Questioning the Author

Questioning the Author

Questioning the Author (QtA) was developed by Beck and her associates in 1997 and is a means of engaging students in reading text. It is a comprehension strategy that helps students become critical thinkers who question what is written and the author’s motive.  Using this strategy will help your students read with a critical eye, think for themselves and learn to examine what is advertised and explore the information to create deeper meaning.

 

Here are the steps:

  • Decide what text you want the students to read.
  • Identify what you want students to learn. What are the major concepts, or ideas, or areas of knowledge you want students to learn?
  • Identify areas in the text where students might have difficulty understanding vocabulary or meaning. These become your stop points.
  • At each stop point, develop higher-order questions to help students find meaning and think critically. Ask questions such as:
  • What do you think the author is saying? Do you think the author gave a good explanation? If not, what is missing or wrong?
  • What evidence has the author used? Do you think this is good evidence? Why or why not?
  • How does this relate to ….? Is this the same as or different from what we read?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this?
  • How does this influence your thinking or beliefs?
  • How does this compare to…
  • What is the author trying to accomplish? How is the author trying to accomplish this?
  • Teach the lesson.

Tips:

  • Students might not be used to this kind of teaching, so let them know in advance that you want to hear what they have to say and that you want them to read the information critically.
  • Your role as the teacher is to facilitate the discussion but you might need to model critical thinking and active reading using Think Aloud strategies (asking the questions to yourself aloud and answering these questions).
  • During the stop points, this is a good opportunity to encourage further research on a topic.

http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/question-author-30761.html 

Tasks and Information

April 2 Faculty Meeting


Summer School/Enrichment: Google Form if interested in teaching, enriching, or planning.

 

April 14 @ 6: Graduation Town Hall

 

April 23: Senior Portraits

 

April 27: School Day SAT

 

April 29, 30: Retake Pictures

 

END OF YEAR INFO

June 2-3-4. SOL Testing; These will be asynchronous days for our students.

 

June 7-10 will be exam/project days classes will continue with a normal bell schedule. Monday/Tuesday: 1 and 3; Wednesday/Thursday: 2 and 4.

 

June 14-15 will be make-up exams.

 

May 24-25: Last in person days for seniors with exams on 26-27 of May.

Links

https://bit.ly/WAHSannounce to request an announcement, publication in newsletter, etc

 

https://bit.ly/TWCStuRec TWC student recognition

 

http://bit.ly/MeetStudentWA  Meeting with student

 

bit.ly/WAlunch Lunch order

Birthdays

April 14: Caryn Brock

 

April 16: Diane Symmes 

Worth Your Time

How the pandemic is affecting k-12 education in charts 


Why so many Asian-Americans are learning remotely 


Suspensions, handcuffs, jail--middle school discipline falls heavily on vulnerable students 


Hybrid Learning

Tips for social distanced classrooms/hybrid learning

Blended learning: strategies for engagement

Effective instructional models for a hybrid schedule

Hybrid/blended teaching strategies

Flip flop design for hybrid learning 

More teachers are asked to double up, instructing kids at school and at home simultaneously 

Simple hacks to improve online assessment

Guidelines for increasing air ventilation in classrooms 


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