In a recent presentation at the Nassau Reading Council/Long Island Language Arts Council Spring Conference 2012, Kate Gerson, Senior Fellow with the Regents Research Fund in New York, spoke in depth about text-based questions and the need for close readings of text. In her presentation, she explained, “A good question is one that allows you to stay with the text.”
To give context to her assertion, Kate invited the educators in the audience to explore the impact of text-based questions by sharing a series of questions about Abraham Lincoln’s The Gettysburg Address.
One set of questions she posed was this: What does Lincoln mean by “four score and seven years ago? Who are the “founding fathers?” The footnote on the handout defined “score” as twenty, and there was buzz in the room as people talked about their responses.
But as people talked, I went back to Kate’s comment: “A good question is one that allows you to stay with the text.”
Once everyone had done the math and listed the founding fathers, the conversation stopped dead in its tracks. “Where are we supposed to go from here?” I wondered.
So I asked Kate to clarify the thinking behind this question because to me, while it is based on the text, it seemed rooted in background knowledge that some readers may bring to the text, but others may not. She disagreed, she felt that this question lent itself to a rich discussion about Lincoln’s intentional choice to refer to this historical event—and that’s when I thought again about Kate’s words, “A good question is one that allows you to stay with the text.” And it occurred to me that Kate’s intent may have been good but she didn’t really ask the real question. Based on her response, she seemed to be asking “Why is mentioning ‘the founding fathers’ important to Lincoln’s message in the Gettysburg Address?”
Asking “good” questions is hard work. Few would say that it comes naturally which means that if we aim to develop “close read” units of study for our students, then we must change the way in which we plan and prepare. We can no longer pull books off the shelf a half hour before we intend to use them or come up with questions off the cuff as we share text with students. Close reads require thought, reflection, intention, and revision. To add to Kate’s comment “A good question is one that allows you to stay with the text,” I would say, too, that a “good” question is borne in the company of colleagues and unless we are working collaboratively with others to develop “good” questions, we may find we aren’t asking the questions we intended. Perhaps, instead of “good” questions, we should work together to ask “better” questions.
I agree good thinking does not happen in a vacuum. With all of the changes and mandates coming at us rapidly, I am worried about how collaboration will be affected. APPR, CC, PARCc, tax caps, lay offs…this is a challenging time. People are unsettled to say the least and that will affect our instructional focus and ability to collaborate. See you at the conference next weekend I hope!
Yes, Patti, these are trying times. In fact, I would daresay, historic as well. If we are going to do this work with fidelity, we are going to need to rethink how we plan as teachers and administrators. If we are going to formulate the kinds of questions that lead to bigger thinking, we will have to come together around texts and try out different questions. I feel like our job just became infinitely more intellectual which means we will need to use our time differently and very likely, we will require MORE time to be plan in order to be effective.