Asking Questions Fat vs. Skinny

Another Way at Looking at Questioning Skinny Questions Fat Questions

Skinny Questions (Literal to Low-Level Inferential) Simple Convergent Close-ended Basic recall Right answer

Skinny Questions Who? What? Where? When? (typically) Why? How? (if the answer is actually in the text)

Skinny Questions for Little Red Riding Hood How many little girls are in the story? What happened first in the story? What color was Little Red’s cape? What did the wolf do to trick Little Red? Where was Little Red going?

Fat Questions (High-Level Inferential to Evaluative) Complex Divergent Open-Ended Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation No one right answer

Fat Questions What are all the ways _____________? What if ___________? What might have been _________? How is _________different from ______? What is your point of view about _____? How come________?

Fat Questions How do you feel about __________? List as many reasons as you can why ____? Imagine that _______. How do you feel about that? What do you think about when ______? What comes before ______? What comes after _______?

Fat Questions What if almost all of the teachers in your school were men? What if students went to school 1/2 days on Saturdays? Would you rather be the wind or a river? How would a kite feel about meeting a butterfly? What questions might a hurricane ask a tornado?

Fat Questions for Little Red Riding Hood Would you rather the the Wolf or Little Red? How is this story like other stories about wolves? What is your opinion about the intelligence of this wolf? What other endings to the story might be possible? How are the Wolf and Grandma alike and different?