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Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Elementary School Libraries: Maximizing Your Impact

Chapter 5: Questioning: Emerging Lesson


Photograph of Gigi and Judi team teaching
This is photograph shows an example of the team teaching approach.

This lesson was field tested by first-grade teacher Gigi Plowman and Judi Moreillon, serving in the role of teacher-librarian. Gigi teaches at a charter school in Tucson, Arizona. In March 2007, she had fifteen students in her classroom.

After conducting the motivation for the lesson as a whole class and then dividing the class in half for the presentation and guided practice (posing before, during, and after questions), Gigi and Judi brought the class back together as a group to compare their questions and complete the graphic organizers. When they compared their questions, students saw that different readers pose different questions in order to make meaning as they read. Students then selected the question that most helped them understand the story.


 

Information about Cultural Authenticity in The Day of Ahmed's Secret

I selected The Day of Ahmed's Secret as the anchor text for this lesson for several reasons. First and foremost, it is a lovely story about the gift of literacy. Ahmed's secret is that he has learned to write his name. He carries his secret with him while he does his work and is proud to share his accomplishment with his family at the end of his work day. The book also shows the everyday life of an Egyptian boy. Few children's picture books offer a window into Middle Eastern or Muslim cultures. I have also used this book successfully with elementary students as well as with preservice classroom teachers in children's literature courses.

When Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Comprehension was in publication, I learned of the controversy surrounding the authenticity of this text. Marge Knox and Peter Duckett authored an article that appeared in the Journal of Children's Literature in 2001. Dr. Duckett has links from his Web site that offer educators the opportunity to read the article as well as illustrator Ted Lewin's response. Access these resources at: www.peterduckett.net/

The fact that is book is used for the questioning strategy puts these controversies in a position to serve as teaching opportunities. Learning to question authors and illustrators and the text itself are part of developing a critical literacy perspective. One important point to make with young readers is to look at copyright dates. In 1990 when The Day of Ahmed's Secret was published, the camel market was indeed on the outskirts of Cairo. It moved far out of the city in 2000. Students can learn that it is important to compare information provided in a text with more up-to-date sources. The Internet pathfinder shows some of the facts students learned that contradicted with the information in the text.


 

Internet Pathfinder: Egypt

First-grade students illustrated the Egypt pathfinder. At the end of the emerging lesson, the educators posed a question that students had not considered: Are there camels on the streets of Cairo today? Students were asked to investigate this question on their own over a weekend. Some of them did. Others were wise and asked their classmate who was born in Egypt what his parents had said. The students learned that today one would not find camels on the streets of Cairo, a city of 15 million people. They were able to make a connection between horses on the streets to Tucson (which still happens each February during the annual Rodeo Parade) and camels in Cairo. Students learned that transportation methods and needs change over time.


AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner:

  • Develop and refine a range of questions to frame search for new understanding. (1.1.3)
  • Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6)
  • Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding. (1.1.9)
  • Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts. (1.2.1)

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Launched: March 2007
Updated: 3 June 2013