WAHS Wisdom

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 autho...

Taking Graphic Organizers to the Next Level John Hattie and Robert Marzano agree   that g raphic organizers yield increased learning results. One of the most effective uses of graphic organizers I’ve seen is to introduce an essential question at the beginning of the unit and having students add to the organizer (often a concept web) throughout the unit with periodic opportunities for students to compare their work to that of peers. Teacher poses a topic or an essential question. Students create their own graphic organizers or concept maps. In groups of two or three, students compare their organizers or maps. For beginning students, it may be beneficial to provide them with a structured prompts to discuss: What do they have in common? What is missing from one or more? What information needs clarification? What improvements do I need to make? What suggestions do I have for my partners? The teacher shares an exemplar (teacher or student-created) for students to compare their work to. ...