Title of Video Segment: Into the Book: Behind the Lesson, Questioning
Running time: 9 minutes, 15 seconds
Synopsis of Segment: Questioning … Students get down to the “thick and thin” of questioning to discover the difference between questions that can easily be answered in a book and those that will generate a good class discussion.

DR. MICHAEL P. FORD: How do students use questioning to get into the book? Let's go Behind the Lesson and see how teachers make this happen.

DR. FORD: We noticed that when kids first came into your classroom, that they started reading right away. Can you talk about that?
     
MARNI PINGEL: Yeah, originally I had them just waiting for the morning meeting time to begin, which was them wasting their learning time in school. So I decided to have them read instead. As long as I'm prepared in the morning, I go around to the different students who are reading and just see what kind of books they're reading. Are they reading books that are just right for them? Or are they reading books that are too difficult or too easy, in terms of their recreational reading.

Thinking about this book, I wanted to see what adults thought about it. And we're going to show you a discussion about this book. And I want you to pay attention to three things. What does a discussion look like? What does a discussion sound like? And what does the discussion feel like?

I'll start. I was really curious about the ultimatum part. Were any of you guys curious about that?
     
JANA BRAYTON-GAFFNEY: I thought, what would happen if the farmer got rid of the cows and sold the cows to another farmer and just got some new cows.
     
MARNI PINGEL: And just said, you're not going to do it? Get out!

MARY CRAM: I wanted to know if they can type, does that mean that they can read?
     
DR. FORD: Let's go behind the lesson that you taught today. What were your objectives with this lesson?
     
MARNI PINGEL: I wanted to introduce the students to book discussions, and how they would talk about books in their everyday life. I wanted to also introduce them to thick and thin questions.

We're going to do a different discussion now. Think about what that discussion looked like to you. What did it sound like? What did it feel like? We're going to have a different discussion now. And I want you to compare the two discussions.

What color was the duck?
     
STUDENT: White.
     
MARNI PINGEL: What was the farmer's last name?
     
STUDENT: Farmer Brown.
     
MARNI PINGEL: What did the cows want? (all answering)

Okay, that's the end of that discussion. Thanks for talking with me about it.

What did you notice about that one, Kaitlyn?
     
STUDENT: It was really boring, because everybody knew the answer to the questions. They didn't get to think about it, because they were "right there" questions.

MARNI PINGEL: What do you mean they were right there questions? We've been working on that. What does that mean, "right there"? Anybody want to help her out? C.J., what does that mean?
     
STUDENT: Right there in the story.
     
MARNI PINGEL: Are those fun questions to talk about? Did it look like we were having fun when we were discussing?
     
STUDENT: No.
     
MARNI PINGEL: I'll tell you, I did not like asking those questions. And I, yeah, I was a little embarrassed to ask those questions, because I wasn't even getting to learn about what Mrs. Gaffney, Mrs. Benzaid, Mrs. Cram and Mrs. Flanigan knew about the story. I didn't get to get into what they were really thinking.

I have a book. It is called "Sector 7," by David Wiesner. There's something really special about this book, really, really special. It doesn't have any words.
     
STUDENT: Oh, sweet!
     
MARNI PINGEL: So, it doesn't have any words. But does that mean that there's not a story inside?

STUDENT: No.
     
MARNI PINGEL: Your job today, as third-graders, is just to look at the story, think about what's happening in the story. Think about questions you might have in your head, that you would want to talk to somebody about. (all talking) It talks about all different types of clouds: altocumulus, fog, cirrocumulus, cirrus. And that's something actually that we're going to be learning about in science.

DR. FORD: In some of the materials that you chose today, there were
obvious connections to your content areas, especially to a couple science concepts. Can you talk about the importance of doing that?
     
MARNI PINGEL: Well, I think using those connections stretches the student's brain. Like today, when I'll be teaching about science, and about weather and cloud types, I might say, what kind of clouds do you think were in "Sector 7." And then that will get them thinking, oh, you can see science concepts everywhere.
     
