DO COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS ACTUALLY ASSESS COMPREHENSION?

Believe it or not, the lowly comprehension question ranks high on Steve Graham and Michael Hebert’s (2011) list of effective “writing to read” activities. It’s important, however, that teachers craft effective questions that are clear, concise and require higher level thinking. Not only that, comprehension questions should actually require comprehension of the text. This may seem like a blinding flash of the obvious, but I’ve seen questions even on large-scale assessments that students were able to answer quite adequately without even reading the text!

Check out this week’s HIP TIP on Hand, Heart and Head Questions (https://hip-books.com/teachers/hand-head-and-heart-questions/) and how they support strategic reading.