Leveled Questioning Strategy in Teaching Reading Comprehension: Guided

Development Learning Activities for Grade 1

1. Questioning Strategy
The Levels of Questions strategy helps students comprehend and interpret a text
by requiring them to answer three types of questions about it: factual, inferential, and
universal. This scaffolded approach provides an opportunity for students to master the
basic ideas of a text so that they can apply this understanding and “evidence” to
conversations about deeper abstract concepts or complex historical events. Because you
can focus students’ attention on the level of questions most appropriate to their reading
ability, this strategy can meet the needs of different learners. You can also use the Levels
of Questions strategy to prepare students for a class discussion or activity, or as an
assessment tool.

Steps for Implementation

Step 1
Prepare Questions
This strategy can be used with any type of text—historical documents, literature, newspaper
articles, films, artwork, photographs, etc. Prepare questions that students will answer. We
suggest writing two to three questions for each of the following categories:
 Factual questions (level one) can be answered explicitly by facts contained in the text.
 Inferential questions (level two) can be answered through analysis and interpretation
of specific parts of the text.
 Universal questions (level three) are open-ended questions that are raised by ideas in
the text. They are intended to provoke a discussion of an abstract idea or issue.

The following are example questions related to the story “Those Who Don’t” from Sandra
Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street:
 Factual: According to Esperanza (the narrator of the piece), how do “those who don’t
know any better” define the identities of the people in her neighborhood? How is this
different from Esperanza’s ideas about the people in her neighborhood?
 Inferential: Who are “those who don’t know any better”? What does the line “That’s
how it goes and goes” mean?
 Universal: What are stereotypes? Why do people form stereotypes of “others”? When
are stereotypes harmful? What prevents people from forming damaging stereotypes of
others?
 Step 2
Students Practice Active Reading
Have students watch or read the text silently or aloud. As they read (or watch), ask
students to underline or record key words and phrases.
Step 3
Students Answer Questions
Students can answer the questions individually or in small groups.
Step 4
Review and Discuss
Review responses to level-one and level-two questions to make sure everyone
understands the text. As you go over level-two questions, encourage students to share
different interpretations of the text and use evidence to explain their answers. The
universal questions make effective prompts for a larger class discussion.

Variations
Student-Generated Questions:
After using this strategy a few times, have students generate their own questions in
each of the categories. In small groups, they can write questions. Then groups can
trade questions and respond to these as a way to assess their understanding of the text.
For Heterogeneous Classrooms:
You can have struggling readers focus on level-one questions, average readers focus
on level-one and level-two questions, and advanced readers be responsible for
addressing all three levels of questions. As a student’s reading ability improves, they
can be asked to address the next level of questions.

2. Reading Comprehension
Comprehension is the process of understanding what is being read or heard. It involves
decoding the text or audio and making sense of it. Comprehension can be difficult but can
be improved on with practice.

Generally speaking, there are three primary levels of comprehension, and they include:
1. Literal level comprehension
2. Inference level comprehension
3. Evaluative level comprehension
 When we talk about comprehension, it goes beyond reading; it also includes listening
to an audio, video, or being present in an event and comprehending the situation in that
particular event. However, in this article, we will focus more on reading comprehension.
Comprehension is an essential skill that students and working professionals need to
understand events or reading materials, etc. When a student or professional comprehends
a text or a situation accurately, they can understand, identify the main points and provide
answers to questions from a textbook or events.
Levels of comprehension vary from person-to-person depending on their level of
education, experience, and the complexity of the subject. Comprehending any subject
requires an in-depth study of a topic or event.

Level One: Literal Comprehension

Literal comprehension means understanding a text, including facts, ideas, vocabulary,
events, and stated information.
It involves getting specific answers to questions or information gathering for
questions that start with “what, where, when, who,” etc.
For example:
 Who took Sandra’s pen?
 What did Sandra do when she realized that her pen was missing?
 Where did Ariel go to live at the end of the story?

Literal comprehension requires direct and explicit answers to questions extracted from a
text.
Literal comprehension is an essential ability because it serves as a building block to the
more advanced levels of comprehension.
The literal level of comprehension requires some abilities that are necessary for
comprehending any text or statement in general, and they include:
 The ability to understand what a sentence is saying without analyzing it.
 The ability to understand the literal meaning of words.
 The ability to understand the literal meaning of sentences.

