Lesson 3

Lesson Goals

Texts

Materials

Tools

• Responding to Questions Handout

Reference Guides

• Questioning Reference Guide

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will learn about text-dependent questions: how to use them to guide reading and how to respond to them in ways that are thoughtful and complete.

Step 1

Access the Responding to Questions Handout.

Discuss the first two sentences in the Concept section of this resource. Notice that text-dependent questions should guide your reading and lead to a thoughtful response rather than cause you to look for a single right answer. Depending on the type and nature of the question, there may be a number of well-supported responses, as long as they are based on relevant textual evidence.

Note that you want to develop a good, strategic process for responding thoughtfully and completely to any text-dependent question you encounter. Read through and discuss the steps outlined in Phase 1 of the process section of the handout: Responding Thoughtfully and Completely to Text-Dependent Questions.

Step 2

Return to a question you considered previously in this unit. Follow the steps outlined in the process section of the handout as you annotate this question and think about what you might look for in the text. Discuss what a good response might focus on.

Now consider another, somewhat different question for the same text. Discuss what a good response to that question might focus on.

Compare the two questions and their possible responses, thinking about how your reading of the text might be different depending on which question you focused on.

Step 3

Preview and briefly discuss the Criteria for Success section at the bottom of the handout. You will return to and consider these criteria later in this lesson and the unit, when you are developing responses to questions.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will work as a class to practice using text-dependent questions to guide reading and develop responses that are thoughtful and complete.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher uses the process outlined in the Responding to Questions Handout to address questions and frame thoughtful responses about a text you have read or are reading in this unit.

Identify and review (or preview) the text you will use to model and practice the process of responding to text-dependent questions.

Step 2

Practice Step 1 in the first phase of the process: consider, annotate, and analyze a set of questions related to the text, either ones that are text-specific (from the text’s question set) or these more general guiding questions:

1. As you first read the text, which details stand out to you as interesting or significant? What are your initial thoughts or reactions to these details?

2. What is the first main idea or claim directly stated by the author in this text? What specific details does the author use to develop, explain, or support that idea or claim?

3. How do specific words and phrases used by the author in this text influence its tone or mood?

4. What central idea or theme does the author imply without ever directly stating it?

5. In what ways does the language of this text suggest its author’s perspective on the subject? Does that perspective seem to be an objective or subjective view?

6. After carefully reading key sentences from this text, what claim can you make about whether the author’s style and craft are effective for you as a reader?

Step 3

Practice Steps 2 and 3 in the first phase of the process: for each question, determine what type of question it seems to be (literal, interpretive, or evaluative), what the key words in the question suggest you should think about, and what kind of details you might look for as you use the question to read or reread the text closely.

Step 4

Consider a first, more literal question from the set to guide your initial reading or review of the text.

As a class, practice Steps 4, 5, and 6 in the first phase of the process, as guided and modeled by your teacher: Identify a key section of the text to read closely and take note of important details related to the question. Make a class list of the details you notice, then determine three or four that seem to be most relevant to the question you are considering. Discuss the connections and relationships among those key details.

On your own, develop a response to the question that is supported by specific evidence from the text you have found (Step 7 in the process). Share your response with the class and compare them to each other and to a model response developed by your teacher.

For each response you consider, practice Step 8 in the process: Compare the response to the original question and determine if, and how well, it aligns with the expectations of the question.

Step 5

Repeat the response process with a more complex question from the question set:

1. Carefully read and annotate the text of the question.

2. Determine what type of question it is.

3. Determine what kinds of textual details you might pay specific attention to.

4. Skim the text to find the part you should read closely in response to the question.

5. Closely read and take note of places and details in the text that correspond to the specific cues in the question.

6. Think about connections or relationships among the details you identify.

7. Individually think about responses to the question that are supported by the specific evidence from the text that you found.

8. Compare and connect your responses to each other, to a teacher model, and to the question itself.

Review the Criteria for Success section of the Responding to Questions Handout. For the teacher model response, and several student responses, discuss the ways in which the responses meet (or don’t yet meet) the criteria and how they might be improved to do so.

Activity 3: Discuss – Write

We will work in reading teams to practice using text-dependent questions to guide reading and develop responses that are thoughtful and complete.

Step 1

Join a reading team to further practice the process of responding to questions. Your teacher will assign another question from the question set to your team for the text you are using in this lesson or from the generic guiding questions set.

As before, examine your question using the first three steps in the Phase 1 process:

1. Carefully read and annotate the text of the question.

2. Determine what type of question it is.

3. Determine what kinds of textual details you might pay specific attention to.

As a team, discuss what these steps ask you to do, and decide what you will be looking for as you reread all or part of the text. You might assign specific types of details to different readers on your team, depending on the nature of your question. For example, one reader might look for key words and phrases, another for examples, another for other kinds of supporting information, etc.

