3. Guide students to apply the strategy.

As a class, have students decide the QAR for each question and explain their reasoning. Discuss using the QAR strategy. The teacher should give students feedback on their use of the strategy. 4. Practice individually or in small groups. Divide students into groups of three and have them practice using QARs. Students should identify the QAR for each question and then give the answer.

Information for chart from Santa, Havens, Valdes (2004)

In-the-Book Questions In-My-Head Questions Author and You Questions The answer is not in the story. You need to think about what you already know, what the author tells you, and how it fits together.

TESOL
Teaching Strategies

Right There Questions The answer is in the text. The words used to make up the question and words used to answer the question are found in the same sentence.

Role-Audience-Format-Topic (RAFT)
RAFT integrates writing in a challenging and fun way. Developed by Holston and Santa (1985), RAFT gives the student an opportunity to write in a format other than the traditional five-paragraph essay, which is an essay written by the student for the teacher. RAFT assignments are usually from a point of view other than the students, to an audience other than the teacher, and in a form other than a standard theme (p. 456). RAFT stands for Role of the writerWho or what are you? A historian, an inventor, a judge, a tree? AudienceTo whom are you writing? A child, a teacher, a newspaper reader? FormatWhat form will your writing take? Essay, dialogue, telephone conversation, memo, letter? TopicWhat are you writing about?

Think and Search The answer is in the selection, but you need to put together different pieces of information to find it. The answer comes from different places in the selection.

On My Own The answer is not in the text. You can answer the question without even reading the text. The answer is based solely on your own experiences and knowledge.

Focus on

Reading
and

QARs RAFT

Writing

Source: Florida Online Reading Professional Development

Alex Dugan
MA in TESOL (c)
References Hoston, V., & Santa, C. (1985). RAFT: A method of writing across the curriculum that works. Journal of Reading, 28(5), 456-457. Ruddell, M. R. (2008). Teaching content reading and writing th (5 ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

AIIAS dugana@aiias.edu January 2010

Introduction
One of our goals as teachers of English as a Second Language is to develop lifelong readers and writers. We are opening doors to lifelong literacy. ESL teachers should be voracious readers and productive writers. We model good writing skills and we are reliable sources for recommending good books. The following are selected strategies in teaching reading and writing in the content area for one-to-one and group classes.

Lets Practice QARs

The sun was setting, and as the senator gazed out his office window, he could see the silhouettes of some of the unique buildings and monuments of Washington, D.C. Directly in front of him at the other end of the National Mall, the stark obelisk of the Washington Monument thrust dramatically skyward, its red warning lights blinking in the approaching dusk. Although he couldn't quite see it, he knew that beyond the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool just past it, a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln sat thoughtfully in the Lincoln Memorial. The senator was worried. A bill was before the Congress, called Safe Surfing for Safer Schools, that would deny federal education dollars to states that didn't have laws against internet pornography on their books. He was concerned about kids having access to dirty pictures, and even more concerned about internet predators having access to kids. But he also believed strongly in the right of people to freely access information, even if it meant sometimes children might be exposed to adult materials. And it seemed dangerous to take money away from schools, where the need was desperate, if state legislatures balked at this federal pressure on them. His constituents had let him know in no uncertain terms that they supported strict standards of decency on the internet. He knew if he didn't support the bill, his next election opponent would paint him as pro-pornography, and anti-child. But he didn't want anything to get in the way of providing monetary support to schools through federal grants. The unique spires of the original Smithsonian Institution were getting harder to see, but there was still a faint gleam on the green dome of the Museum of Natural History. What was the right thing to do?

Questions
What arguments does he have to weigh in his mind?

Type of Question:
What legislation is the senator worried about?

Type of Question:
How would you advise the Senator, and why would you advise him so?

Type of Question:
What's a tough decision you've had to make?

Question-Answer Relationships (QARs)

Type of Question:

Raphael (1986) developed the QuestionAnswer Relationships (QAR) to assist students with using information from the text and from their own head to answer questions. The four types of questions are shown below:

STEPS
1. Explain the strategy. Explain to students that there are essentially two categories of questions: In The Book: the answer can be found in the text. In My Head: the answer cannot be found in the text and must come from the reader's own knowledge or experiences. 2. Demonstrate the strategy. To teach this strategy, teachers should use an example that clearly distinguishes between the different types of questions. Demonstrate how you determine question type. For in the book questions, show students how to find the answers to the questions in the text. For in the head questions, demonstrate the though processes used to answer these questions.

1. 2. 3. 4.

Right There Questions Think and Search Author and You On My Own