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Margaret McKeown's co-authored book Questioning the Author, offers a fresh take on reading comprehension that I hadn’t thought of before, and I was immensely impressed with the clarity and applicability of the text also. In this interview we start out with an overview of the QtA approach, but things really get juicy towards the middle where I share a lesson plan that I’ve put together based upon the strategies outlined in the book, and Margaret critiques it an offers suggestions regarding how it could be improved. I hope you get as much out of this little role-play as I did!
This episode is all about reading comprehension. And for teachers who are looking to improve this skill within their students, this is going to be an incredibly valuable episode for books.
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Margaret McKeown is Clinical Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to retirement, Margaret was a Senior Scientist at the University’s Learning Research and Development centre, and her work addresses practical and current issues that classroom teachers face at the chalkface. She has undertaken research in such areas as learning, instruction, teacher professional development, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, the topic of today’s podcast.
Margaret is the co-author of several books, including Bringing Words to Life, Creating Robust Vocabulary, and Vocabulary Assessment to Support Instruction. She is also a fellow of the American Education Research Association, and was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame.
Links/resources mentioned in the show
- Margaret's book, Questioning the Author
- Full text of the short story, ‘The Raven and the Whale' (see the bottom of this post)
- My forthcoming book, Cognitive Load Theory in Action, is also available here
- Or sign up as a $5 Patron of the ERRR Podcast to receive a 100% discount (Sign up before Oct 20th, 2020 for this deal!)
This episode of the ERRR Podcast is brought to you by John Catt Educational. Use this link along with the code provided within the podcast to get 30% off all books from John Catt Educational! https://www.johncattbookshop.com/books/errr
Listen to all past episodes of the ERRR podcast here.
The Raven and the Whale
Inuit tale, gathered and retold by Lawrence Millman. From his book, A Kayak Full of Ghosts: Eskimo Folk Tales
There was once a raven who by accident flew into the mouth of a big bowheaded whale. He flew right down the throat and ended up in the belly. There he saw a little house built of ribs and soft hides; a shabby little house, just like a human dwelling. Inside this house was a young woman minding a blubber lamp. “You may stay here as long as you like,” she told him, “but you must never touch this lamp.” For the lamp was the whale’s heart.
The raven decided to stay there for quite awhile. The woman was very pleasant company. Likewise she did all the work. “Eat,” she’d say, and offer him some fish, mussels, or crabs which the whale had swallowed. There would be more maktuk (mataq) than he could eat in a dozen lifetimes.
“Is there anything you would like?” the woman would ask him.
“Yes,” said the raven. “I would like to touch the lamp.”
“You must never, never touch the lamp,” she told him.
But this made the raven all the more curious. More than anything else, he wanted to touch that lamp. He gazed at it for long hours. And once, while the woman’s back was turned, he walked up and pecked at it. Instantly the lamp went out and the woman fell down dead.
Now the raven stumbled around in the dark. At last he found the throat-passage and crawled through it. Then he climbed on top of the whale, which was dead. He saw that they were floating toward a human village, so he turned himself into a man. “Behold!” he exclaimed, “I’ve just killed this enormous bowheaded whale without even using a harpoon…”
No one believed him. Perhaps he could show off his hunting prowess once again? Whenever you wish, he declared. And he went to live in that village, waiting for the opportunity to show off his ability. Then one day a herd of narwhals was sighted in the harbour. “Leave this to me,” he said. He got into a kayak and paddled it toward the herd. Almost at once the kayak was knocked over and he was pierced by a narwhal’s horn. Thus did the mighty hunter die. But as he died, he turned back into a raven, and was eaten by one of the narwhals.