmarts.ca). • Have students build questions together using the Q Storming technique (see page 65).

• Provide students with articles on cyberbullying, case studies, or resources such as the pamphlet What You Need to Know from Kids Help Canada (http://www.kidshelpdev.org/khp-org/bullying_awareness/TIPS_EN_ Cyberbullying_Teens-FINAL.pdf). • Ask students to read an article, case study, or pamphlet and develop three levels of questions for discussion. Use the What’s Your Question Line? organizer (page 45) or Understanding What We Read (page 110). Demonstrating Understanding q Share and explore questions in small discussion groups. q Ask students to decide on a focus for their cyberbullying inquiry and begin investigations. q After research, students share their findings in a visual format that can be shared: e.g., an infographic, video, slideshow, poster, comic strip.

Q Tip

TALCO has a portal that is a good place for teachers to start building ideas to help students grow as good digital citizens (http:// www.talcoontario.ca/digitalcitizenship/).

Q+: Infographics An infographic is a new form of journalism that • visually explains something and helps the reader easily get the big picture • integrates words and pictures in a fluid, dynamic way • stands alone and is completely self-explanatory • reveals information that was formerly hidden or submerged • facilitates faster, more consistent understanding • is universally understandable. Tools to Try: • Easel.ly at http://www.easel.ly/ • Piktochart at http://piktochart.com/ • Infogr.am at http://infogr.am/ Questioning to Learn 109

Understanding What We Read: Three Types of Questions to Ask Name: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Good readers and researchers ask questions while they read. Literal Questions: The answer to literal questions can be found right in the text. These are often called on-the-line questions. Example: Who is the main character? Where did he live? Inferential Questions: The answer to inferential questions can be found by examining the text for clues. The answers are not directly stated but are implied. These are often called between-the-lines questions. Example: Was the main character upset? What do you think will happen next? Evaluative Questions: The answers to evaluative questions require information from outside of the text. These are often called in-the-head or beyond-the-line questions. Example: If you were the main character what would you do next? What do you think the author is trying to tell the reader in this chapter? You Try It! Read and Question Literal on-the-line ?

Inferential between-the-lines ?

Evaluative beyond-the-line → ?

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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What is the role of questioning in clarifying understanding? Q Task

Students will use questioning skills to clarify understanding.

Clarifying the Task In this example, students have completed individual research about an environmental problem or issue. Each has developed a personal inquiry question, conducted research, analyzed findings, and prepared a two-minute report to share his or her discoveries. Students will present their research findings in an expert-panel format. Each panel will consist of four or five students. Building Understanding • Before the experts present their reports, inform the class that everyone will be expected to contribute to developing deeper understanding of the issues presented. Each student will apply active listening skills and prepare to ask questions of each expert. • Introduce the I Need to Know More organizer (page 112) and explain the process by modeling it yourself. • Prepare a two-minute report on a topic of interest to you and present it to your class. • Ask students to jot down key words or sketches as they listen, and then prepare a few questions they would like to ask to clarify their understanding. • For the purpose of this demonstration, allow time for a number of questions. • Discuss and chart tips for the questioners, and develop a list of response prompts to help the experts respond to questions. Response prompts for expert panelists • Let me rephrase your question:… • If I understand your question correctly,… • It is an interesting question; however, I did not… • I cannot answer that; however, I can recommend a book/web site/etc. • I am sorry, I did not encounter this issue in my research; however,… • In my opinion… • Based on my research… • According to the sources I checked… • I like your question and I will try…

Q Tips

• Make the experience as authentic as possible: set up a central podium and microphone for questions; or arrange to telephone, e-mail, or text message questions to the experts. • See the Questioning Etiquette and Guidelines chart on page 117.

Demonstrating Understanding Review the logistics for the expert-panel session. q Each expert has two minutes; each can take only three questions from the audience. q Everyone in the audience keeps a log of their responses and questions as they listen to each expert. See the I Need to Know More organizer (page 112). q The questioner needs to address the expert the question is for: “This question is for __________.” q A moderator will ensure that everyone has a chance to ask at least one question. Q+ Students can consult experts outside the classroom using a web conferencing tool such as Adobe Connect, Skype, or Google Hangout. Questioning to Learn 111

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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What is the role of questioning in testing ideas and theories? Q Task

Students will learn how consultation with others helps to test ideas and theories.

Clarifying the Task As students work on finding solutions for a problem, or as they near completion of a research project, they will have a variety of possible ideas, theories, and conclusions. Finalizing decisions is often an onerous task. Sharing and discussing these ideas with a colleague can be very helpful, not only in making final decisions, but also in developing personal understanding. In this task, students will be introduced to, and later apply, the consultation process. Building Understanding • Discuss the terms “consultant” and “consultation,” and how they apply to the business world. • Ask students to brainstorm the skills and attributes a consultant would require. Chart ideas. Skills: active and reflective listening, critical reading, effective questioning Attributes: empathetic, encouraging, honest, perceptive (Review reflective listening skills if students don’t suggest them.) • Discuss how a businessperson would prepare for meeting with a consultant. Chart ideas. • collect and organize relevant data, research notes, and visuals • decide on a way to present and share information and ideas • rehearse and check to ensure all needed materials are at hand • arrange for a quiet meeting space with all the equipment and materials required • Ask what a consultant would do to prepare for the consultation. Chart ideas. • get any available background information on the topic • collect and bring note-making materials (laptop, tablet, paper, pens, calendar) • arrive prepared to listen, question, reflect, and discuss

Q Tips

• See Working With Information and Testing Ideas, in Koechlin and Zwaan (2001). • Partner with another class and set up the consultation using web-conferencing technology.

Demonstrating Understanding q Discuss how students could use the consultation process to help clarify their thoughts on issues, draw conclusions, or decide on solutions for a current curriculum challenge. q Provide them with copies of the Consultation to Test Ideas (page 114) and discuss how the consultants can use these question prompts to help them begin. Encourage consultants to develop their own questions based on the specific topic and ideas being tested. q Divide the class into two groups: half will share their research and ideas; the others will act as consultants—listen, question, reflect, and reply. q Switch roles and continue the consultation process.

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© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How does a journalist develop interview questions? Q Task

Students learn to ask questions to glean information through an interview.

Clarifying the Task Creating effective interview questions is a very difficult task. In this Q Task, students deconstruct the text of an article that was based on an interview, and make inferences to determine the questions the reporter would have asked to obtain specific information. Building Understanding • For the purpose of modeling, select an article that has obviously been composed as a result of an interview with a popular athlete or entertainer. Sports and entertainment magazines and web sites are rich sources. Project the article on the interactive whiteboard or provide individual copies for students to work from. • Read the article to the class, asking them to discover something new about the personality. • Have students read the article, this time looking for all the information bits revealed by the article. Chart and number the information bits. • Organize students in small groups to discuss and discover the questions that the reporter might have used to obtain the information revealed in the article. Have groups share their discoveries. • Discuss the specific merits of suggested questions for each information bit and decide on the best question(s). Record selected questions beside information bits and discuss the features that would have made them successful questions. Identify focus words, and words that facilitate elaboration, clarification, hypothesis, etc. Demonstrating Understanding Provide students with copies of a different high-interest article and supply them with highlighters so that they can individually follow the procedure you modeled with them: identifying information bits and creating the questions that might have been used to get the info. q Have students use their highlighters to identify the words in the question that they feel will help them glean the information they are targeting. They will record their findings on the Questioning InfoBits organizer (page 116). q Have students meet in small groups to share and explain their questioning strategies and select the best question for each infobit. Share selected questions with the class and identify their special features. q Discuss how this process will help students be better interviewers. Have them make an entry in their Reflection Journals or Learning Log.

Q Tip

Subscribe to RSS feeds of newspapers and magazines of interest and/or follow them on social media to source current high-interest articles for student analysis.

Q+ Reflection writing should be designed as a natural component of a student’s personal learning experience. To ensure that reflection is embedded in learning, have students set up virtual portfolios using wikis, web sites, blogging tools, or school- and district-preferred environments to archive their projects and learning reflections. Digital student portfolios make evidence of learning transparent and nothing is ever lost.

Questioning to Learn 115

Questioning InfoBits Who is the personality being interviewed?

InfoBits What are the important bits of information in this article?

Possible Questions What might the journalist have asked to get this information?

What other questions do you think the journalist should have asked, but didn’t?

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How do students create effective interview questions? Q Task

Students learn to create effective questions to use when conducting an interview.