To develop the above-highlighted abilities and extract answers from any document
seamlessly, as a student or working professional, you have to develop literal
comprehension skills such as keywording, skim reading, and scanning. These skills will
enable you to locate and use information more quickly.
At the literal level, you can recall the information explicitly stated in the material.
 The ability to quickly skim and scan a large volume of materials and extract or recall
essential information from the document is a vital productivity skill that literal
comprehension offers.

Level Two: Inference Comprehension

Inferential comprehension is the ability to make valid inferences from the facts and
information received or found in a text. At this level, you must read between the lines
to understand the texts in the reading material. It involves understanding the facts
even if not explicitly stated in the reading material.
It explores answers to questions that begin with “Why and How” because such
questions have to get their implied meaning answered or comprehended.
There are several different types of inferences, categorized as generalizations,
comparisons, conclusions, assumptions, predictions, inferences of cause and effect,
etc.

For example:
 Why did Mike want to be awarded the most productive worker of the year?
 How did Mike react when he saw that the recognition of the most productive
worker of the year was awarded to Thomas?

The answer to the first question highlighted above requires inferences based on
assumptions on why Mike wants to be the most productive worker of the year.
Now such inferences or conclusions may be based on facts or opinions.
The second question requires comparing how Mike acted when he thought he would be
the year’s most productive worker and how he reacted when he lost the recognition to
Thomas.

Level Three: Evaluative Comprehension

Evaluative comprehension requires a deeper understanding of the topic or event. It
involves analyzing and weighing an event or an author’s intent, opinion, language,
and style of presentation.
It also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the author’s devices in achieving his
aim and then making inferences based on the fact or idea implied in the event or
reading material.
For example:
 How did Mike feel about losing the recognition award to Thomas?
 If you were Mike, how would you have reacted?

Evaluative comprehension can be applied to one’s performance at work or school,

including others, in case you hold a supervisory role.
It involves making extrapolations or conclusions on material or events. The evaluation
can be positive, negative, or neutral.
Evaluative comprehension also involves understanding the implications of the evaluation.
For example, Thomas was evaluated as the most productive worker of the year, so he
might understand that the assessment is positive and take pride in it.
However, if Thomas had been evaluated as unproductive, he might have realized that the
review was negative and felt embarrassed.

Level Four: Reorganization Comprehension

Reorganization comprehension is based on a literal understanding of reading material
or event and then using information gained from various parts of the material or event
and rearranging them into new patterns that integrate them into your idea for further
understanding.
Reorganization comprehension requires some creativity and curiosity. It also requires
an ability to analyze, digest, evaluate and come up with a unique view of a situation or
event.

For example:
 What could have been the consequence if Mike had been recognized as the year’s
worker instead of Thomas?

Level Five: Appreciative Comprehension

Comprehension goes beyond merely decoding the text or audio and making sense of
it. It also involves giving reactions and thoughts about material or events based on a
deeper understanding of the situation or text.
The appreciative level of comprehension fits here as it requires reading beyond the
lines and involves recognizing the author’s philosophy and purpose of reading
material.
The philosophies are not stated explicitly but are implied in the text and involve
having an emotional response and reflections on the material.
 To get to the appreciative level of comprehension means that a reader fully
understands the literal meaning of the reading material, has carefully evaluated the
situation and can use the ideas gathered and apply them to real-life events or similar
conditions.

For example:
 How would you feel if you were in Mike’s shoes and had lost the recognition
award to a colleague at your workplace?
 Do you think awarding the recognition to Thomas instead of Mike was
appropriate?

You can see that from the questions asked; the answers will require an appreciative
level of comprehension as the answers are not found in the text or event but from the
reader or observer.

Conclusion
As you can see from the levels of comprehension discussed above, comprehending a
text or events, as the case may be, is a crucial skill a student or any working-class
person should have. Also important is the ability to comprehend information fast.
Comprehension can be challenging, especially for people with learning disabilities. So
they find it tasking to build up skills that take them beyond reading the text to reading
between and beyond the text, which is a more advanced level of comprehension.
As mentioned earlier, comprehension is an essential skill that both students and
professionals should have if they want to be productive.
Thankfully, there are steps that you can take to improve your comprehension ability,
one of them being to learn how to read fast.
Learning comprehension skills or improving on them is not limited to people who
have difficulty comprehending. Any proactive student or professional should always
look for opportunities to enhance their comprehension levels.

