From the Back Cover
Despite teachers' best efforts, students often fail to understand many of the ideas presented in school textbooks. This is a common concern among educators who encounter students who are not actively engaged with what they read. To address this concern, the authors of this volume present a strategy called Questioning the Author (QtA), an approach designed to establish student interactions with text to build greater understanding. When students read in a QtA lesson, they are taught to question the ideas presented in the text while they are reading, a strategy that differs from many traditional approaches that ask students to answer questions when they have finished reading the text.
Questioning the Author: An Approach for Enhancing Student Engagement with Text presents many examples of QtA in action as children engage with narrative and expository texts to construct meaning. The authors analyze the transcripts of actual class discussions to show the important tools that differentiate QtA from other approaches that have similar characteristics but that often do not help readers reach the same level of understanding.
Questioning the Author will be a valuable resource for elementary teachers who are looking for a proven strategy to engage their students in reading and improve comprehension.
About the Author
Isabel L. Beck is a Professor of Education and Senior Scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Margaret G. McKeown is a Research Scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Linda Kucan is an Assistant Professor of Education at Bethany College, Bethany, West Virginia, USA.
