Question 1: The Questions We Pondered

Is Reading Still Reading?

Although there are differences between word as ink on paper and
the word as electrons on a glass screen, the two different media share the common purpose of recording and transmitting language. (Beers & Probst 13)

Question 2 What is the Role of Fiction?

Nonfiction lets us learn more; fiction lets us be more. (Beers & Probst

17) There is an obvious push coming from the Common Core State Standards for teaching more expository and less narrative in the schools. Nonetheless, there are still important reasons for teaching fiction Children come first to reading through poetry, picture books and stories. Narrative is their first way of making sense of the world. Current research shows that reading fiction affects the way we interact with one another.

Question 3 Where does Rigor Fit?

Rigor is not an attribute of the text but rather a characteristic of our behavior with the text. Put another way, rigor resides in the energy and attention given to the text, not in the text itself.

(Beers & Probst 21) The essence of rigor is engagement and commitment.

Question 4 What do We Mean by Intellectual Communities? In order for rigorous work to occur, we must look at our classrooms as

intellectual communities. The purpose of schools ought to be to create intellectual communities where students are encouraged to be risk takers, to be curious , to be willing to try and fail, and to be more interested in asking questions than providing answers. Tests give us one measure of how a student is performing on a particular day; formative assessments help teachers plan instruction; and principals ought to review test data with teachers, noting trends over time that might reveal areas where teachers should improve instruction.

Question 5 What Is the Role of Talk? Talk must be engaging. Students must be interested and committed if they are to grow
intellectually. If students are engaged, we may be able to gradually lead them to deal rigorously with more and more challenging texts. Authentic questions for which you already know the answer is inauthentic, yet thats the type of questioning that goes on in most classrooms Authentic questions are questions in which you really dont know the answer. The responder understands that her contribution truly helps shape your understanding and is much more willing to become engaged in that dialogue. Research reveals that in dialogic classrooms, students do more of the questioning, and as a result, achievement increases.

Question 6 What Is Close Reading Meaning is created not purely and simply from the words on the page, but
from the transaction with those words that takes place in the readers mind. Close reading implies that we bring the reader and text close together. Close reading should suggest close attention to the text; close attention to the relevant experiences, thought, and memory of the reader; close attention to the responses and interpretations of other readers; and close attention to the interactions among those elements

Question 6: What Is Close Reading The practice of Close Reading

It works with a short passage The focus is intense It will extend from the passage itself to other parts of the text. It should involve a great deal of exploratory discussion.

(Teacher leads, but much of the talk will be among students) It involves rereading (Struggling readers need to reread with a purpose in mind-otherwise rereading is ineffective)

Question 7
Do Text-dependent Questions Foster Engagement?
Adoption of the Common Core eliminates self-to text connections Text-dependent questions are questions in which the answers are found in the text or

are deduced from evidence in the text. Students must depend on the text to answer that question, setting aside their own thoughts about the situation. Possible concern: If we push text dependent questions, there is a likelihood that students may see these questions as inauthentic The most rigorous reading is to find what the words on the page mean in our own lives.

Letting Students Create TextDependent Questions

Heres a way to consider text-dependent questions, one in which students are in charge of creating questions. 1) Find a short text that you think might be challenging for your class 2) Read the selection aloud to students as they follow along or, if appropriate, tell the students to read it on their own. 3) Tell them that as they read they should simply mark those spots where they feel confused, have a question, or wonder about something.

Letting Students Create TextDependent Questions

4) Ask them then to reread the selection 5) Pull the whole class back together and collect questions generated by the class 6)Next in pairs, ask them to look at the questions they think most interesting or important, discuss them and make notes about their thoughts. 7) Pull the class back together and work through some of the most interesting questions, asking for ideas produced by the pairs and explaining and refining them with contributions from others. 8) Decide what follow-up is needed