While I was reading this, I thought to myself, how did this boy feel this whole time while this was going on. (all talking and laughing at once) Show me the face that this man would have.

I'm going to give you, give you a strip of paper. And on the strip of paper, there's a question. I'd like you to talk with the person next to you. And when you're done, be ready to share about what you talked about.
     
STUDENT: Did a boy or girl visit Sector 7?
     
STUDENT: Yeah, I know it's a boy, because we saw the pictures in the story.
     
STUDENT: It could've been a girl.
     
STUDENT: I'd just run away and try to find something to fly down to earth.

STUDENT: There was a big building, so it could've been New York.
     
STUDENT: Or Chicago. Chicago is in New York.
     
STUDENT: Yeah.
     
STUDENT: So, when you draw a picture of something, it comes to life.
     
STUDENT: He wanted everything to be exactly the same so he won't be all mad.

MARNI PINGEL: Thick and thin. We're going to put the questions that we just came up with, and we're going to put it in the thick category or the thin category.

STUDENT: What do you think happened when the boy got home?

MARNI PINGEL: Raise your hand if you think that's thick question. Raise your hand if you think that's a thin question. Why do you think it was thick question?
     
STUDENT: Because it's like a hard question to answer.
     
MARNI PINGEL: So, what do you have to use when you're answering this question? Kevin?
     
STUDENT: You have to use your brain.
     
MARNI PINGEL: You have to use your brain. We're thinking about thick questions, meaning the ones that get us to think more about the story and have a good discussion about the book.
     
We're changing the type of book we're reading. "Sector 7" is over there on the easel. This is the "Weekly Reader." What is the difference between these two? How are they different? Daniel?
     
STUDENT: I think that one is non-fiction. And I don't know if that one over there is.
     
MARNI PINGEL: Okay, we'll help you. This one's non-fiction, so that one, they're opposites. Non-fiction and... fiction. This one is about real life. This one's about real life. This is actually happening. Can you have a book discussion about non-fiction?
     
STUDENT: Yes.
     
MARNI PINGEL: We're going to find out.
     
DR. FORD: Didn't you switch completely when you used your "Weekly Readers," so how deliberate was that?

MARNI PINGEL: The "Weekly Reader" gives some news type reading, some non-fiction reading. So, it was deliberate in showing that you can talk about fiction versus non-fiction. But also, I wanted to use some current newspaper.
     
STUDENT: Even in the summer, the temperature on the planet's
surface is below zero.

MARNI PINGEL: Tell me what you talked about. What did you talk about with your partner?
     
STUDENT: What kind of machines are on Mars?
     
MARNI PINGEL: So, what do you think about Kaitlyn's question? She wonders about the machines. Is that a thick question or a thin question?
     
STUDENT: Thick.
     
MARNI PINGEL: Why thick?
     
STUDENT: Because there's a lot to talk about.
     
MARNI PINGEL: Thick because there's a lot to talk about. Ashley, what are your thoughts?
     
STUDENT: We were talking about, like, how do they get the machines to go on Mars.
     
STUDENT: That's really a thick question.

MARNI PINGEL: Yeah, you would have to do a lot more research to find out the answer to that question.
     
DR. FORD: Teachers will probably identify you as the Mrs. Pingel in the "Into the Book" series. And they might be interested in knowing how being involved with that series has informed your thinking as a classroom teacher.
     
MARNI PINGEL: The creators of the series sent me books to read and, and got me... Made sure that I was current on certain strategies, so definitely reading about those strategies, and then applying them to my own classroom.
     
My set up has changed, too. I've put the reading center in the middle of my classroom as the focus, making books more accessible to my students by putting them on the wall, so they're faced front. And also, I'll read things in the script and I'll think, oh my gosh, that's a great idea to do in my classroom. And I'll try that as well.
     
DR. FORD: I want to thank you for letting us visit your classroom today. I know a lot of teachers are going to be excited to be able to see Mrs. Pingel's real classroom, as well.

MARNI PINGEL: Yeah, in the flesh, here I am!