This module is for High School Wrap Up

Now it is time to think about how to apply these concepts to your classroom practices. An effective teacher uses the principles in this module to plan, implement, and reflect upon classroom lessons that use text-dependent questions, which allow students to read closely and dig deeply into the core meanings of the text.

Test Your Knowledge

Read each question and think about whether or not the question is reflective and would prompt you to think about your teaching practices with regard to text-dependent questions.  Using the key in bold below, place the appropriate letter in each box.


Final Considerations

Good text-dependent questions will often focus on specific phrases and sentences to ensure careful comprehension of the text—they help students see something worthwhile that they would not have seen on a more cursory reading.  Typical text-dependent questions ask students to perform one or more of the following tasks:

  • Analyze paragraphs on a sentence-by-sentence basis and sentences on a word-by-word basis to determine the role played by individual paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and words.
  • Think about the importance of rhetorical features and their impact on the text as a whole. 
  • Consider how authors make specific and strategic choices to shape an overall understanding of the text.
  • Consider how the author introduces and concludes the text.  Think about how the author created impact regarding his/her overall message.
  • Utilize the grade-specific MCCRS standards in order to generate the question that leads to greater understanding of the text.
  • Consider what the text leaves uncertain or unstated.
Module summary video