Clarifying the Task Interacting with people in an interview is a powerful way for students to acquire information first-hand. In this task, students will learn to prepare interview questions. They will follow an interview scaffold and observe questioning etiquette. Students will be expected to respect the fine line between deep, probing questions and invasive, rude questions. In this example, the class is studying career opportunities. They will work in pairs to arrange and conduct interviews with a community member in a field of personal interest to them. Building Understanding • As a group, discuss the sort of information students will be looking for. Caution them about the sort of questions that would be taboo. • Chart their ideas and develop a list of questioning dos and don’ts. See Questioning Etiquette and Guidelines below. • Discuss the timing of this assignment and the stages of the process: • planning the interview • creating the interview questions • procedures for before, during, and after the interview • assessing success Questioning Etiquette and Guidelines Good questioners get good results by following some basic guidelines, by being aware of the thoughts and ideas of others, and by just using good manners. To become an effective questioner: • Listen to the thoughts and ideas of others. • Don’t interrupt others. • Be mindful of the feelings and the privacy of others. • Be aware of your own feelings. • Respect others. • Show appreciation. • Stay on topic.

Q Tip

For more tips for students conducting interviews: • How to Conduct an Interview: http://www.scholastic.com/ teachers/lesson-plan/howconduct-interview • How to conduct an interview: tips for youth journalists from Taking It Global: http:// www.tigweb.org/youthmedia/panorama/article. html?ContentID=453#

Demonstrating Understanding The students will have already done research on career roles that they are interested in pursuing. Now they prepare to interview someone currently working in a field they have chosen. q Have students list information they hope to glean from the interview. q Review tools to help students build effective questions; see chapter 3: Learning to Question. q Instruct students to apply their knowledge of questioning strategies and their understanding of the job to create their interview questions. q Have students create an interview worksheet, listing all their questions with space for recording interview responses. Q+ Now students are ready to conduct face-to-face or virtual interviews for a project or class newspaper. Students might create their virtual interviews in a form, such as Survey Monkey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/) or Google Forms, so responses will be archived for easy analysis.

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How can students prepare to effectively question an expert? Q Task

Students will develop questions to ask an expert during an interactive video conference.

Clarifying the Task In this example, the class has been engaged in a study of naturally occurring disasters—earthquakes. They have a good background of vocabulary and knowledge about earthquakes, including how and where they occur. Their study has sparked lots of new questions about the topic, and the teacher has arranged for an Interactive Video Conference (IVC) with a leading seismologist. Building Understanding • Contact the expert and discuss the content you want students to gain from the IVC experience. Plan the structure of the IVC with the expert. • Provide students with background information about the work of a seismologist, or instruct students to research and share their knowledge of careers related to the study of natural disasters. • Provide students with the Expert Planning organizer (page 119). Have students develop a web or concept map of what they already know. • Review question-building tools such as the Question Builder Chart (page 68), Question Builder Frames (page 71), and Question Stretchers (page 82). Provide students with copies so they can experiment with building effective questions to ask the seismologist. • Have students record their best questions on the Expert Planning organizer. • Have students share their questions in groups. Each group will cluster similar questions and decide on three questions the group would really like to ask. Ask each group to chart their questions. • Examine all the questions, looking for similarities, and cluster questions. • Discuss the questions with the class and decide on six really important questions everyone wants to have answered.

Q Tip

Some IVC program providers to consider: • Centre for Interactive Learning and Collaboration: http://www.cilc.org/search.aspx • Virtual Researcher On Call (VROC): www.vroc.ca • NASA Digital Learning Network: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ education/programs/national/ dln/#.U8M2MZRdVyI

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Demonstrating Understanding q Arrange for students to take turns practicing how they would ask the six important class questions. Inform students that they need to be prepared to ask any of the six class questions plus one of their own, as time permits during the IVC lesson. q Provide students with any IVC technical information they need, such as being prepared for a time delay between audio and visual play. Remind students of best manners for hosting a guest. q Have students keep notes on their Expert Planning organizer during the conference. q After the conference, they can record any further questions they have and plan to research their new inquiries. Q+ IVC experiences can be archived and mounted as videos on the school library web site as a resource for future study of a topic. Ask for permission from the expert before sharing beyond your school web site.

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How can primary students create survey questions? Q Task

Students will work as a group to create questions for a survey.

• Who are we going to survey? • What is it that we need to find out from our survey? • What is a healthy breakfast? • What are the things people might eat? • What might they drink? • What if they don’t eat and drink healthy foods? • How can we phrase the questions to get one-word or list answers?

Clarifying the Task Designing and conducting a survey is a powerful way for students to acquire primary information on a topic; it is sometimes the only method of acquiring current data. It is a big challenge to create specifically focused survey questions that will garner the information needed in the form of easily usable data. In this Q Task, the teacher will lead the students through the process of creating survey questions and a survey form for students to use. In this example, the class has been studying personal nutrition. The final activity will be to collect information from students in the school to determine how healthy their breakfast eating habits are. This will be done through a survey. Building Understanding • Collect some simple survey samples and show students how surveys are set up. Explain that the questions must be carefully crafted in order for them to find out what they need to know. See sample at left. Guide student thinking and together generate well-focused survey questions. • Once you have identified all the information you require to determine if breakfast habits are healthy, begin to compile a set of questions to get this information. Encourage students to anticipate answers and think about what those answers mean for their questions. Test them within the class to see how well they work as survey questions. Rephrase questions where necessary. Discuss how to record the answers to the questions; e.g., checklist, short answer, multiple choice. Talk about how to deal with the answers not on their checklists, and any other concerns the students have. Review rules of etiquette. • Produce a survey questionnaire and a recording form. Make enough copies so that each student can survey three or four others. Arrange with other teachers to have students available to be surveyed. Demonstrating Understanding q Have students practice the survey with a learning buddy. q Students should read the survey questions and record each answer on the form. q Remind students to thank those surveyed for participating, and to explain that the results will be shared (posted on the school web site or a bulletin board, announced over the PA, covered in a newsletter, etc.) q Collect all the survey results. Collate and tabulate the answers from the survey in a visual format. q Examine the findings and look for patterns. Encourage students to react to their findings. Ask students how well the questions worked, and what they would change for next time.

Q Tips

• For more information on creating surveys, see Koechlin and Zwaan (2003). • More good topics for surveys: afterschool activities, reading habits, ideas for class excursions, all about you, etc.

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Q+ Work with your favorite drawing/graphing tool or app, such as Create a Graph from Kids Zone (http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/), to help students visualize the results.

How can questions enable comparison? Q Task

Students will use their questioning skills to make comparisons.

Clarifying the Task In this example, the class is beginning a study of plants and animals. They will formulate questions they have about the needs of plants and animals, and look for similarities and differences. Building Understanding • Introduce the concept of needs by reading a story about a newborn baby and discussing the needs of babies. Chart student responses. What do babies need to stay healthy? • Set up a Jigsaw learning experience. Task 1: Research Groups Task 2: Expert Groups Develop questions that will help you Compare your questions in new groups. investigate the needs of plants/animals. Group ABCD Group A Forest Animals Group B Farm Animals Group ABCD Group C Trees Group ABCD Group D Vegetables Group ABCD Provide students with chart paper. Ask Provide each group with sticky notes them to sort their question stickies, and lots of nonfiction books about their look for similarities, and cluster similar focus topic. Have students individually questions about the needs of plants and browse through the books and record animals. Students name question clusters their questions on sticky notes. Share to identify categories: survival, water, and add more/new questions on their habitat, etc. stickies Debrief with the class and create a T-chart. Questions we have about the needs of plants and animals Similar

Different

Survival Habitat etc.

Demonstrating Understanding Each student will select three questions they want to explore, and prepare for research using the Exploring with Questions organizer (page 122). Q+ Set up groups in a spreadsheet so everyone can see the questions from every research group. The jigsaw expert groups can easily review questions and find similarities and differences. When a virtual spreadsheet is used, this task can easily be expanded to enrich the learning experience through work with other classes, other schools, and even students in other regions and countries.

Q Tip

See further high-think models for working with information in Beyond Bird Units by Loertscher, Koechlin, and Zwaan (2011).

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

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How do students know which attributes to compare? Q Task

Students will question the aspects of items to establish criteria for comparison.

