Active Reading Qs

Here's a visual I put together to articulate the "Active Reading -- Writing -- Thinking Connection. It borrows liberally from a variety of thinkers and writers.

This webpage describes how we've been using Active Reading Questions (ARQs) in class and for homework this past year. ARQs are a type of Journaling about assigned reading. After the introductory discussion of standards, essential questions, enduring understandings and content and skills delineation, there are examples of different types of ARQs written by students. What is not included on this webpage was the part of the ARQs in which students write down a.) three questions they had about the reading and b.) two vocabulary words that they explore using the "guess and check" method. -- Mr. Chamberlain

Key/Power Standards:

RL.8.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

RL.8.3. Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

W.82: Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

W.8.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Big Ideas

“Idea generation” is a challenging skill to develop in student writers, far more cognitively challenging than essay or paragraph organization. Cultivating an active mindset, an excitement for brainstorming and finding connections, a questioning style, and a close engagement and connection to the text, helps get students into a fertile, idea-generative mindset. This needs to become a habit of mind and therefore should be practiced frequently, perhaps three times a week in Active Reading Questions (ARQs).

Essential Questions:

Overarching: How can frequent writing sharpen us as readers? How does writing reflect and refine our thinking? If writing reflects thinking, can writing about what we read make us more thoughtful readers?

Topical: Can we learn about connections among the elements of fiction, such as connections between setting and character, plot events and character development, setting and mood/atmosphere, plot and theme?

Enduring Understandings:

Overarching: Having students generate their own questions produces a sense of ownership, and the combination of personal curiosity (perhaps relating to identification with a character or situation or sense of vivid visualization) and ownership (which has the element of personal choice) has a stimulating effect on the mind and, in effect, propels it to explore and evaluate the reading more reflectively. This is the goal of using Active Reading Questions.

Topical: With ARQs, students explore readings and form questions about the content, such as characters, plot, word choices, figurative language, and style. Students need to use the language of these literary elements and apply these terms to their discussion.

Content

What students will know

* what makes for a quantitatively developed response. Students are expected to write 100 words. Since this is to be done after every other reading assignment, it’s not meant to be of essay length, but it is meant to be a thoughtful exploration of 100 words. Some students will inevitably go beyond that, because once ideas start flowing, that’s what happens. Other students will need to be reminded to develop their ideas to reach that level of elaboration.

* how to use brainstorming questions to stimulate the mind, including the all-purpose “What else can I say?” reader-text connector.

* how to research a topic or theme or character’s role in various parts of a chapter or reading assignment; how to broaden support.

* what makes for a qualitatively thorough, reflective response to show an engaged interaction with the text. In the classroom, we will examine a number of student writing examples to see how they reach or approximate an expected level of development and engagement.

Skills

What students will do:

Students share their paragraphs with the class. A student (or a chosen classmate) reads his or her individual, exemplary or illustrative paragraph aloud to the class, after which comments are invited or observations and instruction follows. Or we do a peer reading, in which each student prints out and displays his or her paragraphs, and classmates make their way around the room, giving a holistic response to student paragraphs, responding with positive comments and constructive suggestions. Paragraphs are then put on our Word Wall, using the 10 categories delineated below, so we can build our collective understanding of a thorough engagement and resourceful response to the variety of options.

STAGE 2: Determine acceptable evidence.

Assessments:

Formative: ARQs are by nature formative. Students build a sense of what scores them 5/5 points on their paragraph based on frequent scoring and class discussion of qualitative and quantitative expectations. Reviews of student examples such as the above are helpful in setting these expectations.

Summative: Students write more formally in class on questions determined by the teacher.

Self: As much as possible, I have conferences with students on their writing. On occasion, I also have students review a series of comments and scores and summarize their progress or patterns of themes found in their comments. This activity has a metacognitive element.

STAGE 3: Plan Learning Experiences (Lesson Plans and Resources Needed)

Key Instructional Experiences

Strategies/Activities, Examples of Differentiation and Accommodation:

Students differentiate by picking paragraph topics that match their interest and ability. Readers who need support will gravitate toward the topic “Fix up the Mix-Ups” or the Page Summaries. “Wearing the Red Hat” is also a topic that allows for a less challenging “reader response,” even though it does suggest a very active mindset. Stronger readers will pick topics that allow them to integrate elements of fiction, such as “Setting and Mood,” and “Plot Events and Commentary.” Readers who are comfortable articulating their own points of view choose “Describe your Thoughts and Views.”