Curated OER
The Grapes of Wrath: QAR--Question/Answer Relationship
Chapter nine of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath provides the text for an exercise that asks readers to think deeply about the items the Joads left behind and what these items might represent.
Curated OER
Grade A: The Market for a Yale Woman's Eggs by Jessica Cohen
What would it be like to sell your eggs to a couple who can't have children on their own? Could you even imagine it? As most of us have never been in this position, this descriptive essay is really quite interesting. The reading itself...
EngageNY
Science Talk: How do Bullfrogs Survive
Following the reading of the book Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, the ninth activity in this unit involves emerging experts in a science talk about how bullfrogs survive. Looking back through the text, young scholars prepare for the...
Novelinks
The House of the Scorpion: Request Strategy
Readers of The House of the Scorpion try to stump their teacher in a QAR questioning game. Pairs craft Right There, Think and Search, On Your Own, and the Author and You questions and the class members then take turns responding to...
Curated OER
Gary Paulsen's Canyons: Question the Author (QtA) Strategy
Gary Paulsen’s Canyons is the focus of an exercise that models how to read closely using a Questioning the Author (QtA) strategy. Complete directions for the strategy, which can be used with any text, are included in the richly-detailed...
Curated OER
KWHL Questioning Strategy Instructions: Siddhartha
". . . gentlenenss is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force." Prior to beginning Siddhartha, employ a KWHL strategy to provided your class members with the background knowledge of Hinduism,...
EngageNY
Reading about Freaky Frogs: “The Amazon Horned Frog"
The Amazon Horned Frog is the focus of a activity designed to encourage readers to ask and answer questions. A frog-themed poem opens the door to a whole-group discussion. Following a read-aloud of an informational text, a three-page...
College Board
2011 AP® English Language and Composition Free-Response Questions Form B
Strong writers support their points with direct evidence and details. A series of free-response questions from the 2011 AP® English Language and Composition exam require the use of details to obtain a good score. The first prompt...
College Board
2014 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions
How much would you give up for others? The last prompt in 2014 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions asks scholars to write essays about a character in a piece of work that has sacrificed and what the...
Curated OER
Civil War Reader's Theater Lesson Plan
Young scholars participate in a reader's theater about the Civil War. In this performing arts lesson, students review the Civil War through a reader's theater. They practice reading their parts to work on expression and fluidity before...
Curated OER
QAR: Question Answer Relationships Strategy: The Catcher in the Rye
Encourage readers to think deeply about text with a reading strategy that promotes active comprehension. Individuals develop questions on four levels (right there, think and search, author and you, and on my own). Step-by-step directions...
Curated OER
Wuthering Heights: Questioning Strategy
Readers of Wuthering Heights use the DRTA strategy to formulate predictions about the actions of characters in Bronte's novel.
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Thomas Jefferson, Message to Congress on the Embargo
Zounds! Image an American president closing all ports and prohibiting exports. As part of an exercise designed to strengthen primary source comprehension skills, readers examine Thomas Jefferson's 1808 message to Congress urging such an...
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Thomas Jefferson, Message to Congress Concerning Louisiana
Proficient reading of informational text, especially primary source documents, requires practice. This message from Thomas Jefferson about the Louisiana Purchase offers readers a chance to develop these comprehension skills.
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Theodore Roosevelt, Excerpt from Eighth Annual Message to Congress
As Theodore Roosevelt reminded Congress in 1908, corporation one is not corporation two. Readers of this excerpt from Roosevelt's Message to Congress have an opportunity to sharpen their comprehension skills as they study this primary...
English Worksheets Land
The Concert
Is it better to ask for permission or for forgiveness? Compare and contrast these choices with a reading comprehension activity, which focuses on a script about a girl asking each of her parents if she can attend a concert with her friend.
Curated OER
Dandelion Wine: Questioning Strategy
Readers of Dandelion Wine work in groups to develop questions on four levels (right there, think and search, the author and you, and on my own) about Chapter 34 of Ray Bradbury's reflection on the joys of summer. Groups jigsaw and...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to the Works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...
Curated OER
Jane Eyre: Question Answer Relationship (Q.A.R.) Worksheet
Excerpts from Jane Eyre are used in a reading assessment that asks readers to identify, analyze, interpret, and evaluate the passages from Charlotte Bronte’s novel. Could be used as a reading assessment or as the basis of a group...
Mr. Nussbaum
Abraham Lincoln Reading Comprehension—Childhood
Who wants to learn about Honest Abe? The reading passage highlights the early life of Abraham Lincoln, detailing his experience as a young boy growing up in Kentucky. Readers read the brief passage and then answer 10 comprehension...
Curated OER
Shorten the Length
Learn how to summarize by identifying main ideas and supporting details. Readers cross out unimportant information as they read through a text. Is it a random detail? Cross it out! They then draw a concept map, placing the main idea in...
Curated OER
Anticipation Guides Improve Reading Comprehension
Beginning with anticipation guide strategies is a powerful method for improving reading comprehension. First, list initial ideas for a topic the class will be reading about. These ideas are formulated into statements, some of which are...
Novelinks
The House on Mango Street: Question Answer Relationships Strategy
Good readers question text as they read. The Question Answer Relationships Strategy (QAR) used in this resource with The House on Mango Street, provides readers with a concrete approach for questioning Sandra Cisneros' text and...
Chomp Chomp
The Subordinate Clause
After Amy sneezed all over the tuna salad. So what happened? That is the question readers ask when faced with a subordinate clause unattached to a main clause. And this information sheet shows writers how to combine subordinate clauses...