Clarifying the Task Making comparisons is a complex task. Students must first understand exactly what is being compared and why they are making the comparison. In early comparing experiences, the teacher will provide the criteria, but ultimately the students will do it themselves. In this task, students practice discovering the comparison criteria. Building Understanding • Introduce to students the need to establish criteria on which to base a comparison. Explain the need to look carefully at the items to be compared and to make individual determinations for each different case. • Model an example comparing bicycles. As extensive background knowledge of the items to be compared is essential, collect ads from flyers and catalogues to use as reference materials for details about different kinds of bikes. • Have students ask questions about the features or aspects of bicycles using a projection or interactive whiteboard version of the Comparison Criteria organizer (page 124). Look at the list of aspects and select any that are appropriate for your comparison. • Emphasize that the words on the list are only suggestions. Students can extrapolate, bend, twist, or spin the words to find the nuance that fits their need. For example, in comparing bicycles, the important factors might be price, size, weight, material, model, and features, such as gears and tires. Have students think again about bicycles to identify additional characteristics. • Have students consider why they are making the comparison, as it could help them identify important criteria. Add these to the list. • Have students look carefully at the attributes selected and select four criteria that are most important for their purpose. Students need to be prepared to explain the rationale for their selections. Demonstrating Understanding q Create small groups and give each group an item for which to identify criteria; e.g., sports equipment, animals, schools, games, TV shows, communities, vacation destinations, etc. q Provide groups with copies of the Comparison Criteria organizer (page 124) to guide their questioning as they identify criteria. q Remind students that this questioning will help them identify aspects to compare, but that they might want to use terms more suitable to their purpose; for example, if they are comparing tennis courts to decide which club to join, the criteria might be price/fee, location/transportation, structure/court surface, and programs/coaching (the rationale for selecting “coaching” as a criterion could be that they are hoping to enter competitions and want an extra edge). q Once they have established important criteria and identified those to be used for the comparison, have students work individually to complete the What’s the Same? What’s Different? organizer (page 125).

Q Tip

This strategy can be applied to comparing poems, plays, characters in a novel, etc.

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What role do questions play in building understanding? Q Task

Students will apply their questioning skills to help them develop understanding of unfamiliar text.

Clarifying the Task In this Q Task students will use their questioning skills to build understanding when they read. This approach can be used with picture books, nonfiction books, textbook chapters, and articles. Building Understanding • Review the question starters: who, what, when, where, why, and how. • Select an engaging picture book related to your topic of study. • Look at the cover and have students ask questions about the cover. Chart the questions, highlighting the question starters. • Read a few pages and have students make up more questions. Continue charting and questioning until the book is completed. • Ask students: Are there any questions that we now have the answers to? How could we find answers to some of your other questions? How have questions helped us to enjoy the story more?

Successful Readers Ask Questions… …before, during, and after reading for different purposes to •  clarify ideas •  make connections •  make inferences •  make predictions •  provoke thought •  extend their thinking

Q Tips

• This task supports learning standards, such as Common Core (http://www.corestandards. org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/R/) and the reading and understanding of complex literature and information texts. Students could follow this task by identifying a question or several questions they are really curious about and begin a new quest. • You can make the entire reading activity collaborative; see Group Reading with Google Documents (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v= 6Mzc-eSePLA#t=49).

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Demonstrating Understanding q Provide groups of three or four students with a text for read-aloud sharing, or multiple texts on the same topic for independent reading. This strategy works well with both fiction and nonfiction texts. q Have students practice the strategy using the Question, Question organizer (page 127). They will record their questions before reading, during reading, and after reading the text (see chart at left). q Have students circle or highlight the question starters they have used. Remind them to make use of all the question starters if they can. q Ask students to review their questions and cross off all the ones they now have answers to. q Have students share in their group and see if anyone else has the same or similar questions about the topic. They could use a coding system to mark questions already answered, similar questions, and different or unique questions. Q+ Questioning is the best strategy for helping students really make connections with any kind of text. Keep it low-tech and personal, providing students with lots of sticky notes to record questions as they read. Make it collaborative and engage students in posting questions as they read with a tool such as Padlet (http://padlet.com/). This tool allows students to build a wall of group or class questions and even move them around and categorize them.

Padlet screenshot used with permission.

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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How can students use FAQAs to demonstrate or share their learning? Q Task

Students will share their learning by creating Frequently Asked Questions and Answers.

Clarifying the Task In this example, senior students are developing online orientation presentations to help students and parents new to their school. They will work in groups, each group taking responsibility for a department in the school. One component of each presentation will be Frequently Asked Questions and Answers. Building Understanding • Collect examples of pamphlets, posters, and web sites that provide information about an organization, location, or service. Set up the samples in stations and have the students rotate through the stations to examine as many exemplars as possible. Have them discuss in their groups the samples that seem to be the most effective, and why. • When students have had time to examine and discuss a number of samples, instruct them to work in their groups to establish criteria for an effective information presentation. • Discuss with the class the purpose of the frequently asked questions and determine how one decides what questions to include; e.g., predicting the needs of the client, little-known information, highlighting key services, etc. Demonstrating Understanding q Students will work in groups to gather needed data about the department they have been assigned. They will need visuals, such as video footage, digital photos, and graphics. q Once they have their raw data, they need to think like the student or parent new to the school and develop a set of FAQs. School Library Information Centre FAQs • • • • • • •

Q Tip

This task provides an authentic opportunity for students to develop questions for a useful purpose. Adolescents particularly need activities deliberately designed to be practical and realworld. Discover more about the adolescent learner from Literacy Gains (http://www.edugains.ca/ resourcesLIT/AdolescentLiteracy/ AL_Resources/Questioning ALERT_8X11.pdf).

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What kinds of resources are in the library? How do I find what I need? How can I get help for projects? Can I use the photocopier? When can I use the computer? Can I access any resources and help from home? What happens when I lose a book?

q Once students have worked out the visual support for their presentation, the questions, and the answers, have them consult with another team to discuss their plans and confirm that they have thought of all the needs of new students and parents. See the Consultation to Test Ideas organizer (page 114). q Presentations can be created in a slideshow format and mounted on the school web site for new students and parents to access. Q+ Have students create video tutorials that can be mounted on the school web site. Use free tools, such as Screencast-O-Matic (http://www.screencast-o-matic. com/) or Jing (http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html#).

How can peer questioning enhance student creative writing? Q Task

Students will develop questions to help peers revise or extend their writing.

Clarifying the Task Revision is a critical component of the writing process; however, self-criticism is a difficult concept. In this Q Task, students will learn how peer questioning helps to improve their writing. The focus is on the content rather than the grammar. In this example, students have been listening to and reading a generous selection of mystery stories and novels. They have identified the common elements of the mystery genre and are now ready to apply this knowledge to their own writing. Building Understanding • When students have written and edited their first draft, ask them to find a partner to conference with. Instruct them to read their mystery stories to their partners and then exchange stories. • Have each student fold a piece of paper in half and write statements of praise on one half and questions they have about his or her partner’s story on the other.

Successful Writers Ask Questions… …before, during, and after writing for different purposes to •  focus their ideas •  clarify their thinking •  organize their ideas •  test their ideas with others •  analyze their thinking •  create personal meaning •  monitor their own work •  evaluate their work

Great!

Questions

Your title really caught my attention.

How could you improve your title so it doesn’t give so much away?

Demonstrating Understanding Students will read the praises and questions about their story and reflect on any possible revisions they may want to make. Reassure students that their own original ideas are most important, but their partner’s questions will be indicators of areas where further clarification may be needed to make their writing the best it can be. See chart at left. Q+ Make peer editing real-world by having students write in collaborative digital word processing spaces, such as Google Docs. Peer editors can add comments and writers can respond to editors all in one collaborative space.

Q Tip

Just as professional writers credit their editors and those who made contributions to the revision process, ask your students to credit the partner who contributed to revisions with probing questions.

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How can we use Book Talking Strategy? Q Task

Students will ask questions to help them make connections to new text.

Clarifying the Task This strategy provides an engaging alternative to traditional book talks. Building Understanding • Select four or five novels with a common theme, author, or genre. Read the novels and select an interesting passage from each that will capture the students’ interest and spark curiosity and probing questions. Practice reading each selection so you are prepared to model good read-aloud techniques; e.g., intonation, pacing, body language, etc. Introduce each novel before reading the chosen passage. • Provide students with a few minutes to think about the passage, then instruct them to formulate and share questions they have about the novel based on the reading you provided. Take four or five questions from the class, and chart them if time allows. • Continue with the next passage until all the books you selected have been introduced. Watch your copies of these books disappear at checkout time! Demonstrating Understanding Design a book-report activity following the same format. When students have finished reading their novels, instruct them to select an engaging passage from the text and practice reading it aloud to the class as you have modeled. The rest of the class will ask questions based on the passage. This time the reader will answer the questions. Watch more books disappear at checkout time.

