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Reading Comprehension
CADRE Capstone
2020-2021
REFLECTION
What did I learn?
Impact on Student Learning
Throughout my action research, I experienced the positive impact targeted questioning had on my instruction, but also my students' learning. Prior to my study, the Wonders manual and the already developed reading questions were my only guides. I felt as if I was reading the leveled readers, but not making deeper meaning or focusing enough on the comprehension skills students were struggling with. By regularly planning specific types of questions based on the skills my students were practicing and analyzing their individual responses afterward, I was able to provide differentiated instruction. These instructional routines allowed me to discover where my students were struggling and use that knowledge to inform my daily instruction.
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Students showed an increased level of interest in questioning early on and were paying closer attention to what types of questions I was asking them across all types of content areas. This behavior also transferred when students completed Wonders assessments which contributed to their accuracy and level of understanding of how to analyze comprehension questions. Creating anchor charts and bookmarks for the different types of questions I was asking during my instruction gave students resources to refer to while reading. These tools broke down the specific types of questions and the close reading processes we use to analyze texts. Many students benefited from using these resources when examining questions they were being asked.
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With this focus on utilizing targeted questioning to make deeper meaning, students were well prepared to answer questions before, during, and after reading. It became a natural routine that I would ask several questions throughout reading and that any student at any time could be called on. With this practice, students were thinking more critically about the text while reading and were much more engaged in the close reading process. Vocabulary surrounding text evidence sky-rocketed and students were showing stronger comprehension skills with the intentional questions I asked.
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Before implementing QAR/TDQ within targeted questioning, my students lacked self-confidence in their overall reading abilities and in answering questions in front of their peers. There would consistently be the same three or four hands that would raise to answer every question I asked. By the third week of my study, more students were engaged in the process of close reading and contributed thoughtful confident answers. With frequent positive reinforcement and maintaining a safe learning environment, students were able to feel comfortable taking risks with their responses even if they were unsure.
In addition to their growth in self-confidence with answering questions aloud in front of their peers, students have also shown more curiosity about the texts that we read. This curiosity led to deeper discussions of the text's or author's meaning and questions of their own that caused us to think beyond the text.
Challenges and Success
The biggest challenge I faced during this action research was writing several different questions each week that were aligned with the variety of texts to be read, focused on the comprehension skills being taught, and differentiated to address comprehension weaknesses of my approaching, on-level, and beyond-level groups. Although I adapted to intentionally preplanning my questions for each text, it was a challenge to use all of the questions I planned throughout a lesson. Being flexible and purposeful with my selection of questions to use while reading improved, as did writing the questions, as my research progressed. One other challenge that impacted my study was unintended interruptions to our daily routine throughout the study and two unplanned cold days that affected the consistency of meeting with all four guided reading groups during the first week of the study.
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Many successes were celebrated throughout this study. The questions I preplanned each week alluded to immediate successes as I was able to gather valuable information with ease regarding my students' strengths and weaknesses with answering a variety of comprehension questions. When students graphed their individual scores on assessments and quizzes, we were able to celebrate growth and set goals for the future. Giving students the responsibility of drafting their own goals kept students accountable for monitoring their own progress. With the use of targeted questioning, my students fostered stronger confidence in themselves when reading and answering comprehension questions. Students succeeded in stretching their brains to think critically about diverse texts and strengthen their ability to locate text evidence. At the conclusion of the study, almost all students grew from pre to post-assessment in their comprehension abilities and expressed a higher level of confidence when answering questions related to the information they have read.
Impact on My Professional Growth and Current Teaching
Completing this action research not only positively impacted my students' learning, but also greatly influenced the effectiveness of my reading instruction. When researching strategies and writing my literature review to support the goal of my study, I learned the importance of utilizing evidence-based practices as they have been proven to be successful. Through my literature review, I determined targeted questioning to be the best strategy to improve my students' reading comprehension. Learning about the Question-Answer-Relationship strategy and Fisher and Frey's Text Dependent Question Progression impacted what kind of questions I planned to use during my targeted questioning technique.
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Diving into using targeted questioning within my daily instruction was fast-paced but allowed me to truly understand the significant impact preplanning differentiated questions has on students' reading comprehension. Because of this action research, I became a much more organized data collector by developing weekly anecdotal templates to use for each different leveled reader and whole group texts. Paying closer attention to the questions I was asking my students and why I was asking them those questions positively impacted my ability to provide consistent opportunities for my students to move through the close reading process. Asking varying levels of questions and rereading the same text more than once gave me the power to dig deeper into a text's meaning and extend my students' comprehension.
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As a first-year educator, this action research positively contributed to my growth as a professional. I was able to seek out guidance and expand my network of professional experts within my own building, as well as other districts to learn how to best implement targeted questioning. With their expertise, I was able to learn the importance of using data to drive my instruction and how to best analyze Wonders reading assessments. Constantly differentiating my questions and examining students' performance on assessments/quizzes naturally built more confidence in my abilities to explain students' areas of improvement to parents. Understanding how to break down various questions within a reading assessment and reflect upon why the student incorrectly answered a question has also helped me in my ability to provide accurate, detailed explanations during intervention meetings or conferences. Completing this study has transformed me into a reflective educator who makes intentional decisions based on data.
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If I were to conduct this action research for a second time, there are a few things that I would change. On my anecdotal notes, I would use more symbols such as +/- to show areas of strengths/weaknesses in responses as this would minimize the time writing notes and maximize instruction time. When asking students questions in either setting, I would incorporate more written forms of responding to allow students to gather their thoughts before sharing them aloud. This would positively impact the students' ability to construct meaningful responses with closer attention to the text evidence they may need to cite. One other change I would make if I were to repeat this study would be to utilize a different pre and post-assessment. Wonders reading assessments can have questions that are worded in a way that is confusing to students. It would be interesting to investigate if a change in assessment would show greater growth.
Implications for Future Learning and Teaching
When thinking ahead to next year and reflecting on the learning I experienced through this action research, I plan to continue using targeted questioning within my reading instruction, as well as incorporating it more into other subject areas. The QAR and TDQ strategies proved to be beneficial in increasing my students' comprehension and are effective ways for students to make meaning of complex texts. Close reading will be introduced and broken down much earlier in the year to build students' confidence in that process. I will continue to consistently collect anecdotal notes throughout guided reading to inform my daily instruction, adjust groupings as needed, and clarify where differentiation is needed to best support my students' learning. Along with continuing to use evidence-based strategies within my instruction, I know that I will be able to continue growing as I am surrounded by successful and reflective professionals. This journey and the knowledge I have gained will travel with me to my future classrooms where I will emphasize the importance of reading comprehension skills through targeted questioning.
Questions that Remain
I was challenged throughout this study and developed a new mindset about preplanning questions to intentionally ask my students while reading. After completing this study, I am left with three main questions:
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1. How reliable are the Wonders curriculum weekly reading assessments for demonstrating comprehension? How reliable is the post-assessment data as it was administered the day before spring break?
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2. Would I have seen better results and more growth if I would have incorporated more written responses to questions? More independent practice with writing questions? Would this have promoted more refined, accurate answers that extend students' understanding of comprehension skills?
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3. How do other educators implement targeted questioning? What are their experiences with using it in their classroom?
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