3. Guided Development
Guided reading is a small-group instructional context in which a teacher supports each
reader's development of systems of strategic actions for processing new texts at
increasingly challenging levels of difficulty. During guided reading, students in a
small-group setting individually read a text that you have selected at their
instructional reading level. You provide teaching across the lesson to support students
in building the in-the-head networks of strategic actions for processing increasingly
 challenging texts. Through guided reading, students learn how to engage in every
facet of the reading process and apply that literacy power to all instructional contexts.

Why is guided reading important?

As an instructional context, guided reading:
 Supports readers in expanding their processing competencies (in-the-head
systems of strategic actions)
 Provides a context for responsive teaching – teaching that is grounded in the
teacher's detailed knowledge of and respect for each student, supporting the
readers' active construction of a processing system.
 Allows students to engage with a rich variety of texts.
 Helps students learn to think like proficient readers.
 Enables students to read more challenging texts with support.

What does guided reading look like?

A small group of students who are at a similar point in their reading development are
seated across from you at a small kidney-shaped table. Each student reads, softly or
silently, the same text individually. You guide a discussion of the text meaning and
make teaching points based on your observations of the students' reading strengths
and needs.

Steps in the guided reading process:

1. Gather information about the readers to identify emphases.
2. Select and analyze texts to use.
3. Introduce the text.
4. Observe children as they read the text individually (support if needed).
5. Invite children to discuss the meaning of the text.
6. Make one or two teaching points.
7. Engage children in letter/word work activity.
8. Extend understanding through writing about reading (optional).
9. Reflect on the lesson and plan the following lesson.

Becoming an effective teacher of guided reading takes time and effort; but the
benefits are worth it. As you teach students, you will have the satisfaction of seeing
them apply today what you taught yesterday; you will notice behavioral evidence that
they are taking on new understandings; and you will see them expand their
competencies and move to higher levels of texts
 4. Learning Activities
Research shows that students whose teachers spend too much time talking are less
likely to be engaged during classroom instruction. Luckily, reading instruction can be
so much more than lecture, reading practice, memorization, or decoding drills. We, as
teachers, can do more to get our students engaged in learning to read.

List of Reading Activities

Here is a list of fourteen student engagement strategies from a webinar presented by
Reading Horizons Chief Education Officer, Stacy Hurst, that you can use to increase
student engagement during reading instruction or reading intervention:

1. PARTNER PRETEST
Before teaching a new decoding skill or grammar rule, preface the lesson with
a pretest. Let your students know that you will not score the test, lowering anxiety and
increasing student performance. Pair students up for the pretest and have them use the
same set of materials. If the pretest is on a computer or iPad, have students share the
device between the two of them. During the pretest, walk around the room to gauge
student needs and adjust the lesson accordingly. When lesson material matches
student ability and understanding, engagement is higher. Make sure that the pretest is
similar to the posttest so you can see how much your students retain during your
lesson.

2. STAND UP/SIT DOWN

You can use this activity to help students learn to differentiate between similar
but different reading concepts. For instance, when you’re trying to help your students
understand the difference between common nouns and proper nouns, you can give
examples of each and have students stand up if it is a common noun or sit down if it is
a proper noun. This is a great way to see how much of your class is grasping the
material while getting their blood flowing—helping them stay alert.

3. THUMBS UP/THUMBS DOWN

This activity provides a quick way to gauge if your students are
comprehending a story or to test them on different reading skills. Instruct students to
put their thumbs up if they agree with a statement or to put their thumbs down if they
disagree. When students have a low energy level (i.e. right after lunch) Stand Up/Sit
Down may be a better alternative. However, if you need to maintain your students’
current energy level Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down is ideal.
4. SECRET ANSWER
This activity is great for students that might not be confident in their answers
—students that look around the class when doing Stand Up/Sit Down or Thumbs
Up/Thumbs Down to see how the other students’ answer before they answer
themselves. To give students a secret way to answer, assign different responses a
number and have students hold up the number of fingers that correspond to the answer
they think is correct. To do this exercise properly, have your students place their hand
near their heart (physically) with the appropriate number of fingers raised to indicate
their answer. This way, especially if all the students are facing the teacher, it is
difficult for students to copy their neighbor’s answer.

