Before progressing to the question sequence on the next page, please
consider the following recommendations when using the TDQ routine:
 Explain to your students what it means to be dependent on the text to answer
questions. Our goal is not for students to answer questions based on what they
remember or based on other experiences they have had with the topic outside the
text. Our goal is for students to learn that good readers go back into the text
repeatedly to reread and gain a deeper understanding of what the author is
teaching in this particular text. As students learn to answer questions by looking
more closely at the text, their ability to comprehend texts at deeper levels
improves.
 The teacher begins by modeling, or thinking aloud, how he/she would think about
a question and go back into the text to answer that question.
 Students should refer specifically to the text to justify answers to questions
(including inferential and opinion questions).
 If students struggle with a particular question, the teacher steps back and does a
think-aloud, modeling for the students how to think about the question and go
back into the text to answer that question.
 As students progress throughout the text, the levels of questioning progress from
general understandings to deeper levels of understanding.
 Understanding is built as students engage with the class and with partners in
thinking, writing, and talking about their answers to the questions. Students do not
need to write answers to all the questions. Keep students’ engagement high by
sometimes asking students to talk with peers (such as think, pair, share),
sometimes asking students to underline answers, and sometimes asking students
to write quick responses (such as writing in a thinking box). All questions end with a
quick partner or whole group discussion where a couple students share how they
answered the question and how they supported the question with evidence or
information from the text.
1
Written by Nichole Higgins and Marjorie Conrad ©Davis School District Farmington, UT 2012-2013
Heat, Light, and Sound USOE Booklet TDQ
Questions
TDQ Question Sequence
General Understandings
Key Details
Vocabulary and Text Structure
Author’s Purpose
Inference
Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual Connections
Choral Read the Introductory Section

General Understandings:
o What topic is the author introducing in this section? What in the text makes you think
so? (Group Discussion)

Key Details:
o What does this section tell us about energy? Give examples from the text. (Thinking
Box)
Choral Read “Heat” Paragraph 1

General Understandings:
o What is the purpose of this paragraph? What in the text makes you think so? (TEACHER
MODEL – “I look at the heading and at the topic sentence, which is the last sentence of
this paragraph. Then I check if the details and examples all relate to that topic.”)

Key Details:
o According to the text, what are the three ways heat can move from one object to
another? (Thinking Box)
Choral Read “Heat” Paragraphs 2 and 3 (Conduction)

General Understandings:
o What are these paragraphs about? What in the text makes you think so? (Guided
practice looking at topic sentence and supporting details)
2
Written by Nichole Higgins and Marjorie Conrad ©Davis School District Farmington, UT 2012-2013

Key Details:
o How does heat transfer from a warmer object to a cooler object through conduction?
Give examples from the text. (Thinking Box)
o What are some examples of conduction? Give examples from the text? (Think, Pair,
Share)
o What are the differences between a conductor and an insulator? Give examples from
the text. (Think, Pair, Share)
Choral Read “Heat” Paragraphs 4 and 5 (Convection)

General Understandings:
o What are these paragraphs about? What in the text makes you think so? (Group
Discussion)

Key Details:
o Describe the process of convection, using details from the text. (Think, Pair, Share)
o How is convection different from conduction? Give examples from the text. (Thinking
Box)

Inferences:
o How does the baby food jar experiment demonstrate the process of convection? Use
details from the text. (Think, Pair, Share)
Choral Read “Heat” Paragraph 5 (Radiation)

General Understandings:
o What is this paragraph about? What in the text makes you think so? (Group Discussion)

Key Details:
o What does the text teach us about heat waves? (Thinking Box)
o Describe how the sun warms the earth. Use details from the text. (Think, Pair, Share)
o What are some examples of radiation? Use examples from the text. (Think, Pair, Share)
o How is radiation different from convection and conduction? How is it the same?
(Thinking Box)
3
Written by Nichole Higgins and Marjorie Conrad ©Davis School District Farmington, UT 2012-2013

Inferences:
o Use what you have learned from the text about radiation to describe how fire cooks a
marshmallow without the marshmallow touching the fire. (Think, Pair, Share)
End of “Heat” Section

Text Structure:
o What pattern does the author use to organize the main ideas in this section? Give
examples from the text. (Think about the description text structure, take time to search
and underline main ideas and details, Pair, Share)
Choral Read “Light”

General Understandings:
o What is this section about? What in the text makes you think so? (Group Discussion)

Key Details:
o According to the text, what is light? (Thinking Box)
o What details from the text describe how a light bulb produces light? (Think, Pair, Share)
Choral Read “Sound” Paragraphs 1-2

General Understandings:
o What are these paragraphs about? What in the text makes you think so? (Group Discussion)

Key Details:
o What details from the text describe how sound is made? Use details from the text. (Thinking
Box)
Choral Read “Sound” Paragraph 3

General Understandings:
o What is this paragraph about? What in the text makes you think so? (Group Discussion)
4
Written by Nichole Higgins and Marjorie Conrad ©Davis School District Farmington, UT 2012-2013

Key Details:
o According to the text, what is sound? (Thinking Box)
o Using details from the text, describe how a sound is formed. (Think, Pair, Share)
o What causes some sounds to be louder than others? Use details from the text. (Thinking Box)
Choral Read “Sound” Paragraphs 4-5

General Understandings:
o What are these paragraphs about? What in the text makes you think so? (Group Discussion)

Key Details:
o What does the text teach us about pitch? (Thinking Box)
o According to the text, why does the almost-empty glass have the highest pitch? (Think, Pair,
Share)

Vocabulary:
o How does the author define the word absorption? (Thinking Box)
Choral Read “Reflection”

General Understandings:
o What is this section about? What in the text makes you think so? (Group Discussion)
Key Details:
o Using details from the text, explain what happens when an object reflects light. (Thinking
Box)
o Give an example of sound reflecting. Use details from the text. (Think, Pair, Share)
o Give an example of heat being reflected. Use details from the text. (Think, Pair, Share)

Vocabulary/Text Structure:
o How does the text help us understand angle of incidence? angle of reflection? (Thinking Box)

Inference:
o What color does a blueberry reflect? absorb? What in the text makes you think so? (Think,
Pair, Share)
5
Written by Nichole Higgins and Marjorie Conrad ©Davis School District Farmington, UT 2012-2013
Choral Read “Refraction”

General Understandings:
o What is this section about? What in the text makes you think so? (Thinking Box)

Key Details:
o Explain what happens when light is refracted? Use details from the text. (Thinking Box)

Text Structure:
o What do the graphics help us understand about light when it is refracted? Use details from
the text. (Think, Pair, Share)

Inferences:
o Why is light only refracted when traveling from one medium to another (not when going
through a single medium)? Support your answer with details from the text. (Think, Pair,
Share)
Choral Read “Conclusion”

Author’s Purpose/Opinion:
o Why do you think the author wrote about all three topics – heat, light, and sound – in one
text? Support your reasons (plural) with examples from the text. (Thinking Box)
6
Written by Nichole Higgins and Marjorie Conrad ©Davis School District Farmington, UT 2012-2013