Questioning and incorporation technique

how it works

OWNERSHIP OF THE MATERIAL
This technique lets students create parts of a story, giving them ownership over the material.

  • Why is this important? When students feel ownership, it increases their emotional investment. Emotional investment is the fastest way to engage students and keep them engaged. Engagement helps students understand and retain the material, and teaches them social-emotional skills like impulse control.

VALIDATION
Every time you incorporate a student's answer into a lesson, you give them validation.

  • Why is this important? When you validate a student’s answer, you help them build self efficacy, the belief that they can and will succeed. Especially with early learners, it’s important to validate their creativity and their courage to speak in front of the class.

STUDENT-CENTERED
This technique is the epitome of student-centered learning where there is equal focus on the teacher and student.

  • Why is this important? By splitting the focus equally between teacher and student, it teaches the students that their ideas have value. 

when to use it

IN ANY SUBJECT
The questioning and incorporation technique is not just for literacy lessons. You have opportunities to validate and incorporate students’ answers at any moment in the day.

  • For example: In a science lesson about pollution, ask students “How does a fish feel in polluted water?”
  • For example: In a social studies lesson, ask students “What kind of things does a good neighbor say?”

IN A READ-ALOUD
This technique is a great way to understand setting and character. Don’t be afraid to pause your read-aloud to ask questions.

  • Why? Asking questions and incorporating those answers helps students visualize complex environments. 
    When students can visualize a story, they can understand and retain the material better.
  • Notice: In the video, all of Ruthie's questions are based on one line: “The old woman walked into the forest.” Notice how much more interesting the forest is once the students have filled it with bears, rivers, and squirrels.

This technique is one of the pillars of interactive drama strategies, along with the "Let's All Say That" Technique and the Sound and Gesture Technique.

Once you are familiar with all three techniques, you have the basis of every interactive strategy.

skill breakdown

WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK

Take your time to get comfortable with this technique. We've broken it down into steps that gradually increase in difficulty. Feel out which kind of questions work for you, your class, and your lesson.

  • Note: This breakdown is specifically for reading a book in class. If you're using this technique in another subject, and you don't need to worry about sticking to a plot, feel free to mix and match the steps however you want.

STEP ONE
WHAT DOES THAT LOOK/SOUND LIKE?
Start by asking for details about elements that already exist in the story. This step doesn't change the story at all. A good starting question to ask is “what does that look/sound like?”

  • Question: If you are reading a book with the line “the wind howled,” try asking: “What did the wind sound like?”
  • Incorporation: When you have an answer, make sure you ask the whole class to repeat it with “let’s all say that.” This step is important because it lets the whole class validate the response. 
  • Notice: This is an extension of the Sound and Gesture Technique and the “Let’s All Say/Do That” Technique. Most interactive strategies work in conjunction with each other. These techniques all engage kinesthetic learning and support understanding and retention.

STEP TWO
WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
Once you've mastered the first step, try asking students to add details about the environment or characters. Ask questions that engage all five senses.

  • Question: "What kind of things do you hear in a busy city?” “What sort of things do you smell in a bakery?”
  • Incorporation: All the steps build on each other.When you get an answer, make sure you ask follow up questions: “What does that sound/look like? And finally, remember to ask the whole class to repeat with “let’s all say that.”
  • Notice: Ruthie uses another kind of incorporation. She uses “let’s all say that” to repeat a student's phrase: "saw a squirrel." She’s letting the students literally write the story.

STEP THREE
WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
Once you’re comfortable with the previous questions, you can ask theoretical questions to fill gaps in the story. This gives students even more creative agency, but it requires effort on your part to incorporate their answers.

  • Question: Ask questions about what else might have happened in the book. Ask follow up questions until you get to an answer that your students can act out. “How do you think Little Red Riding Hood felt in the scary forest? What do you think she did to keep herself calm?”
  • Incorporation: As always, ask the students to show you what it sounds/looks like, and repeat with "let's all say that." Continue the story with this new information and keep track of how it could come up again. For example, when Little Red Riding Hood meets the Wolf, ask the students to show you how she calms herself down again.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
If you don’t need to stay accurate to the book, try asking your students to come up with some of the plot. Obviously, this could get out of hand, so start slow.

  • Question: For example, in the “Three Little Pigs,” you could ask for some ideas about how the Wolf gets into the pig’s houses. This doesn’t change the plot too much, because the Wolf will get in the houses anyway.
  • Incorporation: Continue the story with this new plot point. If you need to, write down the ideas to help you remember.  As always, incorporate with sound/gesture and "let's all say that."
  • Tip: It can be helpful to plan out some of these big questions before class, so that you can have a structure to keep you on track.

WHAT TO DO WITH AN UNEXPECTED RESPONSE

It’s possible to validate every answer without sacrificing accuracy. For example, you ask your students “What kind of animals are in the forest?” and one creative student answers “A shark!” Instead of saying no, figure out a way to validate this answer.

Solution One: Validate the answer, but clarify that it's not possible.

  • For example: In the "Shark" example, continue like normal; ask for a sound and gesture for the shark. Once you’ve repeated the sound and gesture, ask the students "Do sharks live in the forest in real life?" Explain that a shark could definitely live in the forest in a magical story, but we know they don’t actually live in forest in real life.

Solution Two: Ask the student to justify their answer.

  • For example: In the "Shark" example, another solution would be to explain that while sharks don’t normally live in the forest, this must be a special shark. As the students "What makes this shark so special? How does it survive in a forest?" Ask them to show you what those solutions would look like.