TRY THIS TOMORROW: 5 QUESTIONS FOR ANY TEXT
If you’re looking for a teaching and thinking routine that works with any text and any grade level, this is it. You know we love one routine that can be used multiple times.
The Five Questions for Any Text, developed by Marilyn Pryle, offers a framework for teaching students how to read critically. I love this approach because it works just as well with a poem or short story as it does with a news article, Instagram post, video clip, or podcast.
The questions center around the idea that texts don’t just exist. Someone made them. On purpose. This understanding can help students think about who made the text, what the message is meant to be and how it was crafted with that intent. Pryle’s five questions give students an easy way into this thinking.
You can find the first chapter of the text here which includes these questions.
The 5 Questions
1. What am I reading?
What kind of text is this? Where did it come from? Who made it? Who is it for?
Opens conversations about purpose, bias, and agenda.
2. What is it showing me?
What ideas or assumptions are coming through? What does the text suggest about people or the world?
3. What is it hiding?
What’s left out? Whose voices are missing? What would complicate the message if included?
4. How am I reacting?
What stood out? What bothered you? What stuck with you?
Focus is on noticing and examining reactions beyond simply liking or disliking.
5. How does it work?
How is the text built? What choices are made with structure, language, visuals, or tone?
Connects directly to writing.
Over time, these questions become habits and students can transfer them to all texts.
Try This Tomorrow
- Choose one question as an entry point.
- Model a quick response using the sub-questions and your own noticings.
- Let students talk or write for a few minutes.
All credit to Marilyn Pryle, author of 5 Questions for Any Text.