Eat11 Essential Questioning to Build Skills Presentation

1. Michael Leftwich
!
09/10/14
Western Governors University
EAT Task 11:
Questioning Assessment Workshop Assignment

2. Introduction:!
Building Reading Comprehension!
with Higher-Level Thinking Skills.
• Questioning at various
levels of Bloom’s
Taxonomy.!
1. Pre- and Post- Questioning as instructional
and assessment tools.
2. The Cognitive Domain.
3. Questioning in action. (2009, Assessment)

3. Pre-Questioning:!
What do students already know?
• As Instructional Tool - activates prior knowledge, creates interest,
and motivation before students begin reading the text.
• Recalls background knowledge, provides scaffolding, and front loads key concepts. Students can share their own ideas, experiences, and
make guesses based on what they know and can observe.
• Provides framework for the lesson, including introducing goals and clarifying standards.
• Engages the students through sharing personal experience. Students share ideas about the content or concept of study through
questioning and make connections to the real world and to their own lives.
• As Assessment Tool - informs teacher of relevant ability levels,
dictates future instruction and assessment, and provides on-going
feedback before students begin reading the text.
• Provides teacher with insight into student ability levels in order to adjust instruction or provide differentiation.
• Helps teacher plan future lessons and units.
• Helps teacher identify and manage student progress towards goal and standard-based achievement.

4. Post-Questioning:!
What did students learn?
• As Instructional Tool - an opportunity to create scaffolding, foster concrete ideas or
concepts of what has been learned, and presents higher-level thinking skills for
students to build upon.
• Creates opportunities for the teacher to engage in higher-level thinking through self-assessment and questioning.
• Allows students to create deeper connections and build on previous knowledge.
• Lets teacher model higher-level thinking skills to improve students’ skills and questioning strategies.
• As Assessment Tool - captures students attitudes towards presented materials and
methods, informs teacher of how to adapt and differentiate to improve knowledge
and skills, and ensures teacher catches errors and misconceptions before they
become permanent knowledge.
• Helps teacher check for understanding and student comfort level. Gauges student understanding of each component of the lesson.
• Provides teacher the insight necessary to provide further enrichment through lessons, activities, and reflection. Acts as the starting
point to build further student knowledge and higher-level thinking skills.
• Ensures the teacher can identify and correct misconceptions about the text or ideas presented in the lesson.

5. The Cognitive Domain
• One of three domains in Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Comprised of 6 levels which represent the stages of
development for student thinking skills. From lowest order
thinking to highest order thinking, they are:
1. Knowledge - Remembering stage. Ability to define, describe, and repeat
previously learned facts or skills.
2. Comprehension - Understanding stage. Ability to explain, summarize, and
interpret the meaning of information.
3. Application - Applying stage. Ability to construct, demonstrate and carry out
the purpose of information to use in real-life problem solving.
4. Analysis - Analyzing stage. Ability to compare, contrast, and understand the
complex organization of the parts of a whole.
5. Synthesis - Creating stage. Ability to generalize, create, and integrate
conceptions to understand information and produce new ideas.
6. Evaluation - Evaluating stage. Ability to assess, justify, and criticize
information based on standards and validity and recommend changes or
modifications to existing structures.
(2009, Assessment)

6. The Cognitive Domain!
And Critical Reading Skills
• Pre- and Post- Questioning at multiple levels of
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain helps
students:
• Develop critical reading skills.
• Read with purpose and understanding.
• Imagine, empathize, predict, and create.
Building good readers using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain encourages students
to think in different ways which foster to help comprehend, analyze, and assess what they
are reading. (2014, Bloom’s)

7. Practical Example:!
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• Grade Level: K-2
• Children’s read aloud with themes related to elementary school
individuality, pride, and self-esteem.
• Chrysanthemum is a story about a young mouse who starts school.
Up until the start of school, Chrysanthemum LOVES her name. She
loves it written and said. Then, she begins to be teased at school
and he self-esteem deflates. That is until she meets her music
teacher and the story takes a happy turn.
• Chrysanthemum is a great story to start out any school year when
setting up your classroom expectations and class environment.

8. Pre-Reading Questions:!
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• Pre-Reading Questions:
1. Ask students how they felt on their first day of school. (Synthesis)
2. Lead a picture walk through and ask “What do you think will happen in the
story?” (Knowledge)
3. What does it mean to be someone’s friend?. (Analysis)

9. Post-Reading Questions:!
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• Post-Reading Questions:!
1. How did Chrysanthemum's feelings change from the beginning through to the end?
(Analysis)!
2. Why do Chrysanthemum's parents give her hugs, kisses, cook her favorite meal, and
play games with her each night after school? (Comprehension)!
3. How does Chrysanthemum's walk to school change, why and how do you know?
(Analysis)!
4. Chrysanthemum is a type of flower. The author makes comparisons between flowers and
the character. Please list some. (Comprehension)!
5. How does the music teacher change how the class feels about Chrysanthemum's name
and how Chrysanthemum feels about her name? (Analysis)!
6. Can you make a connection to the story: text to text, text to self, or text to world?
(Evaluation)

10. References
• (2014). Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloomstaxonomy.org. http://
www.bloomstaxonomy.org/Blooms%20Taxonomy%20 questions.pdf
• (2014). The Effects of Pre-Questioning on the Reading Comprehension
Achievement In Teaching English. HubPages. http://
smahillah.hubpages.com/hub/mamaalvin
• (2009). Assessment Drives Learning. Center for Enhancement of Teaching
and Learning. http://ar.cetl.hku.hk/bloom.htm