Q Tip

The site Book Trailers (http:// lansdownelibrary.wikispaces. com/Book+Trailers) has lots of examples of book trailers and discusses major elements to consider when helping students create their own book trailer.

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Q+ Have students create book trailers to promote the books they are reading. The entire book trailer can be delivered through questions, or questions at the beginning and end of the trailer can serve as hooks to spur interest. Just like movie trailers, book trailers use all kinds of techniques to grab viewers’ attention and make them want to read the book. Students should invest time in learning the techniques and planning. See Book Trailer Planning on page 131. • Mount book trailers on the school library web site so the entire school community can view and continue to ask questions and add comments. This is an engaging project for both fiction and nonfiction titles. There are many free video tools that work well for book trailers, and even how-to videos available. • If the book trailers are to be assessed, develop the criteria with students so they are invested in deciding what counts as a good book trailer. Develop criteria; for example, • Book trailer stays true to the book. • Visuals are purposefully used to create an emotional response. • Music, sound effects, and narration are clear and effectively assist in communicating theme, mood, and setting. • All photos, graphics, and sound are original, or permission for use is documented. • Transitions are smooth and effective in building interest. • Pacing of the book trailer effectively builds mood (trailer is 1–2 minutes in length). • Overall effect is to hook new readers for this book. • Credits acknowledge all contributors and media (book, music, visuals).

Book Trailer Planning Book Title: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Group Producers: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is the BIG IDEA that you want to sell to new readers?

Question Hooks: Develop some question to entice readers.

Highlights: What aspects of the story would attract new readers (scenes, dialogue, characters, setting, action, emotions, events, other)?

What techniques will you use to tell your story and appeal to the viewer (video, still images, animation, transitions, pacing, camera angles, colour, other)?

What sound effects would contribute to the tone and mood you are trying to create?

On the back of this planning sheet list the technologies and materials/props you need to gather. Develop and draw a timeline for production. Then you will be ready to draft a storyboard.

Tip: Review and analyze a few book trailers before you plan your own.

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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5. Questioning to Progress How does self-questioning help students assess their efforts and the connection to actual results?

Ultimately we want students to take responsibility for their own learning, so throughout the learning process we need to build in opportunities for reflection. Students reflect on their effort, the process they pursue, and their learning in terms of skills, attitudes, and knowledge: thinking about resources and strategies they used, thinking about what they have learned and what they need or want to learn next. The success of these reflections is to a large extent based on their ability to apply effective questioning. Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) tell us that reinforcing effort and providing recognition is a strategy for increasing student achievement. These researchers make us aware that most children do not readily see the link between the effort put forth in an assignment or task and the quality of the results, although it may seem painfully obvious to us. The good news is they can learn to make the connection. In this chapter we will share a few tools to cultivate student thinking about learning. We have paid special attention to trying to capture the essence of selfquestioning to assess their effort and the connection to actual results. • How can self-questioning help students manage time and resources? • Q Task Quickies: Developing a Growth Mindset • How can students create a quiz for a test review? • How can I teach the SQ4R study strategy? • How do students know which resource is the best for their needs? • Q Task Quickies: Questioning to Progress • Q Task Quickies: Big Think Questioning is central to learning, changing and growing. (Jamie McKenzie, Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn)

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How can self-questioning help students manage time and resources? Q Task

Students will self-question to organize their time and focus their effort.

Clarifying the Task Parents and teachers often take on all the responsibility for monitoring the completion of student homework and assignments. What we want is to move toward developing self-reliance in our students. In this task, students will learn how self-questioning will help them be more successful by saving them time and anxiety. Building Understanding • Read “Grasshopper Logic” from Squids will be Squids by Jon Scieszka, or another story or humorous poem to introduce the topic of homework. Invite the class to share personal homework stories. • Remind your students that busy people need to ask themselves questions to keep organized and to ensure that they remember everything. Share with students your self-questioning process for making sure you have everything you need before you leave school to go home for the evening. • • • •

What time is the next bus? How long can I work on marking before I have to leave the school? Do I have all the essays for grading? What else did I want to work on tonight?

• Have students work with a partner and brainstorm questions they could ask themselves to help them do a better job with their homework. Ask each group to share a couple of their ask-myself questions. Demonstrating Understanding Provide students with copies of a blank Game Board template (page 134). Ask students to select some of the ask-myself questions and to create more questions of their own that would really help them win at homework. Sample questions: • • • •

Q Tip

Provide students with copies of Homework Check Bookmarks (page 135) so they can quickly record the information they need to get organized for homework.

• • • • • • •

Did I record my homework as soon as it was assigned? Am I sure I understand the homework? Did I ask the teacher for help with what I don’t understand? Do I have the phone number of my learning partner so I can get help if I need it? Do I have a quiet place to work? Do I avoid distractions from TV and phone calls? Have I planned an early homework time so I’m not too tired? Have I planned to take breaks when I need them? Are my notebooks, paper, pens and pencils, etc. organized? Did I put all my homework together by the door to take to school? Did I get all my assignments in on time?

Q+ Encourage students to utilize smart phone memo and calendar apps to record homework reminders. Discover the potential of Edmodo (https://www.edmodo. com/) to help keep your entire class organized and inspired.

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Q Task Quickies

Developing a Growth Mindset How do we encourage effort and positive mindsets about learning to learn? Study with students the concept of a growth mindset. There are many web sites and videos on this popular topic based on Mindset: the new psychology of success by Carol S. Dweck. • Official web site for Dweck’s book: http://mindsetonline.com/ • Mindset Works: http://www.mindsetworks.com/ • Find class-ready ideas: http://classteaching.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/developing-agrowth-mindset/

Fixed Mindset…

Growth Mindset…

…leads to a desire to look smart and therefore a tendency to • avoid challenges • get defensive and give up early • see effort as fruitless or worse • ignore useful negative feedback • feel threatened by the success of others

…leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to • embrace challenges • persist in the face of setbacks • use effort as a path to mastery • learn from criticism • find lessons and inspiration in the success of others

As a result students can plateau early and achieve less than their full potential.

As a result students reach ever-higher levels of achievement.

Apply a growth mindset to both teaching and learning. Deliberately phrase feedback to students so that it that encourages learning growth. Build self-reflection opportunities that motivate students to be more growth-oriented. Model the vocabulary students need to build resilience, determination, and self-efficacy.

My Idol Students research the challenges and failures of successful people they are interested in. Ask them to discover how these artists, athletes, writers, business leaders, etc. overcame the hurdles that got in their way on the path to success by research and/or contacting the accomplished person and asking the question.

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Q Task Quickies

Developing a Growth Mindset (continued) Growth Quotes Students find quotes that reflect a growth mindset and share them by building a collaborative physical or virtual wall of quotes.

Growth Questions Students develop their own reflective learning-to-learn questions centred on effort, responsibilities, collaboration, skills, and content knowledge. Share these questions in a collaborative document and have students develop a self-assessment tool or rubric.

Conference Students conference with peers during and after a learning experience to discuss challenges they had, and support each other with recommendations and ideas for solutions.

Creating Inspiration Students work with a partner or a small group to create an inspirational visual that exemplifies a growth mindset. This could be a mindmap, drawing, collage, video, or comic strip.

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How can students create a quiz for a test review? Q Task

Students create a quiz to review content material when preparing for a text.

•  What is the main idea? •  Why is this important? •  Who it is important to?

Clarifying the Task In this Q Task, students will apply questioning skills and tools to study for exams in content areas such science, history, literature, and geography. (See chapter 3: Learning to Question.) Building Understanding Review questioning strategies learned in the 20 Questions Q Task (chapter 1, page 22), riddle activities (chapter 1, pages 24–25), and the Question Builder Chart (chapter 3, page 68). Use a topic-related picture book, a short textbook selection, or an article to model the process. • Read to identify the main idea(s) of the piece and why it merits study; see box at left. • As a group, create questions that students could ask study partners to test their understanding of the topic. Record questions on a chart. • Read the text again, this time focusing on the details that support the findings from these questions: sequencing of events, connections and relationships, causes and effects, impacts, turning points, implications, etc. • Have students work in small groups to create questions that will elicit this information. Remind students that, while dates and numbers are important, we also want to test understanding of the topic, so they must include questions that go beyond simple recall of details. • Share and record the questions with the whole class. Discuss the merits of their questions and identify areas of importance that might have been overlooked. Cluster questions by question starter. Work together to build a chart detailing how the question starter gives directions to the answer they are looking for. Q Chart Question Answer What facts, one-word answers, lists, etc. Where location, destination, etc. When date, time, etc. Who partners, stakeholders, victims, participants, etc. How methods, instructions, process, etc. Why reasons, cause and effect, etc. Which decisions, problem-solving, prioritizing, etc.

