Wilhelm+Chapter+6



Considering the Intelligence Behind the Text: Helping Students Inquire by Reading with the Author in Mind

====== ===Chapter 6 introduces the concept of understanding the intelligence behind the text. We are reminded of the importance of relationships. Relationships are 'key' in making the sale or supervising staff. Wilhelm demonstrates that this same concept is 'key' to learning for students. Relationships guide student learning and reading. Students who have relationships with their teachers are motivated in class, engage in the learning process and also take risks to achieve higher levels of academic competence. One student shared his preference to learning history through human interest stories as opposed to learning the historical timeline. Using this approach, readers can develop a relationship with the author which goes beyond comprehension. This is a way for students to "respect the intelligence" behind the text, to examine its meaning and decide whether to embrace it. === = =
 * (Wilhelm, 132)**

= = =Authorial Reading: A Way of Seeing and Responding to a Text's Architecture of Ideas = (**Wilhelm,133)** ===**How often have yo ****u read a text and found yourself talking to the author whether it was to agree or disagree with the text? That, ****in esse ****nce, is a form of authorial reading. Wilhelm suggests that it is a way for readers to understand the deep meaning the author attempts to convey in his/her text. In short, the reader attempts to understand what the author conveyed, they evaluate its meaning and can decide whether to make use of it in their own lives. Wilhelm helps us to understand that authorial reading is a reciprocal reading process. As readers, we have expectations for the text even before we read it. However, we also learn that the author also has an expectation for his readers. Authorial reading meets the expectations for both audiences. **===

Learn more about [|this author and his work.]

=Authorial Reading and Inquiry: Complementary Pursuits =

=== We further learn that authorial reading and inquiry are complementary processes. When readers engage in this hierarchy of learning with creative thinking and evaluation, they move beyond being a consumer of information to become a producer of knowledge. Readers will evolve beyond mere comprehension of facts, figures and knowledge, as Wilhelm so aptly states,. . . . " to participate in communities of practice as developing mathematicians, historians, scientists . . . . and the like." When readers learn to apply the same principles to authorial reading as to inquiry, the reader takes on the understanding of the author (whether they agree or disagree with the author ), and the author has the reader s/he imagined would read the text. Authorial reading is a way for readers to converse with the author by respecting the author's text, comprehending it, evaluating its merits and then,determining how to incorporate it, if possible, into their lives. Wilhelm refers to this approach of reading as "learner centered". The students are empowered to become teachers, and the teachers become the 'observant students' of how students cognitively process and evaluate information. This reciprocity dynamic must be academically enriching as well as energizing. ===
 * (Wilhelm, 133-135)**

= = =[|QtA (Questioning the Author)]=

(Wilhelm, 135-137)
===Questioning the author, better known as QtA, is a //during// //reading// strategy employed by many teachers to reach struggling readers. Through this teaching technique, students realize that it may not be "their fault" that they don't understand what they read, but, rather, the author wasn't clear in his communication. This idea helps readers to feel more confident about their ability to comprehend the text's ideas and construct meaning. It promotes deeper thinking and discussion to extend the students' interpretations. Through open-ended queries, previously developed by the teacher prior to the start of the lesson, students are prompted to engage with each other about the text and consider what the author is trying to convey. Students actively internalize the information to become stronger readers. Queries prompt students to converse with and challenge the author. The queries provide students with the opportunity to see various connections between details through discoveries of text to text, text to self, and text to world.===

**During QtA two types of questions are used as instructional tools:**
=== (1) Initiating Queries - goal is to make author's ideas/messages public. Attention is drawn to key text ideas. Students are reminded those ideas were written by an author. Example questions from Wilhelm text, page 136 (2007).===
 * ===What is the author trying to say here?===
 * ===What do you think the author wants us to know?===
 * ===What is the author talking about?===
 * ===What's the important message in this section?===

(2) Follow-Up Queries - focus the content and direction of a discussion. Assist students in integrating and connecting ideas to build meaning. Examples from Wilhelm text, page 136 (2007).

 * ===So what does the author mean right here?===
 * ===That's what the author said, but what did the author mean?===
 * ===Does that make sense with what the author told us before?===
 * ===How does that fit in with what the author told us?===

[|Planning a QtA Lesson]
(Suggested steps from Wilhelm text, page 137.)

[|Improving Comprehension with Questioning the Author]

=Using QtA to Promote Authorial Reading of Texts =

(Wilhelm p. 137-141)
=== Wilhelm gives an example of how to use QtA to promote authorial reading of texts. He based his example of the novel // [|Bud, Not Buddy] // ( [|Curtis], 1999). To guide students in their discussions, he puts the **suggested queries** on the overhead as well as on menu sheets that they may refer to. This helps keep students on task and guides them to use appropriate queries. The text is broken down into **chunks** so that students have the opportunity to discuss as they go. In this example, the first section of reading included the jacket copy, author biography, close consideration of the book's title and the first chapter. ===

These include:
- Who is the author of this novel? - What do we know about this author? - What is the author writing about? - What is the general subject or topic?

These include:
- What are the most important details so far? Why do you think so? - What does the author want the reader to notice in this segment? And think, believe, or do as a result? - Why is the author telling us this information right now? In this way? In this order? - What ideas are puzzling? What would you like to know more about?

=== As you see, these questions are higher level thinking and are not bound to any particular text. They encourage the reader to think like the writer and question his purpose for writing, point of view, and experiences with the topic about which he is writing. Students also are guided to notice the ways in which the author uses writer's craft to make his points or progress the story. [|Research] on this topic has found it beneficial to student learning. ===

=Introduction to [|Hillocks]' Questioning Hierarchy = === Hillock's questioning method is useful for helping students understand carefully constructed text, including narrative, fiction, poetry, and expository nonfiction. It is based upon the idea that students have to understand the literal and inferential before the abstract. Seven questions (more specific than those in QAR strategies) move students from literal to inferential and then to two kinds of abstractions: how themes about the world are expressed in the work (authorial generalizations) and how the text was built to express those ideas (structural generalizations), helping them add to their reading and writing toolbox. Questions (only asked after reading) include factual and inferential, requiring different levels of thought. ===

=[|Using the Hierarchy] to Assess Student Understanding =

===A great way to assess student comprehension, the questions build upon one another and have been proven (through research) to work. Students must answer a level-one question to move to a level-two, and so on, allowing teachers to see exactly where students are struggling and adapt instruction accordingly. ===







= = = = =References =

[|Wilhelm, Jeffrey]. (2007) //Engaging Readers & Writers With Inquiry.// New York, NY: Pearson.
Wilhelm has several [|other books on literacy].

<span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 3043px; width: 1px;">** How often have you read a text and found yourself talking to the author whether it was to agree or disagree with the text. That, in essence, is a form of authorial reading. Wilhelm suggests that it is a way for readers to understand the deep meaning the author attempts to convey in his/her text. In short, the reader attempts to understand what the author conveyed, they evaluate its meaning and can decide whether to make use of it in their own lives. Wilhelm helps us to understand that authorial reading is a reciprocal reading process. As readers, we have expectations for the text even before we read it. However, we also learn that the author also has an expectation for his readers. Authorial reading meets the expectations for both audiences. **