Step 2

Individually, practice Steps 4 and 5 in the process:

4. Skim the text to find the part you should read closely in response to the question.

5. Closely read and take note of places and details in the text that correspond to the specific cues in the question.

Share with your team the details you have identified and explain why you picked those details in response to your team’s question. As a team, practice Step 6 of the process:

6. Think about connections or relationships among the details you identify.

Step 3

Individually, practice Step 7 and develop a response to the question that is supported by specific evidence you have found from the text.

Share and compare your various text-based responses to the question. Considering Step 8 (Compare and connect your responses to the question itself) and the Criteria for Success section, determine or develop a team response that you think best represents your team’s thinking.

Step 4

As a class, report on and discuss the various responses to the questions in the question set for the text you are using. Note how the nature of the questions you have responded to influence the responses you have developed—and therefore how you have read the text.

Use the Criteria for Success section of the handout to discuss and assess the team responses, noting which criteria are best met for each response and which ones might be improved upon.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will individually use text-dependent questions to guide our reading of a new text, and we will use the criteria for success to evaluate how thoughtful and complete our responses are.

Step 1

Identify a new text or section of text that you will now read independently to further practice the process of responding to questions. Review a question set for that text or think about how the generic guiding question set might apply to the new text.

Identify a question you will focus on as you read and respond to the text.

On your own, go through the steps in Phase 1 of the process that you have been practicing:

1. Carefully read and annotate the text of the question.

2. Determine what type of question it is.

3. Determine what kinds of textual details you might pay specific attention to.

4. Skim the text to find the part you should read closely in response to the question.

5. Closely read and take note of places and details in the text that correspond to the specific cues in the question.

6. Think about connections or relationships among the details you identify.

7. Think about a response to the question that is supported by the specific evidence from the text you have found.

8. Compare and connect your responses to the question itself.

Step 2

Do a self-assessment of your response, using the Responding to Questions Checklist from the Responding to Questions Handout.

How well does your response do the following:

• address what the question is asking

• cite specific and relevant details from the text

• make valid connections among key textual details and thoughtfully analyze their relationships

• demonstrate a meaningful, insightful, and accurate reading of the text and an analysis of its evidence

• communicate in one or more clear, direct, and complete sentences

• use academic concepts and vocabulary that are related to the response, when relevant

• have a clear explanation that can be defended, but also refined, when discussed with others

Based on the checklist questions, and what you determine to be strengths and areas of improvement for your response, revise the sentences you have written so you can present and explain your response to other students.

Step 3

As a class, review the steps for Phase 2 from the Responding to Questions Handout: Sharing your Response in Discussion. Discuss what those steps ask you to do and why it is important to keep an open mind and discuss your ideas in a spirit of inquiry (asking questions) rather than advocacy (arguing in favor of an answer).

Partner with another student who has addressed the same question as you. Follow the steps in Phase 2 to share and compare your responses:

1. Share your response to the question you addressed:

   1. Identify the question, noting what it asks you to do and what its key words suggest you should look for in the text.

   2. Explain the observation, claim, or conclusion you reached and the evidence from the text that supports it, perhaps using your notes to guide your explanation.

   3. Use academic language, such as vocabulary from the text or question itself, or literary concepts you have been studying (e.g., metaphor, theme).

2. Throughout the discussion, participate in a way that emphasizes thoughtful questioning and a desire to learn (a spirit of inquiry), rather than arguing for and defending your position as the only correct one (a stance of advocacy). As others share their responses, interact with them and their ideas:

   1. Ask them to elaborate on or clarify their response.

   2. Objectively compare their response to others (noting what is similar or different).

   3. Build on or contribute to their response.

   4. Respectfully challenge or disagree with their response, providing your own textual evidence.

Step 4

As a class, discuss what you have learned about the process of responding to text-dependent questions and how that process has helped you read and analyze the texts you have examined more closely. Review the steps in Phase 3 of the process: Reflecting on Your Response.

In your Learning Log or another recording tool, record the response you framed to the text and question you have considered during this activity. Then go through the steps in Phase 3 to reflect on, revise, refine, or improve your response:

1. Reflect on what you learned about the topic or text and how your understanding was advanced by the ideas of others. The discussion might have led you to build on or change your initial response.

2. Record your reflections and new understanding by doing any of the following:

   1. Annotate or revise your response.

   2. Develop a new response or question to reflect your new understanding.

   3. Take notes in your Learning Log.

   4. Write a reflection about the discussion and how it influenced your thinking.

Submit the responses you have written and any other reflections about the process for review by your teacher.