Crafting Connections

Guest Post...Asking Questions!



I'd like to introduce you to Helal, a third grade teacher from Ontario, Canada. Helal offered to write a guest post, and of course, I took her up on her offer! When I asked her about her favorite subject to teach, she replied "all things language!" She is currently on leave from teaching because she and her husband recently moved to the United States. She says that she is passionate about sharing ideas that will help teachers, and this is readily apparent when you check out her blog, The Grade 3 Teacher and her Pinterest page. In fact, she said that if anyone is in need of inspiration regarding a specific subject, be sure to contact her- she would like to write blog posts that address these types of requests!!! We hope you enjoy her topic today... the importance of student-generated questions!


Asking questions is one of the most wonderful strategies to get your students delving deeper into a text. I've stumbled upon a wonderful way to get your students to ask questions that will greatly enhance their understanding, allow them to make deeper connections and potentially create a lifelong love of curious exploration. After you've had some lessons about questions as a reading strategy, it's important to talk to your students about the levels of questioning that can occur. Here is a wonderful example:

This is the original blog post where I found this anchor chart.

Oh, wouldn't it be amazing to have your students asking inventive questions! The joy that will appear on your face when your students asks "if you had a Giving Tree, what would you do differently?" is priceless, my friends. I promise you, you can get your students to this deep level of questioning. The first step is to use the wonderful anchor chart above as a start. Here are some other ways to get your students asking critical thinking questions:

Start A Wonder Wall

By Connie at Welcome to First Grade
A wonder wall is a great way to get your students to practice asking questions. They can ask questions about any curriculum topic, not just reading. What's even greater is that students can take a stab at answering the questions, or sharing theories with each other. This is an informal way to get your students thinking about asking questions as a step towards learning.

Give examples of "thin" & "thick" questions.

By Leslie Ann from Life in Fifth Grade
This is a great way to get your students gauging whether their questions warrant a deeper level of thinking. Give examples of the type of responses critical thinking questions garner, and how they usually sound as well. The anchor chart above is fantastic for this purpose. Also, allow your students to practice asking these questions with your consistent feedback on how they are doing.
Lots of Practice
Let your students have lots of practice not only asking deeper questions, but using texts to answer them as well. Here are some classic ways to practice:

By Liz at The Happy Teacher
Create examples of your own, for students to learn from.


By Reading Workshop
Model questions for specific stories, and then have your students create their own questions.


This freebie is from Shawna at Classroom Freebies.
Give students plenty of opportunities to practice.


How do you get your students asking meaningful questions?



Sources: Patheos Welcome to First Grade Life in Fifth Grade Reading Workshop Classroom Freebies The Happy Teacher


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