How can we teach questioning skills from the perspective of deconstruction?

How many of us have been forced to give students a poor score because they misread the question or didn't follow all the directions in a written response? Even at the university level, I see students who fail to complete all the required tasks on complex essay questions. So how can we teach our students to examine the question before they offer a response―how can we teach them to go into a kind of stop, read, and deconstruct mode?

The strategy of restating the question is a useful one. Having students restate the question requires them to sift through the words to create meaning for themselves. Ardith Davis Cole does an excellent job of describing the process of restating the question in Better Answers: Written Performance That Looks Good and Sounds Smart. Follow the link from ORC #4595 to read Chapter 1 of her book, aptly titled "Restating the Question."

Question-answer relationships―also known as QARs―give students a different way to think about questions. For helpful information about QARs, try:

• Strategies for Comprehension: Question-Answer Relationships. This site outlines the four types of QAR. The idea is for students to pick apart a question by deciding whether the question is asking for something that their text obviously answers, less obviously answers, only partly answers, or doesn't answer at all. Also, have a look at QAR Now, by Taffy E. Raphael, Kathy Highfield, and Kathryn H. Au (Scholastic, New York, 2001).
• Using QARs to Develop Comprehension and Reflective Reading Habits. On this website, you will find an overview of QARs, a lesson that gives students learning and practice time, and suggestions for creative activities such as having students write their own questions corresponding to the four types of QAR.

AdLIT's online literacy magazine, In Perspective, features an ongoing column about the Ohio Graduation Test. A number of the columns deal with different ways to address questions. See the "A Look at the OGT" index to find columns such as "Analyzing a Question."

Finally, check out a recent Questions from the Classroom post. Shannon Baumgarner's "How do we help students respond fully to extended-response questions in a testing situation?" offers essential advice on identifying key words in questions.

How can I teach my students the difference between summarizing and retelling?

For many students, the difference between summarizing and retelling is unclear. Both have their usefulness, but when it comes to the OGT and the OAT, students need to know the difference since they may be asked to summarize a passage or select the best summary.

It is often helpful to explain the difference this way:

• A summary is direct and to the point—it is like a postcard of your vacation—whereas retelling is the entire scrapbook.
• Retelling provides all the intricate details of a reading, from beginning to end.

How should we engage reluctant readers?

We as teachers know that the most effective way to become a better reader is to read, and to read a lot! But try telling that to a middle or high school student who can read but doesn't like to and sees little value in doing so. "Who cares?" is the usual answer when such a student is pressed about his or her lack of reading. So how can we inspire our students to become engaged readers?

The ORC online magazine Adolescent Literacy In Perspective has devoted a number of issues to this topic. Three stand out as being particularly relevant. The March 2006 issue, "Boys and Reading," speaks to the problem of motivation. The May/June 2006 "Young Adult Literature: Books That Engage Tweens and Teens," focuses on young adults and fiction and includes recommendations for specific books. The October 2004 issue, "When Adolescents Can't and Won't Read," lays a comprehensive foundation for this entire topic.