Questioning is a strategy that engages the reader with the text in a way that helps to clarify meaning, promote comprehension, and extend understanding. Summarizing encourages the reader to restate the main ideas of a text in as few words as possible. By summarizing the major points of the text before and also after reading allows the reader to identify and assess their level of retention of the text while identifying any weak points in their understanding.
Daily Focus Questions is an effective reading strategy that involves the teacher presenting a “big idea” to set the stage before reading. The big idea can be presented as a question or a prompt. These focus questions can then guide students during the reading process, as they search for answers and information to make connections. Finally, students use the big idea or questions generated during reading to formulate additional questions and clarify any confusing portions.
A KWL Chart is a way of organizing thoughts before, during and after reading. It is a graphic organizer arranged into three columns: “What I Know,” What I Want To Learn” and “What I Did Learn.” These are three metacognitive steps readers can use to improve reading comprehension by reflecting on the their own knowledge of the text. This activity can be extended to an after-reading activity when readers can use the answers to these questions to generate further questions about the text.
While reading, questioning encourages the reader to react or respond to the text, and summarizing organizes the content or details along the way. Questioning The Author is a reading-comprehension strategy typically used after reading. It encourages readers to summarize along the way, annotate the text using marginal comments and questions and engage in a sort of "dialogue" through the use of questions posed to the author. After questions have been created, they can be discussed after reading or used to guide further understanding.