Questioning the Author: An Approach for Enhancing Student Engagement with Text

by Isabel L. Beck, Linda Kucan, Margaret G. McKeown

This guide provides an interactive teaching strategy that helps students comprehend what they are reading, helping them question the ideas presented in the text. Transcripts of actual class... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0872072428
• ISBN13: 9780872072428
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: International Reading Association
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.04 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent idea for teaching comprehension

How does one teach comprehension? With the current obsession on phonics and code emphasis, I find QtA a refreshing read. Tried, tested and proven in classrooms, QtA is based on the idea that reading is about constructing meaning, more so than just breaking the code. To use this approach, the teacher has to really read the text well first, grasp its main ideas as intended by the author, and plan to guide the students to arrive at those ideas. She also has to anticipate the difficulties encountered by her students as they read the text, and consider the fallibility of the author in fleshing out his ideas. These elements make QtA a teaching approach different from the traditional ways of teaching comprehension. One can even combine it with other strategies, such as KWL.

Dr. Beck's book should be read by all teachers.

QtA helps young readers become thinking readers. By posing queries before, during and after reading, the teacher guides her students to become independent, thoughtful readers who can make sense out of oftentimes poorly-written or hard-to-understand texts. This strategy appears applicable to all age-levels. The book is written in an easy to understand style and includes sample lessons.Questioning the Author is a MUST READ for all teachers and should be included in teacher preparation curriculums.