F&F Podcast audio

In "Strategies at Work," Fisher and Frey discuss the importance of questioning the author during reading. They give an example of a teacher, Mrs. Scott, who reads Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Annabelle Lee" out loud to her students. She asks them questions about the text and encourages them to annotate and participate in class discussions. Mrs. Scott also connects the story to their personal lives, asking them about their experiences with love and loss. It is crucial to underline clues in the text and engage students in marking, turning back, revoicing, and recapping to deepen their understanding. In Fisher and Frey's Strategies at Work, they talk about questioning the author in English. An example of this is Melanie Scott and her students. They are beginning to read Edgar Allan Poe. They are reading the famous poem of Annabelle Lee. However, Mrs. Scott is reading out loud to her students. The students are following with their eyes so the kids can annotate. It is understandable that not every teacher can read everything, and students should be reading things by themselves as well. But for Mrs. Scott's students to understand the story, she even asks them questions during the reading process. She asks them questions such as, what is Poe talking about? And the students will either write down and annotate, or even raise their hand and talk out to the classroom. When students are asked this question, they are taking clues from the text. It is very important when asking students questions during outlying reading to overline clues in the text. Another way that Mrs. Scott connects to the students is asking them questions about their personal lives. While reading the story, Annabelle Lee, by Edgar Allan Poe, she asks, have you ever loved someone? Or, think about how you felt at that time, and how did you feel when that person left? Sometimes the class can remain silent, and sometimes they may have more to say. It is very important during class discussions to practice and include marking, turning back, revoicing, and recapping stories and evidence in the text. The author ideas and connecting them to constructive thinking and the students' lives is very important during out loud reading.