1. Costa’s Levels of QuestioningOr
How to Write Good Questions!

2. What are Costa’s Levels of Questioning?
Three levels of questioning.
Levels go from basic questions (level 1), to intermediate questions (level 2), to more advanced questions (level 3).

3. What is a level 1 question?
Level 1 deals with GATHERING information.
The answer can be found in the text (either directly or indirectly.)
Very concrete and pertains only to the text.

4. How can you word a Level 1 Question?
Use words like:
Define
Describe
Identify
List
Name
Observe
Recite
Scan

5. What is a level 2 question?
Level 2 deals with PROCESSING information.
You’ll need to look “between the lines” to answer these questions. The answer can be inferred.
In other words, what do you know about the book/characters/events that the author didn’t flat out tell you?

6. How can you word a Level 2 Question?
Use words like:
Analyze
Categorize
Explain
Classify
Compare
Contrast
Infer
Organize
Sequence

7. What is a level 3 question?
Level 3 deals with APPLYING information.
The answers go beyond the text and into the hypothetical.
How might the text relate to the larger WORLD?

8. How can you word a level 3 question?
Use words like:
Imagine
Plan
Evaluate
Judge
Predict
Extrapolate
Invent
Speculate
Generalize

9. Your task?
For the last two sections of “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (the brown and pink sections, pp ), you will write SIX questions.
You must have a question for each level.
You must have AT LEAST two level two questions.
You do not need to answer the questions.