Q Tip

As a more active strategy, create consultation lines—pairs of chairs facing each other: one side questions; the other answers. The members of each group number off: even-number students make up the question lines; odd-number students, the answer lines. Then switch lines so that everyone has a chance to ask and answer. Rotate through the lines so that different teams face off against each other.

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Demonstrating Understanding q Have students work in small groups to develop quiz questions, using content material that will be tested in the near future. Remind students to use the Q Chart to ensure that they are developing a good variety of questions. q Meet with groups as they complete their quizzes and provide feedback for refining them. q Have students produce a working copy of the quiz for each team member. q Jigsaw the groups (regroup) to answer the quizzes. Q+ Students could use a tool like Google Forms to create multiple-choice or shortanswer questions for their group. Answers will be archived in a spreadsheet, so students can easily analyze and compare answers.

How can I teach the SQ4R study strategy? Q Task

Students will learn and practice the SQ4R strategy for working with printed text.

Clarifying the Task This cross-curricular strategy can be used effectively to introduce new text or to prepare for tests. Students will apply their questioning skills to help them understand a new text or review curriculum content. Building Understanding • Model the process with students using a selected text related to your topic of study, such as an article, a chapter in a content text, or a web site. Provide students with your overall guiding question or a statement of purpose for studying this particular text. • Introduce the SQ4R Process Steps (below) and go through each step with a think-aloud, so students experience a working model of the approach to reading and clarifying text. SQ4R Process Steps 1. Survey: Quickly skim the text, making use of features that give an overview: headings, subheadings, visuals, specialized text, hyperlinks, etc. 2. Question: Jot down several questions that come to mind about the text as you skim. 3. Read: Read the material strategically to find the answers to your questions. Keep track of new questions you have as you proceed. 4. Recite: Close the text. Share your discoveries with a study partner, using your questions to guide your discussion. Phrase your personal responses in your own words. Refer back to the text to confirm ideas whenever discrepancies arise. 5. Record: Make a record of your new understanding of the text. Use the SQ4R Study organizer on page 140 or design your own. 6. Review: Review your questions and notes. Did you find the answers to all your questions? If not, where can you find information to help you? Demonstrating Understanding q Provide students with a new text related to your topic of study. Provide the SQ4R Study organizer (page 140). q Instruct students to apply the strategy and complete the organizer. q Debrief to consolidate content learning. Ask students to make an entry in their Learning Log, reflecting and assessing the SQ4R process.

Q Tip

You can share a How to Make Studying Count Infographic (http://elearninginfographics.com/ how-to-make-studying-countinfographic/) with students or have them work in groups to create their own.

Q+ Students can make studying collaborative by using the same SQ4R method working with a study buddy or in small groups: they can use a web conferencing program with a whiteboard, such as Adobe Connect (http://www.adobe. com/ca/products/adobeconnect.html); they can conference in a space like Google Hangout; or they can simply collaborate with a tool like Google Docs, recording their study questions and answers from the text.

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How do students know which resource is the best for their needs? Q Task

Students will use guiding questions to evaluate resources for their usefulness.

Clarifying the Task Info-glut is a major problem for young researchers. Determining whether or not resources are useful and reliable sources of information is a critical step when dealing with volumes of data. In this Q Task, students will learn how good questions help them decide if a resource will be useful for their purpose. In this example, students are preparing to investigate the structure and function of local, regional, and national government bodies. Building Understanding • Discuss why careful analysis of resources for this task is important. Provide small student groups with a variety of nonfiction resources to support this topic: nonfiction books, magazines, pamphlets, videos, and Internet sites. • Ask students to explore the resources and determine how to find out if these resources will be good for their investigations. Where do you look for evidence that this is a good reliable source? Chart student responses: e.g., skim for readability, find copyright date, read the review/synopsis on the back cover, determine author’s credibility, etc. • Debrief and add criteria the students might have missed—credibility, accuracy, intent, context, and perspective. • Provide students with copies of the Examine and Evaluate Resources organizer (page 142) Using the question prompts on the organizer, do a think-aloud modeling of how to evaluate several different kinds of resources. Model by reviewing several resources that are not good sources, such as a web site developed by a special-interest group or an old text with out-of-date information about government. • Discuss further the importance of evaluating resources and how helpful guiding questions are in this process. Demonstrating Understanding q Instruct students to evaluate a print resource and a web resource they are considering for their research. Have them use the Examine and Evaluate Resources organizer (page 142). After completing the organizer, students should be able to make an accurate decision about the usefulness of the resource. q When students have had lots of practice, have them develop their own questions for judging the suitability of books, Internet sites, videos, etc. Ultimately this process will become intuitive.

Q Tip

Provide students with clues for analyzing the anatomy of a URL address. Government sites .gov Education .edu Commercial sites .com Nonprofit organizations .org Military .mil Countries .us, .ca, .au, etc.

Q+ • As students find reliable online sources on a topic, they should learn how to manage these sites and archive or bookmark them so they can easily find them again to help with their inquiry. There are dozens of free tools suitable for student use; e.g., popular tools can be archived in Pearltrees (http://www.pearltrees.com/). Encourage students to experiment with several and find a tool that works well for them. • Have students work together to develop questions as they evaluate web sites. Give them a couple of hoax web sites as well as legitimate ones: see sites for Educational Technology and Mobile Learning (http://www. educatorstechnology.com/2013/09/this-is-how-to-use-google-hangout-in. html) and ReadWriteThink (http://www.readwritethink.org/classroomresources/lesson-plans/hoax-hoax-strategies-online-1135.html?tab=3).

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Q Task Quickies

Questioning to Progress Assessment Tools Give students some ownership of the assessment process. Ask students to brainstorm the criteria they feel are key to assessing a presentation, such as an oral report or a multimedia presentation. Agree on the general criteria and have students work in groups to develop questions; e.g., Did the presenter communicate with the audience? Collate the questions and prepare a rating scale or checklist to assess presentations.

QUERY At the culmination of a project or assignment, discuss with students the power of self-assessment. Model for students the questions you would ask yourself as you assess the results of a project, such as an event you organized for the school. Give students copies of the QUERY to Self-Evaluate organizer (page 144); discuss the acronym and the criteria it represents. Provide students with lots of time to reflect on their learning process and develop self-analysis questions. They do not have to record their answers to these questions, but must be prepared to discuss them in their assessment conference.

Mirror, Mirror When students can articulate what they were supposed to do on a task and honestly reflect on how well they met the learning objectives, they are learning how to progress—how to move forward and improve their results. Have students fold a piece of paper in half. On the left-hand side they answer the question, What was I supposed to do? Opposite, they answer, How did I do? Now have students set goals for next time.

Reflective Questions Students will benefit from recording their questions, as well as their thoughts and feelings, after a learning experience. Use organizers such as the Learning Log (page 145) or Exit Cards (page 146), or have students start or finish their response journals with a question they are pondering. Prepare the reflection using a tool like Google Forms, so that progress and concerns can be archived for assessment and monitoring over time.

Please Help Invite your students to pose a question they want you to answer about the quality of their work, such as How can I put more suspense in this short story? or I have solved this problem but I wonder if there is a shorter way.

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Exit Cards Exit Card

Exit Card things you learned today:

things you learned today:

new questions you have:

new questions you have:

goal you have to improve learning:

goal you have to improve learning:

Exit Card

Exit Card things you learned today:

things you learned today:

new questions you have:

new questions you have:

goal you have to improve learning:

goal you have to improve learning:

© 2014 Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. Pembroke Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55138-301-9

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Q Task Quickies

Big Think Big Think is a metacognitive activity designed at the end of a major learning experience to consolidate learning of both content and process. It is a collaborative activity—students and teachers, as a community of learners, make connections between what individuals know and what groups discover. The big think consists of two stages of questioning to build deep awareness of learning progress: • So What? Developing questions to help you discover what you know and why it is important • What Next? Developing questions to help you make plans for improvement and take action

Consolidating Content This collaborative activity builds deep understanding of topic. Students develop questions to help them reflect on what they know about the content/topic of the learning activity and follow-up actions. So What

What Next

• • • • • •

• • • • •

What are the important ideas we explored? What does this tell us about the topic? What does this mean? What new understandings emerge? Why is this important? What new questions do we have?

