Questioning Text
Using a think/pair/share ask students to discuss why good readers ask questions about the text.
Read the following text to the students from the Short Story "Grandad's Gifts". (Let students follow the story on their iPad). Ask students to write down everything they can tell from the text.
"We can't open that cupboard," said Dad. "I promised my father. Grandad locked it up many years ago and it's never been opened."
"What's in it?" I asked.
"No one knows," said Mum.
"But it's in my bedroom," I said. "I need to know what's in it. It could be anything."
"I lived in this bedroom for nineteen years," Dad said. "And I kept my promise. That cupboard has never been opened. Now I want you to promise me that you will never open it."
They both looked at me, waiting for my answer. Suddenly there was a knock on the door downstairs. "It's the removal van," said Mum. "About time too."
Read the following text to the students from the Short Story "Grandad's Gifts". (Let students follow the story on their iPad). Ask students to write down everything they can tell from the text.
"We can't open that cupboard," said Dad. "I promised my father. Grandad locked it up many years ago and it's never been opened."
"What's in it?" I asked.
"No one knows," said Mum.
"But it's in my bedroom," I said. "I need to know what's in it. It could be anything."
"I lived in this bedroom for nineteen years," Dad said. "And I kept my promise. That cupboard has never been opened. Now I want you to promise me that you will never open it."
They both looked at me, waiting for my answer. Suddenly there was a knock on the door downstairs. "It's the removal van," said Mum. "About time too."
Create a list on the board with the heading LITERAL, INFERENTIAL, APPLIED
List all the information that the students come up with and decide if it is literally in the text, inferred in the text or requires students to apply their knowledge and made predictions.
From the information on the board, ask students to create questions to match the information on the board. Share the questions with the group. Identify any literal, inferential or applied questions.
Read the next passage in the story and ask students to repeat the steps above.
Mum and Dad rushed down to help move in our furniture. I wandered around my new room. It was small and dusty with a little dormer window overlooking the tangled garden.
No one had lived in the house for years. It was high in the mountains, far from the city. The garden was overgrown. Ivy had climbed the gum trees. Blackberry bushes choked the paths and strangled the shrubs.
I walked over to the forbidden cupboard and gave the handle a shake. It was locked firm. I put my eye to the keyhole but everything was black. I sniffed under the gap at the bottom of the door. It was musty and dusty. Something silent inside seemed to call me.
It was almost as if a gentle voice was stirring the shadows of years gone by. The stillness seemed to echo my name, "Shane, Shane, Shane..."
List all the information that the students come up with and decide if it is literally in the text, inferred in the text or requires students to apply their knowledge and made predictions.
From the information on the board, ask students to create questions to match the information on the board. Share the questions with the group. Identify any literal, inferential or applied questions.
Read the next passage in the story and ask students to repeat the steps above.
Mum and Dad rushed down to help move in our furniture. I wandered around my new room. It was small and dusty with a little dormer window overlooking the tangled garden.
No one had lived in the house for years. It was high in the mountains, far from the city. The garden was overgrown. Ivy had climbed the gum trees. Blackberry bushes choked the paths and strangled the shrubs.
I walked over to the forbidden cupboard and gave the handle a shake. It was locked firm. I put my eye to the keyhole but everything was black. I sniffed under the gap at the bottom of the door. It was musty and dusty. Something silent inside seemed to call me.
It was almost as if a gentle voice was stirring the shadows of years gone by. The stillness seemed to echo my name, "Shane, Shane, Shane..."
The rest of the story is in the file below if students want to continue to read.
grandads_gifts.pdf | |
File Size: | 841 kb |
File Type: |
Independent Group
Read the story 'Grandad's Gifts'
Read the story 'Grandad's Gifts'
- Create a list of things that you know that are
not explicitly stated in the text (this means that they are inferred). From
your list of inferred information, create 2 inferential questions. Write your
answer with an explanation about how you know that. Share you questions and
answers with the person sitting next to you.
- Write 2 literal questions and answers.
- Write 2 applied questions and answers.
- Discuss your questions and answers with the person sitting next to you.
Reflection:
- Did your partner and you always have the same
answers? Explain
- Was it difficult to write applied questions for
Grandad’s Gifts? Why/why not?
- Were you able to correctly predict the ending in
Grandad’s Gifts? If not, what did you think was going to happen?