DOK Question Cards and Guided Reading

Every year I try different strategies during guided reading to see how I can reach all of my students, create challenge, and engage them. This past year I created D.O.K question cards, and to my surprise my students really liked them. They liked having the choice of which D.O.K level to choose from and they also became the teacher. Of course they needed to know the answer to the question before they could become the teacher...accountability in action. Over the past few weeks I have been refining my cards and I'm calling them Stomp the Monster D.O.K Question Cards Below is a picture of what they look like printed in monotone. I'm really excited to use these with my students this year as well and refine my practice as a teacher!

Above is the stack of question cards that students would look through to find a question they could answer. I did not include all the question cards when I began using this, but added more as we moved forward with learning strategies and skills. That way students were choosing questions that went along with skills and strategies that we were working on in class. Then they would write the answer to the question in their flip book which is shown in the picture off to the left. Next students would ask their neighbor their question. 

Students also had monster book marks that they would use and get a reward sticker every time they competing the activity. I used this as a way to motivate my students. It's amazing how students will work for a sticker. The book mark is right below and students would place their sticker in one of the boxes. I copied these onto onto colored card stock to save on colored ink.

 As students worked on this I kept a record of what I saw and documented their reading behavior in my teacher guided reading book. I used a simple rubric that included three areas that I wanted my students to focus on. Those areas were their behavior during our reading time, their ability to speak and listen, and their ability to apply a strategy. I never assessed all three of these areas at one time, but began with their behavior as they read. That was the most important. Once we practiced that the 1st month then we focused on the speaking and listening and strategy/skill work. 

As we used this last year, I observed that my most challenging students that were hesitant as first, were the ones that wanted more challenge as they gained confidence in asking higher level questions.  

Best of luck this school year! If this is something you would like it can be found at the following link below and above.

Stomp the Monster D.O.K Question Cards