QAR: Question Answer Relationships Strategy
For
The Outsiders
By S.E. Hinton
PURPOSE OF THE STRATEGY
Raphael (1984, 1986) studied the question-answer relationship, a
taxonomy broken into four levels: Right There, Think and Search;
the Author and You; and On My Own. This strategy promotes
active comprehension of the message of the author and provides
students with a way to think about questions and answers. If
students are asked to create their own questions, QAR also
extends their writing ability.
DIRECTIONS:
STEP 1: Introduce the Strategy. Introduce the strategy with the
worksheet showing the relationship of the Questions to Answers.
Post an enlarged chart of this somewhere in the classroom where
students can refer to it.
STEP 2: Create the questions. Create QAR questions from small
sections of text (not longer than five sentences) for each of
the four levels. Using these questions, model how each level of
the QAR questions can be identified and answered. Discuss the
differences between the questions:
Found in the text:
• Right There: the answer is textually explicit (can be
found in the text), usually as a phrase contained
within one sentence.
• Think and Search: while the answer is in the text, the
answer is implicit and the student is required to
combine separate sections or chunks of text to answer
the question.
Found in your head:
• On Your Own: requires students to think about what is
already known from their reading and experience
(schema and prior knowledge) to formulate an answer
• Author and You: as the answer is not directly stated
in the text, the student draws on prior knowledge
(schema) and what the author has written to answer the
question.
Christy Bateman, 2006
STEP 3: Student Involvement. Give the students sample questions
(such as the ones on the following handout), to answer in small
groups, and identify which of the QAR levels they used.
STEP 4: Assignment. Have students work individually on
questions from longer passages.
ASSESSMENT
Growing awareness of how we read specific texts increases
comprehension. As students study different sources of
information they learn that there are relationships between
questions that readers ask and the types of responses that can
be given.
QAR: Question Answer Relationships Theory
Teacher Copy
The Outsiders
Passage 1
(p.
70)
I heard someone coming up through the dead leaves toward
the back of the church, and I ducked
inside the door. Then I
heard a whistle, long and low, ending in a sudden high note. I
knew
that whistle well enough. It was used by us and the
Shepard gang for “Who’s there?”
Question: What does the Shepard gang use the whistle for?
Rationale: This is a “right there” question. The answer is
found in the forth sentence in this text. The answer is: to ask
“Who’s there?”
Passage 2 (p. 32)
Somehow Darry had seen us from our porch and ran toward us,
suddenly skidding to a halt. Dally
was there, too, swearing
Christy Bateman, 2006
under his
face. I
killed on
look sick
breath, and turning away with a sick expression on his
wondered about it vaguely. Dally had seen people
the streets of New York’s West Side.
Why did he
now?
Question: What makes Dally sick when he sees that Johnny was
beat-up?
Rationale: This is a “think and search” question. The passage
never states why Dally feels sick, but students can infer why he
feels the way he does as they read the book and see the way
Dally feels about Johnny.
Passage 3 (p. 132)
What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is
a reputation for being a hood, and greasy
hair? I don’t want
to be a hood, but even if I don’t steal things and mug people
and get boozed up, I’m marked lousy. Why should I be proud of
it? Why should I even pretend to be proud of it?
Question: Have you ever felt like your reputation was all
someone saw when they looked at you? Write about your
experience.
Rationale: This is an “on your own” question. The students read
the issue in the text, but the answer comes specifically from
their own experience.
Passage 4 (p. 143)
Still Darry and the Soc walked slowly in a circle. Even I
could feel their hatred. They used to be
buddies, I thought,
they used to be friends, and now they hate each other because
one has to work
for a living and the other comes from the
West Side. They shouldn’t hate each other… I don’t hate
the
Socs anymore…they shouldn’t hate.
Question: Why doesn’t Ponyboy feel hatred for the Socs even
though they have treated him horribly?
Rationale: This is an “author and you” question. The answer is
not stated directly in the text, but the reader can use his/her
own experience and feelings as well as the author’s thoughts to
come up with an answer.
Question and Answer Relationships- The Outsiders
Christy Bateman, 2006
Passage 1
(p.
70)
I heard someone coming up through the dead leaves toward
the back of the church, and I ducked
inside the door. Then I
heard a whistle, long and low, ending in a sudden high note. I
knew
that whistle well enough. It was used by us and the
Shepard gang for “Who’s there?”
Question: What does the Shepard gang use the whistle for?
This is a “right there” question.
Answer:
Passage 2 (p. 32)
Somehow Darry had seen us from our porch and ran toward us,
suddenly skidding to a halt. Dally
was there, too, swearing
under his breath, and turning away with a sick expression on his
face. I wondered about it vaguely. Dally had seen people
killed on the streets of New York’s West Side.
Why did he
look sick now?
Question: What makes Dally sick when he sees that Johnny was
beat-up?
This is a “think and search” question.
Answer:
Passage 3 (p. 132)
What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is
a reputation for being a hood, and greasy
hair? I don’t want
to be a hood, but even if I don’t steal things and mug people
and get boozed up, I’m marked lousy. Why should I be proud of
it? Why should I even pretend to be proud of it?
Christy Bateman, 2006
Question: Have you ever felt like your reputation was all
someone saw when they looked at you? Write about your
experience.
This is an “on your own” question.
Answer:
Passage 4 (p. 143)
Still Darry and the Soc walked slowly in a circle. Even I
could feel their hatred. They used to be
buddies, I thought,
they used to be friends, and now they hate each other because
one has to work
for a living and the other comes from the
West Side. They shouldn’t hate each other… I don’t hate
the
Socs anymore…they shouldn’t hate.
Question: Why doesn’t Ponyboy feel hatred for the Socs even
though they have treated him horribly?
This is an “author and you” question.
Answer:
Christy Bateman, 2006
Christy Bateman, 2006