Teach Students to Deconstruct a Question

One essential skill students need to be successful is to deconstruct a question or set of questions to ensure they answer it completely, thoroughly, and accurate. I am sure, like me, there have been moments when you reading students responses to a question and wondered if they even read the question.  I have also seen responses where the student only read the first question and completely ignored the rest.  If that is you, here are a few simple steps to teach students to read and analyze the entire question.  Also this ties in with the Common Core Standards for Readiness which include that students can read closely to determine what a text says explicitly and make inferences about the text.  

Steps to Deconstruct a Question:

1. Read the whole question(s) through one time.

Question: What is the central idea of the text? Support your evidence with details from the text.

2. Now, highlight the verb(s) to see what action or skill you need to perform.  
1. Examples: identify, analyze, explain, describe. This would also be a great time to review Bloom’s Taxonomy with your students.   

Question: What is the central idea of the text? Support your evidence with details from the text.

3. Next underline the “what” in the question.

Question: What is the central idea of the text? Support your evidence with details from the text.

4. Finally, identify the “where” in the question. If you are deconstructing the question online I recommend italics, but if you are using paper I would circle. Example: in the text, from the paragraph, from your experience

Question: What is the central idea of the text? Support your evidence with details from the text.

5. Now the question can easily be broken down and paraphrased. This step is essential because if you cannot paraphrase what the question is asking then the meaning may still not be clear.   

Paraphase: To clearly answer this question, I must identify the central idea and identify and use examples to support my central idea.

*Important Disclaimer:  This question has a significant amount of academic vocabulary, and the vocabulary may need to be pre taught in order for students to understand the question regardless of the steps or strategies used above.  

This may be a little tedious, but it is an important strategy that will help when understanding the question is essential.  Here are some examples:

• Quiz or Test
• State Testing or Testing Prep
• Beginning of the year, to develop strong question understanding and how to respond.