Why We Don't Read the Questions First

 

First, annotating the questions before reading is bad because success on STAAR is based on comprehending the passage. Your purpose for reading depends on the genre and its characteristics, not the questions. By reading the questions first, students zoom in to look for specific things instead of understanding the passage as a whole. Because they are looking at a butterfly wing under a microscope, they can't tell what they are looking at: a butterfly wing. That's why kids do so poorly on inference and summary  - which is the majority of the test.  (Some kids don't even read the passage at all. They just skim for stuff.) They are looking for words and phrases and answers to questions that require a comprehensive understanding of the passage instead of a microscopic one. Reading the questions first is a microscopic approach. Their job is to make decisions about the text, not to act like it is some kind of seek and find on a Chilli's menu. Their job is to make meaning, not to find stuff. It won't be there because they have to make a decision about what's there. 

Second, reading the questions first is not going to work because the focus of the questions requires the whole question - the stem and the choices. You can't even tell what you are looking for in most of the "questions" because they aren't actually stated as questions, but as completion through reasoning. They are actually sentences, not questions. And you can't reason through something you have yet to comprehend.

Second Second: Reading the questions first actually puts misconceptions into their minds before they ever read. At least three misconceptions per question. Why would we do that to kids? That's why we don't support DOL. Why would you show kids wrong stuff and expect them to learn the right stuff?

Third, reading the question first won't help the kids because the questions are based on author's purpose/message and the organizational pattern they have used to deliver it. The correct answers will always reflect an overall gist of the meaning, suggest the purpose, and be written in a way that reflects the organizing structure. I've written more about it here:

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2020/01/reading-staar-prep-sometimes-it-isnt.html

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2020/01/close-mitt-cover-glove-in-language-arts.html

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2020/01/reading-review-for-reasoning-erros.html

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-problem-with-making-decisions-with.html

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2019/

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2019/11/support-for-types-of-staar-summary.html

https://www.bulbapp.com/u/questions-first

Fourth - That's not the way they write the test or what the trends in data tell us.

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2019/07/elar-staar-data-trends-from-tea_15.html

https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2019/07/elar-staar-data-trends-from-tea.html