Even though readers investigate matters of the heart, this activity promotes the inner workings of learners' brains. The fifth lesson of six has the teacher first model the strategy to the class before having small groups practice. To finish, learners work individually, much like a reader's workshop. Skills from the lesson encourage thoughtful reading regardless of genre—creating smarter readers.

Concepts

reading strategies, asking questions, critical thinking

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Have small groups construct questions while reading and then have the class swap questions so other small groups can work to answer the questions using textual evidence
• Continue using this strategy as you read future chapters from Words by Heart, or with other types of texts such as newspaper articles, journals, or poetry

Classroom Considerations

• Activity moves from whole-class to small group to individual work; think about how you can arrange seating 

Pros

• Resource comes with helpful question guide to help readers brainstorm questions for strategy
• Lesson is carefully constructed with scaffolds to promote success
• Includes an assessment with answer key to measure growth

Cons

Common Core

RL.6.1 RL.7.1 RL.8.1