Question Cards

In my previous blog posts I have talked about question cards that I have created that students have to answer during guided reading. Through research and discussions with colleagues I decided that this was something that I wanted to implement with my reading groups. 

What is it?
I have created 6 question cards for fiction and then 6 question cards for non-fiction texts. They are very generic and can be related to all texts. The reason I have gone with 6 is because all of my reading groups have a max of 6 students in them. 

How does it work?
Before guided reading sessions I have been giving my students the text that they are going to be reading. From there they are given on of the 6 questions and this is the question they will be answering when we meet back together. They are usually given 20 minutes to read the text and think about how they are going to answer the question. 

This has been working really well and I have been finding my students who are less likely to share are a lot more confident because that have already thought about what they are going to say. Another positive is that the students now know the order of the questions and will take the lead to ask each person to read and share the question. After these questions we can unpack the text in greater detail and the students are a lot more comfortable sharing for the rest of the lesson.

Fiction Questions

• Who are the main characters? How do they change throughout the story?
• What is the main problem or conflict in the story?
• Where and when does the story take place?
• What is the central message or idea of the story?
• What is the author's message to the reader?
• What connections can you make between this story and your own life or other stories you have read? 

Non Fiction Questions

• What is this text really about?
• How does the author organise the information?
• How has your understanding of this topic changed after reading the text?
• What is the author's purpose for writing this text?
• Do you agree or disagree with the author's ideas, and why?
• How can you share what you learned with others?

These are very generic questions that get to some of the key points of the text and really make the students think more critically about what they are reading. I have laminated a number of sets of these and find it really easy to give out with the text as we are setting up our sessions. I look forward to using these for the rest of the year and will make some changes if I need to.