WORDS BY HEART QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIP (QAR): INSTRUCTIONS To be used with Chapter Two

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1 WORDS BY HEART QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIP (QAR): INSTRUCTIONS To be used with Chapter Two PURPOSE OF THE STRATEGY EDITION: Little Brown: Boston 1979, First Edition Developed by Raphael (1982, 1984, 1986), the QAR strategy helps students become aware of different types of questions they can ask of a text and how those questions relate to the text and themselves. By practicing the strategy, the students become skilled at finding information they need by asking the right kind of questions. DIRECTIONS STEP ONE: INTRODUCE THE STRATEGY Enlarge the chart below and hang it up in the classroom for students to refer to throughout their course of study. Then, pass out a copy of the worksheet to each student. STEP TWO: MODEL THE STRATEGY Read Chapter 2 of Words by Heart with the class, stopping after each of the questions below can be answered. Using these examples, explain to the students how each level of the QAR questions can be identified and answered. Discuss the differences between the questions as you model finding the answers. Found in the text: Right There: What was the prize that Lena received for winning the Bible verse contest? (pg. 15, 2nd paragraph) Answer: a blue bowtie with a little celluloid hook at the back that was supposed to fit over a collar button. A boy s prize. Think and Search: What was the prize that Lena really wanted? (pg. 17, 4 th paragraph (sort of)) Answer: Her father to be proud of her. Found in your head: : Should Lena s family be worried about the knife that was left in the bread on their table? (pg. 18, 3 rd paragraph) Answer: The students could say yes or no to this question, depending on the evidence they give. The knife could have been left as a prank by a teenager and, although they live during a period of prejudice in America, their community seems to be different. A knife is a pretty scary thing to find in a table, however, and it could have been left as a warning for something yet to come. On Your Own: Did Lena s Dad react appropriately to Lena s prize and the bread on the table? What does this show about his ability to forgive? How might the reaction changed if it were you in his position? Answer: The answer to this question will be different for each student. I would suggest formulating an answer before modeling this question. STEP THREE: SMALL GROUP PRACTICE Ask the students to form small groups to fill in the worksheet that you handed out at the beginning of class. Make sure you monitor students understanding of the strategy while they work.

2 STEP FOUR: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PRACTICE Assign the students to read the rest of the chapter and come up with two questions from each category of questions. They should also write the answers to one of the two sets of questions. The other set can be exchanged with a partner the next time they come to class, which can be used as a graded quiz or just for participation points. Assessment Growing awareness of how we read specific texts increases comprehension. As students study different sources of information they learn that there are relationships between questions that readers ask and the types of responses that can be given. WORKSHEET ANSWER KEY: 1. For him to say that she did good. Right there 2. Various answers would be acceptable, but they should talk about the prize and why that might be discouraging to Lena. On your own 3. The students should answer yes or no to this question and then defend their answer based on their own knowledge and understanding. The only wrong answer to this one is the one that doesn t defend itself. 4. Tater Haney Think and Search 5. Various answers would be acceptable here, but all should have to do with forgiveness and how a person must look at themselves before judging the actions of others. On your own 6. Song of Solomon Right There 7. The students should answer yes or no to the first part of this question. Various answers would be acceptable for the second part, but here are some acceptable examples: Lena is black, Lena is beautiful (comely), Lena is like a flower.

3 QAR: QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIPS IN THE TEXT Right There Think and Search The answer is textually explicit (can be found in the text), usually as a phrase contained within one sentence. The answer is textually implicit (can be implied from the text), usually found in separate sections or chunks of text. IN YOUR HEAD On Your Own The answer is not in the text. It is found by thinking about what you already know and what the author is saying, then fitting the ideas together. The answer is not in the text. It is found by thinking about what you already know and deciding how you feel or forming an opinion.

4 Quote 1: Page 17, 6 th paragraph WORDS BY HEART QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIP (QAR) WORKSHEET To be used with Chapter Two She was old enough not to need him so much anymore, but she did. She needed him to tell her things, and approve of her, and notice her changes. It was hard to admit, but true, and she knew it. She didn t think he knew it, though. Papa said, you didn t have to throw Mr. Kelsey s blunder up to him, Lena. It was meant for Winslow Starnes, she flared. He can have it. But you had the victory, Papa reminded her. Wasn t that enough? No, she thought wearily, you re giving me the wrong prize, too, Papa. Can t you say I did good? She sat silent beside him the rest of the way home. Question 1 What did Lena want from her father? Quote 2: page 15, 6 th paragraph Then she saw Papa coming, with Roy asleep on his shoulder, and Claudie beside him, and she pushed toward them frantically, before she began to cry in front of all those people. Question 2 Why is it that Lena feels like she is going to cry in front of all of these people? _ Quote 3: page 19, 7 th paragraph Her eyes blazed back into his. I been quiet. Six years while she was growing up safe in Scattercreek, and you not telling her what the rest of the world was like. Or letting me. Question 3 Was it right for Claudie to let Lena s Dad not tell her what the rest of the world was like? Quote 4: page 20, 11 th paragraph He sighed again, and curved her cold hand into his. No. This is a good town we ve come to. You know that they took us in: the church, the school. This is big, open country with room for everybody. But somebody came in here tonight.

5 I know. But maybe just somebody young. Or angry. Or scared of changes. In a flash of memory she saw Tater Haney sitting on his daddy s horse, his face carved into a long stare. Question 4 Who does Lena think came into their house that night? Quote 5: page 196, 2nd and 3rd full paragraphs He led her to the door of the lean-to. She started to go in, and couldn t. A whole herd of questions broke through her fenced-up distress. Papa, why would Tater Haney hate us? We haven t done anything to him. What gives him the right? He wasn t even there tonight when I won I didn t win from him. Papa, is it wrong to want to be better than other people? He stood with his hand on the china doorknob. She could hear his slow breathing as he hunted for the right answer. He said, Nobody s better than anybody else. The Lord has a special need for all of us, or we wouldn t be here. But the thing you want to strive for, always, is to be better than yourself. And we all fall short on that. Then he shut the door. Question 5 What is Lena s Dad saying about forgiveness here? Quote 6: page 12, paragraph 2 Finally, she felt the words waiting at a distance while she stood silent, and she began slowly, I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. She had not meant to say them. No one at home knew she had those verses from the Song of Solomon by heart. They were the onesshe whispered to herself, off in the long, empty fields. I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley. Question 6 What book in the Bible is Lena quoting from? Question 7 Do you think that Lena is describing her view of herself by quoting these verses? In what ways could these verses describe Lena?