Children ask questions all the time. It’s a natural human quality to ask questions about things that spark one’s curiosity. The concept of questions is not new to young readers, yet I wonder why they don’t naturally ask questions when we read together. Even when I prompt them to ask questions, they often make statements instead.
I know they need to be able to transfer their ability to ask ques-tions of their world to asking quesques-tions of the texts they read.
Keene and Zimmermann write that this is a common issue for struggling readers: “The research shows that children who struggle as readers tend not to ask questions at any time as they read—
before, during, or after” (1997, p. 99). Knowing the potential chal-lenges for new readers—and especially for students acquiring a sec-ond language—I want to hear them, on a regular basis, asking more questions of the books we read.
I choose a book that I think will provoke many questions. I pick Eve Bunting’s Trouble on the T-Ball Team (1997) because Brendin, Antonio, and a slew of others are excited about being on their first T-ball team. They have just registered, and their conver-sations tell me they are thinking about their future sport. I keep their conversations in mind as I choose this book, a mystery about a team where everyone has “lost one” except Linda, the main character. As the story unfolds, we get clues that what the team members are all losing isn’t T-ball games, but teeth. I believe it will offer frequent chances for the children to ask questions.
There is an added benefit for my students who still have their baby teeth.
I introduce the new comprehension strategy by talking about how important it is for good readers to ask questions as they read.
I write on chart paper, “Expert readers ask questions before, during, and after they read” (see Figure 5.1). Since this book is a mystery, I decide to restructure my modeling a little bit. This time, I show them the cover of the book and invite their questions. In the illus-tration, the whole team is huddled together with puzzled looks on their faces.
After many statements, together we rephrase two of them into questions. I write those two down: “I think there’s something miss-ing. What’s missing?” and “I think they are missing the ball.
Where’s the ball?” I can tell this is going to be hard work for them—and for me.
Then, I read the book aloud, stopping after every few pages.
Instead of modeling my questions, I ask for theirs. This is a long book, and it takes us more than our usual read-aloud time to find out what the mystery is all about. By the end of the day, we have nine questions on our chart.
Figure 5.1 Expert readers ask questions before, dur-ing, and after they read.
The next day, we read the book again, and then I invite their questions to add them to our class chart. For the most part, they are asking questions rather than making statements. Ironically, their questions show me that they have no idea what this book is about. “What did he lose in the bathroom?” “How can a ball go in the bathroom?” “When did the coach lose twenty teeth?” They are only beginning to understand that the central mystery is con-nected to losing teeth.
For our third day, I decide to include movement to help them talk about their questions. I summarize the first part of the book, then read aloud the rest. “Your job, friends,” I tell them, “is to take your question and figure out how to move to your question. How can you ask your question with your body?”
An innocent bystander might believe these moving bodies are simply free-dancing. However, when they explain the questions they have been moving to, they are indeed related to their first set of questions we have listed on the chart paper. Sidney moves to the yellow dog high-fiving for her question, “What’s next after the dog high-fives the guy?”
Montana and Cole shrug together to ask, “How did the coach lose twenty teeth?”
Unfortunately, they are no closer to understanding the book.
Neither of the themes that I thought would capture their atten-tion—T-ball and children losing baby teeth—really ignited ques-tioning strategies in these readers.
I know that for our next week’s study, I need to find a catalyst for summoning the questioning brilliance that they use so fre-quently in their everyday lives, but rarely in relation to the books.
I decide to try a different medium, and because I am awed by the movie myself, I consider using Winged Migration (2003). This amaz-ing documentary details the annual migrations of birds around the world. The audience sees the nesting rituals and remote homelands of dozens of types of migrating birds. The sound track of music from around the world echoes the majesty and danger of the birds’
endless flight.
Having seen this film with my five-year-old daughter and heard her barrage of questions, I wonder what the children will make of it. I wonder if we can practice the questioning strategy while immersing ourselves in the lives of birds again, this time from a documentary angle.
In addition, Hermilo wants to become an expert on radios, and I could show the special footage on the DVD of how the film crew uses recording equipment to document the sound and lives of the birds in their migrations as a link to his interest.