5. RESPONSE CARDS
This is a great way to mix things up a bit. Have students create a stack of
typical responses, including agree/disagree, true/false, yes/no, greater than/less than,
multiple-choice options, and everyday emotions. After students have created their
response cards, you can have them use them to respond in various settings. For
example, while reading a book together as a class, you may pause and ask your
students what they think the character is feeling right now. The students then select
one of the everyday emotion cards from their personal stack of cards and lift it up to
answer the question.

6. THINK-PAIR-SHARE
This activity allows students to pause and process what they have just learned.
After reading a passage in a book, ask your class a question that they must first
consider by themselves. After giving them time to think, have them discuss the
question with their neighbor. Once they’ve discussed the question, invite students to
share their answers with the class. By giving them this time to process, you enable
them to be more engaged in their learning.

7. QUICK WRITES
Studies show that the proper ratio of direct instruction to reflection time for
students is ten to two. That means that teachers need to provide students with two
minutes of reflection for every ten minutes of instruction. This activity is a great way
to give students that much-needed reflection time! In this activity, ask a question
about a reading passage and have students write a response to share with a neighbor
or the entire class.

8. ONE WORD SPLASH

 After reading a passage or learning new vocabulary terms, ask your students to
write down one word that they feel sums up that material. This might seem overly
simplistic, but it requires higher processing skills to help your students digest what
they are reading. Students can do this with pencil/paper or a dry erase marker/personal
whiteboard.

9. QUICK DRAW
This activity is perfect for visual learners or students who aren’t entirely
writing yet. After reading a part of a story or learning a new concept or topic, have
your students draw a picture about what they’ve just read or understood. For example,
after reading part of the story Jack and the Beanstalk, have your students draw what
has happened in the story up to that point. A student may draw a picture of a boy
planting seeds with a beanstalk growing in the background.

10. GALLERY WALK

To help students get some of their energies out, have them do a Gallery Walk
to see their peers’ work. This activity is an excellent add-on to Quick Writes and
Quick Draw. Because students seek approval from their peers, they will put more
effort into their work when they know the class will view it.

11. A-Z TOPIC SUMMARY

Help students connect the dots after finishing a book, a learning module, or a
lesson. Have your students complete an A-Z Topic Summary either as individuals or
in pairs. If it is an individual activity, have students write either a word or a sentence
that connects to the book, module, or lesson for each letter of the alphabet. For
example, if you learned about baking, they might write a sentence for the letter A such
as: “Always preheat the oven before baking.” To speed up the activity, you can assign
students to work in pairs or assign a letter to each student or team and have them write
a sentence for that letter rather than the whole alphabet.

12. 3-2-1
This is a quick way to help students process reading or lesson material when
you’re pressed for time. First, have your students write three facts they learned from
something they read or learned in class that day. Next, have students write two
questions about the book or topic that wasn’t covered or discussed in class. Finally,
have your students write one opinion they have about the reading material or lesson.
This activity can also help you plan for the next lesson on the topic or book.
13. FIND YOUR MATCH
This is another activity that gets your students up and moving. Create card
matches that correlate to a storyline in a book, vocabulary terms, figures of speech,
grammar rules, etc. For example, your card matches might include the following
concepts (depending on grade level): rhyming words, uppercase/lowercase,
antonyms/synonyms, words/definitions, problem/solution, and words/pictures. Hand
out one card to each student in the class and then get up and find the other student
with the matching card.

14. DICTATION
One of our favorite teaching activities is Dictation! It is highly effective in
engaging students because it is multisensory explicit phonics instruction involving:
auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile senses. Having a multisensory approach
increases working memory and integrates all language skills/modalities. To do
Dictation, have students listen to a word, repeat the word out loud, write it out on
paper, and then have them read the word out loud again. View an example of
Dictation in action here.