Creating Questions

Jennifer Partrick
Jun 22, 2009

One way to help students learn the language of questions is to have them practice creating questions using that language. As you teach reading comprehension strategies, it is important to point out to students the signal words that go along with each strategy. Students need to locate those words in text and use them to practice creating questions. Students should be taught how to create questions.

Imagine that your students are working on sequencing. Some signal words they may be learning are: first, next, last, before, after, in the end, finally, and after that.

Sample questions using the above signal words could be:
What happened first?
What did ........do after........?
Where was......before.........?
How does.......finally end?
Based on.....what do you think would most likely happen next?

Students can be taught to create their own questions, but they need support and guidance when learning. In addition, students can use 'question stems' from which to create their questions.

Refer to Learning to Read K-2 in the Learning-Focused Literacy Collection for more information.