Using the 5 W’s and H to Find Information By: Katina Ferraro

What are the 5 W’s and H? The 5 W’s and H strategy is a way for students to discover and explore the main idea(s) and supporting ideas of a text, lesson, or concept. It allows them to focus on what is important. These six questions can be asked during and after reading, and provide the reader with the opportunity to check for understanding of the main points of a text.

Continued… The 5 W’s and H include: Who? – Who is the passage/story about? Who is the main character? To whom is the passage referring? What? – What is happening/what happened in the text? What is the text about? Where? – Where did the story/event take place? When? – When (time, month, year, etc.) did the story/event take place? When did the main character realize…? Why? – Why did the event happen? Why did the author decide to write about this topic? How? – How did the event happen? How was the problem/event solved? How was the character(s)/community affected? How did the author collect his/her information?

Why would I teach this strategy? According to Harvey and Goudvis (2007), “Questions are the master key to understanding. Questions clarify confusion. Questions stimulate research efforts. Questions propel us forward and take us deeper into reading” (p.109). I would teach this strategy because being able to answer these six questions, not only improves comprehension of a text, but also aids in the organization of information and the ability to summarize what a text is about. Once all six questions are answered, students will have a “whole” understanding of the idea or topic that was explored. This strategy is excellent because it can be implemented at any grade level, in any content area, and with all types of text (i.e., informational, nonfiction, fiction, newspaper articles, etc.). The 5 W’s and H can be answered as a whole-class during a read-aloud, in small groups, or independently during a student’s own silent reading. These questions provide the basis for understanding and when students become familiar with the importance of asking questions, higher-level thinking will emerge.

How would I teach this strategy? In order to teach this strategy, the key is modeling and teaching students that good readers ask questions. I would make sure to incorporate questioning into daily lessons and read-alouds to familiarize the students with the types of questions they should ask themselves while reading independently.

Continued… The steps that I would follow when teaching an introduction lesson about this strategy are: Step One: Familiarize the students with the 5 W’s and H questions —Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Step Two: Model how to find the information in a text, stopping at key parts in the text to ask a question(s). Step Three: On chart paper or the SMART Board, I will use a graphic organizer to model filling in the pieces of information as we locate the answer to each question in the reading. Step Four: Once the students have become familiar with how to locate each piece of information, I will separate them into cooperative groups of six. Each group will be provided with a short text, as well as a graphic organizer. The students within that group will read the text together and each student will be assigned a specific question to answer. Step Five: Once each group has had sufficient time to read the text, answer each question, and complete their graphic organizer, the groups will teach the class about their text by presenting the information that they gathered.

References Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007) (2nd Ed.) Strategies that work. Maine: Stenhouse Publishers. Pearson Custom Edition (2011). Strategies, instructional materials and performance evaluation in literacy development. New York: Pearson.

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