How else can we use this learning? How can we do better next time? What new questions do we have? What action will we take? Who can help?

Gauging Learning Success This collaborative activity helps students take stock of learning-to-learn skills. Students develop questions to help them reflect on learning skills and processes they developed during the experience and follow-up actions. So What

What Next

• What strategies did we use to learn? • How did these strategies work for us? • Which worked well/didn’t work well? For whom? • Why is this important? • Are we becoming better questioners? • What is a good question?

• • • • •

How else can we use this learning? How can we do better next time? What new questions do we have? What action will we take? Who can help?

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Q Task Quickies

Big Think (continued) Gauging Teaching Success This teaching and co-teaching reflection can help you improve practice. Teachers reflect on what was learned and how it was learned, with follow-up plans for improvement. So What

What Next

• What went well? What didn’t? • Did learners develop a rich variety of questions? • Which questioning strategies were most effective? • How was understanding enhanced? • What process problems and successes were uncovered by the learners?

• • • • •

How else can we use this learning? How can we do better next time? What new questions do we have? What action will we take? Who can help?

Questions to Grow On Use Big Think Creating Questions to Grow On on page 149 to help students prepare for thinking about their learning at the end of a lesson or unit. The worksheet would be powerful if created in a Google Form, so that all students in the class can see the results and revise their own questions to get the most out of the experience.

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BIG THINK: Creating Questions to Grow On Student Name:

Project:

Group Names:

So What? Create questions to help you discover what you know now and why it is important.

Looking at the content knowledge:

Looking at process skills, strategies, responsibilities:

Looking at yourself and your learning community:

What Next? Create questions to help you decide what actions you will take now and in the future.

Looking at the content knowledge:

Looking at process skills, strategies, responsibilities:

Looking at yourself and your learning community:

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6. Moving Forward Where do we go from here?

This is not the end. We hope this book will be the beginning of a questioning journey for students, teachers, and schools. We have shared our practical experiences; these strategies have worked for us. We hope our readers will now be inspired to select strategy ideas, adjust them to suit their particular needs, and try them out with students. In this section we have developed some suggestions and strategies for moving forward with questioning.  Build a bank of organizers and templates To help students keep their questioning strategies at their fingertips, keep blank templates for questioning in a readily accessible portfolio or a folder on your interactive whiteboard, just as you keep samples of graphic organizers and other writing templates for students to use as they need them.  Model the question-building process. Process charts help students remember and apply steps to creating good questions. Steps to Building Good Questions (page 151) and Question Tips for Students (page 152) can help students develop thinking processes for building effective questions. Use them to model the development of questions for research projects. Ensure that students “own” the question; engagement and effort will be guaranteed.  Infuse questioning in the design of units and assignments. Make use of the flow chart How Do We Nurture the Process of Inquiry (page 13) when you are designing inquiry tasks.  Develop teacher questions to frame learning experiences. Use the questioning strategies from chapter 3: Learning to Question as you develop overarching questions to focus units of study or information tasks. Start with curriculum standards. Decide the essential learnings and create a bigidea question to frame the learning experience (McTighe and Wiggins, 2013).  Learn more about the role of questioning in learning. Consult Resources (pages 154–155) as you continue to build a questioning repertoire for students. Start a digital folder of professional support material.  Learn more about collaborative technologies. Use social media, follow blogs, and join professional learning networks to discover more about free digital tools that encourage students to work collaboratively and “plus” one another’s ideas.  Take Action. Now take time to develop your action plan. Complete the Next-Steps Teacher Planning Map (page 153).

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Question Tips for Students Start by thinking about your answer. Why do I need this information? • What is it that I need to know? • What will I do with this information? • Is it just for me, or will I be sharing my learning with others? Is the information readily available? • Can I find it on my own? • Do I need help? • Who would be the best person to help me? Where might I find this information? • Can I make a phone call? • Do I need to search in information resources? • Will I need to do a survey, poll, or interview? How do I build the right question? By asking more questions! “Can I find what I need by asking a simple question using who, what, where, when?” If YES, compose and pose your question. e.g., What is the telephone number of the games store? Where is the closest games store located? If NO, continue. Will the answer require some explanation? If YES, ask, “Should I begin my question with How or Why?” e.g., How can I get to the games store? Why can’t I order what I want from their web site? Is my information need more complicated? “Do I need a question that focuses on a specific aspect of the topic?” If YES, use focus words such as change, job, purpose, value, function, capacity, intent, type, role, structure, lifestyle, defence, survival, result, outcome, kinds, importance, characteristics, relationships, adaptations, conditions, infer, imply, etc. e.g. How could game stores adapt to survive the growing reality of online purchasing? Do I need more in-depth data? “Should my question prompt analysis?” If YES, use relationship words such as significance, consequence, project, implication, connection, correlation, pattern, trend, contrast, cause, effect, value, analyze, etc. e.g., How are popular media and social networking significant in the design of digital games? Now ask, “Will the question I have created get me the information I need?” Is it too broad? Will it get me more than I need or want? Or is it too narrow or shallow? Take a last look at your question and revise it if necessary. Pose your question and begin your quest for the answer.

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Resources

Preface to Revised Edition Canadians for 21st Century Learning and Innovation (C21Canada) (2012) Shifting Minds: A 21st century vision of public education for Canada. Retrieved from http://www.c21canada.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ Shifting-Minds-Revised.pdf Fullan, Michael (2013) Great to Excellent: Launching the next stage of Ontario’s education agenda. Retrieved from http://www.michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/ uploads/2013/09/13_Fullan_Great-to-Excellent.pdf Weinberger, David (2012) Too Big to Know: Rethinking knowledge now that the facts aren’t the facts, experts are everywhere, and the smartest person in the room is the room. New York, NY: Basic Books. Introduction Abilock, Debbie (2004) “Information Literacy From Prehistory to K–20: A New Definition” Knowledge Quest AASL, March–April at http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/ aaslpubsandjournals/kqweb/kqarchives/vol32/ Galileo Educational Network, www.galileo.org Kuhlthau, Carol, Maniotes, Leslie, and Caspari, Ann (2007) Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited. McKenzie, Jamie (2005) Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press. McTighe, Jay, and Wiggins, Grant (2013) Essential Questions: opening doors to student understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Postman, Neil, and Weingartner, Charles (1969) Teaching as a Subversive Activity. New York, NY: Dell. Wiggins, Grant, and McTighe, Jay (1998) Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Wolfe, Patricia (2001) Brain Matters. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Chapter 1: Encouraging Curiosity Gonsalves, Rob (2005) Imagine a Day. New York, NY: Simon and Shuster. Gonsalves, Rob (2003) Imagine a Night. New York, NY: Simon and Shuster.

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McTighe, Jay, and Wiggins, Grant (2013) Essential Questions: opening doors to student understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Thomas, Lyn (2001) Ha Ha Ha. Toronto, ON: Maple Tree Press. Wiggins, Grant, and McTighe, Jay (1998) Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Willems, Mo (2004) The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog. New York, NY: Hyperion. Wilson, Janet (2000) Imagine That! Toronto, ON: Stoddart. Chapter 2: Understanding Questions Bloom, B.S. (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. White Plains, NY: Longmans. Carrier, Roch (1984) The Hockey Sweater. Montreal, QC: Tundra. Christian, Peggy (2000) If You Find a Rock. New York, NY: Harcourt. Ciardiello, Angelo V. (1998) “Did you ask a good question today? Alternative cognitive and metacognitive strategies” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42 (3): 210–20. de Bono, E. (1985) Six Thinking Hats. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Co. Harvey, Stephanie, and Goudvis, Anne (2000). Strategies that Work. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2003) Build Your Own Information Literate School. Salt Lake City, UT: Hi Willow. Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2001) Info Tasks for Successful Learning. Markham, ON: Pembroke. Lundy, Kathleen Gould, and Swartz, Larry (2001) Creating Caring Classrooms. Markham, ON: Pembroke. Manzo, A.V. (1969) “The ReQuest Procedure” Journal of Reading, 13 (2): 123–6. Marzano, Robert (2005) Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Alexandria,VA: ASCD. McKenzie, Jamie (2005) Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press. Morgan, Norah, and Saxton, Juliana (2006) Asking Better Questions. Markham, ON: Pembroke.

