The Craft of Questioning Adapted from a PowerPoint by Christi Edge

Evaluating Questions Is Jonas the main character of The Giver? The last Giver was chosen __ years ago. What is Jonas’ father’s job and why is it sometimes difficult? How does the language of the novel work? Why is reading The Giver important? Edge, 20102

Questions you don’t want to ask: Yes/No Questions Fill-in-the-blank questions Double Questions Vague Questions Loaded Questions Christenbury (2006) p Edge, 2010

Bad Questions Quiz Christenbury, 2006, pp a. yes/no question c. double questiond. loaded question b. fill-in-the blank questione. vague question 1. Does the short story we just read have a climax? 2. How is foreshadowing used effectively in Oedipus Rex? 3. Why is the study of dialect important? 4. The purpose of figurative language is _____ 5. How does this image work? 6. Can you tell me his name? 7. What is happening in this paragraph and why do you think it is occurring now? 8. Is the main character murderous? 9. What are the central issues and how do they relate to the piece as a whole? 10. The best word to describe this section is what? 4Edge, 2010

The Questioning Circle External Reality Personal Reality The Matter The Subject of Discussion Or Questioning (the text) The Individual’s Experiences, Values, and Ideas (the reader) The experience, history, of other people or cultures (the world) Christenbury 2006, p Edge, 2010 See also Burke, p. 261.

Meaningful Connections Reader Text-to-self connections Context Text-to-world connections Text Text-to-text connections 6Edge, 2010

Example: “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5 Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, 10 And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. 15 I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. 20 7

White Questions Matter: What is the rhyme scheme of this poem? Personal Reality: When have you made a difficult choice that made all the difference? External Reality: When is it beneficial to make a different decision that the norm? 8

Shaded Questions Matter and Personal Reality: Based on Frost’s description of the two paths, which one would you have taken and why? Personal Reality and External Reality: Do you have friends who often choose different paths than you would have chosen for them? How are the paths different? Matter and External Reality: Can you think of a time that a political leader was faced with a comparable situation to Frost’s? Explain the situation, the result and if “made all the difference”. 9

Dense Questions Matter, Personal Reality, and External Reality: Which path do you think most members of society would have taken? Are Americans followers or original? Explain. Christenbury, 2006, p

Create your own? Find a free will passage that you marked in The Giver Create a shaded or dense question about that passage Edge,