Reading Closely and Building on Other's Ideas

Hello colleagues, As we implement the standards in our teaching, many of us are focused on "close reading" as outlined in Reading Anchor 1. Posing good questions is an essential aspect of teaching. It's easy to get stuck asking low-level questions about a text for which we already know the answer, and a common pattern we use is the IRE, initiate, respond, evaluate.

Pam Goldman from the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh explains the IRE pattern as follows:

"IRE, Initiation, Response, and Evaluation, is, by far, the most common type of classroom talk in the United States. Whether as a teacher or a student, you are probably familiar with the scenario: the teacher asks a question (typically one with a fixed answer), the student replies (usually with a short response), the teacher evaluates (right or wrong) and then moves on to the next student with a new question. The IRE pattern emphasizes correctness over reasoning. Once a question is answered, conversation shuts down rather than opens up. IRE reveals answers but does not reveal or build students' knowledge nearly as well as open-ended talk."

How do you avoid -or at least limit- the IRE pattern in your teaching? What strategies do you use to support students to not only cite evidence from text but also build on one another's ideas through open-ended talk [Speaking and Listening Anchor 1]?

Please share what is working well for you as well as any questions you may have about engaging students in open-ended talk about the texts they are reading closely.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, CCR CoP

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

On June 8, Susan wrote: “How do you avoid the IRE (Initiation, Response, and Evaluation) pattern in your teaching? What strategies do you use to support students to not only cite evidence from text but also build on one another's ideas through open-ended talk?”

The training activities/resources found within Unit 3, “Identifying Questions Worth Answering” are all about posing good questions. They are meant to develop in educators an appreciation of how powerful questions can be in activating students’ abilities. Abilities that include: how to focus carefully on complex texts, how to collect the evidence needed to support their claims and conclusions, and how to become better readers. All the “Identifying Questions Worth Answering materials are located at: http://lincs.ed.gov/programs/ccr/ela.

Thanks,

Ronna

 

Ronna G. Spacone

Education Program Specialist
U.S. Department of Education

550 12th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20202-7240
P: 202-245-7755

Thanks for pointing us to the professional development resources available in the LINCS resource collection, Ronna. These materials are excellent and can readily be used by programs to deepen understanding of how to pose good questions. The materials include hands-on, interactive activities that encourage teachers to discuss and evaluate the quality of questions collaboratively as well as the opportunity to revise questions to make them more effective.

The materials include the following prompts to evaluate the quality of questions.

1. Could a student find evidence in the text to answer the question?

2. Does a reader have to dig deep to answer the question?

3. Does the question ask about a vocabulary word in the text?

If members are using these professional development resources, it would be great to hear how they are working for you. Please share any insights and lessons learned!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, CCR Community of Practice

I so appreciate the approach of developing questions that require going deeper (or higher) in analyzing and enjoying text. Thanks, Susan and Ronna.

An added dimension that I often promote in teacher training is to teach students themselves to ask similar questions as they approach reading passages and their own writing. Students are often not guided into applying strategies to help them deal with content independently. Asking questions of the type you have proposed would serve them well.

I would love to hear more about how others promote asking questions in order to dig deeper for treasures held in text! Leecy

Leecy Wise
Moderator, Reading and Writing, and
Diversity and Literacy Communities

 

Hello colleagues, I want to affirm Leecy's idea about the value of having students pose their own questions to deepen their understanding of complex texts and to address Speaking and Listening Anchor 1 (Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively).

A few years ago, I read a great article by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana "Teaching students to ask their own questions" in which they outline "four essential rules" for students to formulate their own questions.

"Question Formulation Technique

Produce Your Questions
• Ask as many questions as you can.
• Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer the questions.
• Write down every question exactly as it is stated.
• Change any statement into a question.

Improve Your Questions
• Categorize the questions as closed- or open-ended.
• Name the advantages and disadvantages of each type of question.
• Change questions from one type to another.

Prioritize the Questions
• Choose your three most important questions.
• Why did you choose these three as the most important?

Next Steps
• How are you going to use your questions?"

Students work in small groups, and the article includes the teaching steps to guide the process. Can you imagine implementing this technique in your teaching? What content do you think would work best? It would be great to hear some anecdotes about how members are supporting students to ask their own questions. I plan to implement this strategy with students this summer. I will be seeking to document students progress on both Reading Anchor 1 as well as Speaking and Listening Anchor 1.

Members might be interested in exploring more ideas related to supporting students to raise their own questions at the Right Question Institute website.

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, CCR Community of Practice