Postman, Neil, and Weingartner, Charles (1969) Teaching as a Subversive Activity. New York, NY: Dell. Raphael, T.E. and Au, K.H. (2006) QAR Now: Question Answer Relationships. New York, NY: Scholastic. Rothstein, Dan, and Satana, Luz (2011) Make Just One Change: teach students to ask their own questions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Chapter 3: Learning to Questions Anderson, Lorin (2001) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Berger, Warren (2014) A More Beautiful Question. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. Bloom, B.S. (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York, NY: Addison Wesley. Booth, Wayne C. (2003) The Craft of Research. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Ciardiello, Angelo V. (1998) “Did you ask a good question today? Alternative cognitive and metacognitive strategies” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42 (3): 210–20. Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2008) Building Info Smarts. Markham, ON: Pembroke. Loertsher, David, Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2005) Ban those Bird Units: 15 models for teaching and learning in information-rich and technology-rich environments. Salt Lake City, UT: Hi Willow. Marzano, Robert (2005) Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Alexandria,VA: ASCD. Marzano, Robert J., Pickering, Debra J., and Pollock, Jane E. (2001) Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria,VA: ASCD. Ogle, Donna M. (1986) “K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of expository text” Reading Teacher, 39: 564–70. Rothstein, Dan, and Luz Santana (2011) “Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions” Harvard Education Letter, 25, 7. Retrieved from http://hepg.org/hel-home/ issues/27_5/helarticle/teaching-students-to-ask-their-ownquestions_507 Wiederhold, Chuck (1995) Cooperative Learning and Higher Level Thinking. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning.

Wiggins, Grant, and McTighe, Jay (1998) Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Chapter 4: Questioning to Learn Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2003) Build Your Own Information Literate School. Salt Lake City, UT: Hi Willow. Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2001) Info Tasks for Successful Learning. Markham, ON: Pembroke. Kristiansson, Leif, and Stenberg, Dick (2006) It’s Not My Fault. Alhambra, CA: Heryin. Loertsher, David, Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2005) Ban those Bird Units: 15 models for teaching and learning in information-rich and technology-rich environments. Salt Lake City, UT: Hi Willow. Loertscher, David, Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi (2011) The New Learning Commons. Salt Lake City, UT: Hi Willow. Lundy, Kathleen Gould (2004) What do I do about the kid who…? Markham, ON: Pembroke. Lundy, Kathleen Gould, and Swartz, Larry (2001) Creating Caring Classrooms. Markham, ON: Pembroke. Postman, Neil, and Weingartner, Charles (1969) Teaching as a Subversive Activity. New York, NY: Dell. Swartz, Larry (2013) The Bully-Go-Round. Markham, ON: Pembroke. Chapter 5: Questioning to Progress Dweck, Carol (2007) Mindset: the New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Random House. Marzano, Robert J., Pickering, Debra J., and Pollock, Jane E. (2001) Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria,VA: ASCD. McKenzie, Jamie (2005) Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press. McTighe, Jay, and Wiggins, Grant (2013) Essential Questions: opening doors to student understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Robinson, F.P. (1970) Effective Study (5th ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row. Scieszka, Jon (1998) Squids will be Squids. New York, NY: Viking.

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Index

“all about” syndrome, 8 analyzing, 78 applying, 78 assessment, 61, 143 background knowledge, 59 between-the-line questions, 44, 45 beyond-the-line questions, 44, 45 Bloom’s Taxonomy, 78, 80 book reviews, 29 book talking strategy, 130 book trailers, 130 brainstorming, 65 bullying, 108 careful analysis, 141 charts/organizers/worksheets Air Quality E-tour, 100, 102 Air Quality E-tour Map, 100, 103 BIG THINK: Creating Questions to Grow On, 148, 149 Book Trailer Planning, 130, 131 Building a Research Focus, 81, 83 Building Your Thesis Map, 88, 89 Classifying Questions with QAR, 47, 48 Close-Up Look at Questions, 40, 41 Comparison Criteria, 123, 124 Consultation to Test Ideas, 113, 114, 128 Examine and Evaluate Resources, 141, 142 Exit Cards, 143, 146 Expert Planning, 118, 119 Exploring with Questions, 121, 122 Focusing My Inquiry, 81, 84 Game Board, 133, 134 Homework Check Bookmarks, 133, 135 How Curious Are You?, 19, 20 How Do We Nurture the Process of Inquiry, 150 I Love Questions, 38, 39 156  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

I Need to Know More, 111, 112 I Wonder Wheel, 33, 35 Inquiry Question Contract, 81, 86–87 Just Like, 26, 27 KNoWledge Chart, 61, 64 KWHLQ Chart, 61, 62, 64, 100 KWL Chart, 61, 62, 63, 64 KWW Chart, 63, 64 Learning Log, 143, 145 Making a Question Quiver, 29, 31 My Point of View, 19, 21 My Scientific Discoveries, 34, 36 My Search Record, 57, 58 My Thoughts About 20 Questions, 22, 23 Next-Steps Teacher Planning Map, 150, 153 Power Up Your Inquiry Question, 75, 76 Q Chart, 138 QUERY to Self-Evaluate, 143, 144 Question Builder Chart, 67–70, 108 Question Builder Frames, 70, 71, 107, 118 Question Codes, 47, Question, Question, 126, 127 Question Stretchers, 81, 82, 118 Question Tips for Students, 150, 152 Question Trekking, 55, 56 Questioning Etiquette and Guidelines, 111, 117 Questioning InfoBits, 115, 116 Quick Fact Trading Cards, 59, 60 Quotable Question Quotes, 51, 52 Refining Your Inquiry Question, 81, 85 Researching with Questions, 104, 105 Riddle Patterns, 25, 26 RVL Connect, 72, 73 Scientific Discoveries, 34 Six Thinking Hats, 49, 50 SQ4R Study, 139, 140

Step In/Step About/Step Out, 93, 94 Steps to Building Good Questions, 150, 151 Stretch Your Thinking Questions, 78, 79 Take a Position Line, 98, 99 Thinking About Questions, 42, 43 Tips for Reading Web Text, 100, 101, 104 Understanding Canadian Law Argumentative Essay, 106 Understanding What We Read, 109, 110 visual, 88 Webbing Questions, 65, 66 What’s the Same? What’s Different?, 123, 125 What’s Your Question Line?, 45, 46, 109 Who Says What?, 96, 97 Your Research Question, 72, 74 closed questions, 42 collaborative technologies Adobe Connect, 111, 139 Bitstrips, 95 Citation Machine, 104 Create a Graph from Kids Zone, 120 Diigo, 45 Easel.ly, 109 EasyBib, 104 Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, 141 Evernote, 72 Explain Everything, 55 Facebook, 51 Glogster, 108 Google Docs, 40, 55, 63, 70, 72, 75, 81, 93, 96, 100, 104, 129, 139 Google Draw, 108 Google Forms, 22, 42, 49, 63, 117, 138, 143 Google Hangout, 111, 139 Google Presentations, 51

Google Spreadsheets, 19, 22, 49, 57, 63, 67, 70, 108 Infogr.am, 109 Inspiration, 65 Instagram, 51 Jing, 128 LibGuides, 104, 107 Live Binders, 104 Lucidchart, 40 MediaSmarts, 95, 109 MindMeister, 40 Padlet, 38, 126 Pathfinder, 104 Pearltrees, 141 Piktochart, 109 ReadWriteThink, 141 Scoop.it, 59, 107 Screencast-O-Matic, 128 Skype, 111 Stormboard, 38, 49 Storybird, 32 Survey Monkey, 117 Twiddla, 92 Twitter, 28 VoiceThread, 26, 93 Write Comics, 95 community of learners, 10 comparing/comparison, 107, 121, 123 comparing fact and fiction, 63 comprehension, 62 consultation, 113 consultation lines, 138 Cootie Catchers, 29 creating/creation, 78 creating a quiz for test review, 138 creative writing, 129 critical analysis, 95 crosswords, 28 curiosity arousing, 32 benefits of, 18 empowering students as questioners, 19 encouraging, 16–36 engagement and, 16 natural, 19 questioning and, 16, 19 quotes, 18 reflecting on, 18 rich learning environment, 16 riddles and, 25–26 stimulating, 16 20 questions, 22 curiosity quotient, 16 cyberbullying, 109

