Respondtodiscussion7.docx

Respond to discussion with at least 100 words per person

Shaniqua

Before writing text dependent questions the teacher needs to be aware of the purpose of text dependent questions. They are used to ensure that the student indeed read and had to do some deep thinking in order to answer. This particular school year my students have a hard time giving details from the text or locating it. Even on stories that we have read and gone over. Multiple choice is a guessing game for some so I have made it a point to give more text dependent questions. Students have been forced to get familiar with annotating and citing evidence. I have made them understand that they will need to critically think and that has been hard for my students. They are used to obvious questions being asked but close reading has brought some a long way. Your first step to devoloping text based questions is to read and understand the key details and skills that you want students to pull/learn from the text. Second step for me is backwards planning. Students should start from the beginning of the unit being prepped to answer the questions they will be asked for the assessment. I let my students know at the beginning of the unit what discussion question they will have to answer at the end of our unit. I have it posted in the classroom as a daily reminder. You should also make sure students understand needed vocabulary, it can be academic vocabulary or content based. Making sure students know that analyze means the same no matter what class they are in versus the words they need to understand the reading material.  Questions should be developed solely based off the text so that students learn to stay on topic. The standard that students are supposed to learn from the text should be hugely considered when writing questions, as they should be aligned. Last step is that students should have activities that help prepare them for the assessment itself. It could be writing, small group projects, and independent work. When I write my text dependent questions I make sure that I do not ask the obvious. Students need to be making connections that are not explicitly stated in the text. Those are the only type of questions that really force students to critically think. I have made it imperative that on any question that I ask, students HAVE to give me details from the text. So even when we answer multiple choice questions I follow them up by, "How did you come up with this answer," or "What lead you to make that connection?" 

Christopher

Text‐dependent questions specifically ask a question that can only be answered by referring explicitly back to the text. It does not rely on any particular background information extraneous to the text nor depend on students having other experiences or knowledge; instead it privileges the text itself and what students can extract from what is before them. They help students see something worthwhile that they would not have seen. The questions can be classified as either literal or inferential. Literal questions check for understanding and inferential questions require the student to think deeply in order to answer. Text-dependent questions should incorporate important ideas, author's purpose, and author's claims and arguments. Literal text-dependent questions should focus on theme, relationships among the characters, and events in the story. It is important to have a variety of approaches, such as small groups, independent written responses, and whole class discussions.

When creating text-dependent questions, I should first ensure the students understand the key ideas of the text. Text dependent questions should gradually increase in rigor, be sequential, target vocabulary and text structure, and tackle more difficult sections. Text dependent questions give the student practice using reading comprehension strategies. The different strategies they can use can be inferring, comparing and contrasting, summarizing, and monitoring, visualizing, and main ideas and supporting details. These questions can be tailored to fit the student. Along the way, they target academic vocabulary and specific sentence structures as critical focus points for gaining comprehension. Text- dependent questions should challenge to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. 

Tannisha

Text-dependent questions typically begin by exploring specific words, details, and arguments, and then move on to examine the impact of those specifics on the text as a whole. Along the way, they target academic vocabulary and specific sentence structures as critical focus points for gaining comprehension. Text-dependent questions clearly ask questions that can only be answered by referring back to the text that is being read. It doesn’t depend on any background knowledge that does not relate to the text or is based on the student having prior experiences or understanding. It simply means the student will analyze the text they are reading in order to answer the questions and to comprehend them. 

Text specific questions will often relate to specific phrases and sentences to make sure students understand and comprehend the text. These questions help students see the text in ways they would not if they were routinely reading. These are several different ways students can answer text dependent questions. Students may analyze paragraphs by reading specific words, sentences, or phrases in order to comprehend the text. Questions may also explore how the meaning of the text can be altered by changing key words or phrases. It may also help students see why the author may have chosen certain words over others.