decision-making, 62 digital citizenship, 109 digital student portfolios, 115 discussing issues, 30 e-tours, 107 editorial cartoons, 95 engagement, 16 evaluating/evaluation, 78 evaluating resources, 141, 142 evaluative questions, 110 evidence, 88 experimentation in art, 92 experts, 111, 118 fake questions, 8 5WH, 55 focus, questions, 69, 74, 78 focus statements, 78, 81 Fortunetellers, 29 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (FAQAs), 128 Gallery Walk, 95 Genius Hour, 34 graphs and charts, 70 group work, 29 growth mindset, 136–137 guiding questions, 141 I Wonder booklets, 32 I Wonder wheel, 33, 35 illustrations, 93 imagination, 33 inferential questions, 110 info-glut, 141 infographics, 109, 139 inquiry building a culture of, 14, 19 language of, 32 learning process, 10 personal, 65, 111 social process, 10–11 inquiry circles, 80 inquiry learning, 9–11 inquiry question contract, 81, 86–87 inquiry questions, 71, 81 Interactive Video Conference (IVC), 118 interview questions, 115, 117 jigsaw, 49, 121 KWL, 61–64

learning standards, 126 lift-the-flap page/booklet, 28 line design, 92 literacy, 90 literal questions, 110 literature circles, 49, 80 Makerspaces, 34 managing time and resources, 133 mindsets, 136–137 mystery guests, 22 natural curiosity, 19 on-the-line questions, 44, 45 open questions, 42 opinions forming personal, 98 understanding, 96 organizing data, 57 Pathfinders, 104 sample, 106 patterns and trends, 70 peer questioning, 129 perspectives, 96 photographs, 93 picture prompts, 93 power-up words, 75 pre-reading, 30 primary artifacts, 70 problem-solving, 62 Q Chart, 138 Q Matrix, 67 Q Storming strategy, 65, 96, 109 Q Task quickies Analyzing Primary Artifacts, 70 Assessment, 61 Assessment Tools, 143 Big Think, 147–148 Book Review, 29 Building Wonder, 33–34 Collaborative Knowledge-Building, 80 Compare Fact and Fiction, 63 Comparisons, 107 Comprehending Text, 62 Conference, 137 Consolidating Content, 147 Create to Grow, 80 Creating Inspiration, 137 Crosswords, 28 Current Events, 49 de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, 49 Index 157

Developing a Growth Mindset, 136–137 Discussing Issues, 30 Documentary Response, 49 E-Tours, 107 Exploring a Topic, 61 Gauging Learning Success, 147 Gauging Teaching Success, 148 Genius Hour, 34 Group-Work Evaluation, 29 Growth Questions, 137 Growth Quotes, 137 I Wonder to 1000, 34 I Wonder Wheel, 33 I’m thinking of… What is it?, 24 Imagine, 33 Inquiry Circles, 80 Interactive Riddles, 28 Interpreting Graphs and Charts, 70 Jigsaw, 49 KWL Quickies, 61–63 Lift-the-Flap Page or Booklet, 28 Literature Circles, 49, 80 Looking for Patterns and Trends, 70 Makerspaces, 34 Mirror, Mirror, 143 More Riddles, 28, My Idol, 136 Picture Quest, 24 Please Help, 143 Power-Up Q Cards, 77, Preparing for Research, 61 Pre-reading Activity, 30 Problem-Solving and DecisionMaking, 62 Q+ with Hats, 49, QUERY, 143 Question Blooming, 80 The Question Box, 24 Question Quiver, 29–30 Questioning on the Web, 107 Questioning to Progress, 143 Questions to Grow On, 148 Reflective Questions, 143 Riddle Tweets, 28 Scavenger/Treasure Hunts, 107 Science Projects, 62 Scientific Wonder, 34 Storybook Wishes, 63 Students as Teachers, 80 Test Preparation, 30 Textbook Twist, 70 Using the Question Builder, 70 Variations on 20 Questions, 24 Virtual KWL Collaboration, 63 158  Q Tasks, 2nd Edition

WebQuests, 107 What If…?, 33 Wondering with Artifacts, 34 Q Tasks described, 14–15 encouraging curiosity, 18–36 learning to question, 55–89 organization of, 14–15 questioning to learn, 92–131 questioning to progress, 133–149 understanding questions, 38–52 Q Wheels, 67 question construction of, 37 learning to, 53–89 purpose of, 37 teaching students to, 8 understanding, 7–8 Question Answer Relationship (QAR), 47 Question Builders chart, 68 frames, 71 guiding research, 69 introducing, 67 using, 70 question building process, question codes, 47 questioning etiquette and guidelines, 111, 117 Question Formulation Technique (QFT), 42 question hunt, 38 question prompts, 18, 70, 88, 98, 113, 141 question quivers, 29–30 question quotations, 51 question starters, 55, 57, 59, 67, 75, 77, 126, 138 question trekking, 55 question web, 65 questioners, 53, 90 questioning, background knowledge of, 59 bullying and, 108 clarifying understanding, 111 classifying process, 45 comparison, 121, 123 connecting with text, 126 critical analysis of visual text, 95 curiosity and, 16, 19, 32 design approaches, 10–11 developing enthusiasm for, 16 digital citizenship and, 109 effective, 14

etiquette and guidelines, 111, 117 evidence of success, 12 experimentation in art and, 92 experts, 118 exploring topics, 59 forming personal opinions, 98 to learn, 90–131 learning to learn and, 9 motivation and, 8 nature of, 14 peer, 129 to progress, 132–149 prompting, 32 riddles and, 25, 26, role of, 53 self-questioning, 132 strategic, 22 structure and pattern of, 66 teacher-guided, 92 testing ideas and theories, 113 use and purpose of, 51 questioning etiquette and guidelines, questioning skills, 7–8, 9, 14, 53, 90, 126 assessing, 11–12 strategic, 22 questioning strategies, 109, 138, 150 information, 69 Q storming, 65, 96, 109 teaching, 53 questions analysis, 95 answering, 8 ask-myself, 133 asking, 126 between-the-line, 44, 45 beyond-the-line, 44, 45 brainstorming, 65 building understanding, 126 categorizing, 47 classifying, 37, 38, 42, 44, 45, 47 closed, 42 coding, 47 cognitive levels of, 37 comparison, 121, 123 crafting, 53 creating, 14, 45, 65, 115 developing, 8, 55, 57, 66, 129 differentiating between types of, 37, 38, 40 discovery, 69 effective, 51, 53, 81 empowering students to develop, 90 evaluating resources, 141 evaluative, 110

exploring new topics, 59 fake, 8 famous quotations about, 51 focus, 69, 74, 78 formulating, 69, frequently asked, 128 functions of, 44 generating, 37 good, 14, 53 group work, 29 guiding, 141 helping peers with, 129 “I wonder…”, 32 identifying and understanding opinions, 96 inferential, 110 inquiry, 71, 81 interview, 115, 117 literal, 110 making connections to new text, 130 modeling, 14 narrowing and focusing, 74 on-the-line, 44, 45 open, 42 probing, 53, 117, 129, 130 range of, 38 reading visual images and, 93 real, 8 reflective, 143 research, 71, 75, 87 revision and, 129 riddle patterns and, 25 right, 81 rubrics and, 71 search, 57 sharing learning through, 128 silent-head, 9 situation-specific, 90 sorting, 38 sources of, 7

strategic, 95 structure and function of, 40 survey, 120 teacher-created, 90 teacher-directed, 14 teacher-guided, 90, 92 thesis statements and, 88 thinking about, 42, 43 understanding, 7, 37–52 web text and, 100, 104 webbing, 65 writers and, 129 quiz creation, 138 reading aloud, 130 recognition, 132 reflecting/reflection, 132 reflection writing, 115 reflective questions, 143 reinforcing effort, 132 remembering, 78, research preparing for, 61 Question Builders and, 69 research questions, 71, 75 response prompts, 111 revision, 129 rich learning environment, 16 riddles creating, 26 engaging reluctant readers, 25 examining, 25 patterns, 25, 26 questioning and, 25, 26 web sites, 25 RSS feeds, 115 rubrics, 72 scavenger hunts, 107 self-questioning, 132–149

managing time and resources, 133 silent-head questions, 9 Six Thinking Hats, 49, 50 sorting, 38 SQ4R process steps, 139 SQ4R study strategy, 139 stakeholders, 98 statement of purpose, 78, 81 student growth, 11 surveys, 19, 120 synthesis, 88 T-chart, 57 teaching students to question, 8 technology, 90 test preparation, 30 testing ideas and theories, 113 thesis statements, 87 Think–Pair–Share strategy, 45, thinking, 78 20 questions, 22, 24 understanding chemistry between questions and, 8 clarifying, 111 key to, 7 questions and, 7–8 student, 7 thinking, 78 video and sound clips archives, 40 virtual portfolios, 115 visual imagery, 93 visual organizers, 88 visual text, 95 web text, older students, 104 tips for reading, 101 younger students, 100

Index 159

wondering, 33, 34