Reflecting Through Self-Questioning

Have you ever stopped in the middle of a book and asked yourself, "Wait, what just happened?" That is called self-questioning. It means you ask yourself questions to check your own thinking. Good readers and problem solvers do this before, during, and after they work. This helps you know if you really understand what you are doing.

Before you read a book or start a math problem, you can ask yourself questions to get ready. Look at the cover of a book and ask, "What do I think this story is about?" Look at a math problem and ask, "What is this problem asking me to find?"

These questions help your brain get ready to pay attention. You are not guessing blindly. You are thinking like a detective who looks for clues before starting the case.

While you read or solve a problem, stop every so often and ask yourself questions. You might ask, "Does this make sense to me?" or "Can I picture what is happening?" If you are working on math, you can ask, "Am I using the right steps?"

If the answer is no, that is okay. You can go back and read the sentence again, or check your work. Asking questions while you work helps you catch mistakes early, before they pile up.

After you finish a page, a chapter, or a math problem, stop and think back. Ask yourself, "What did I just learn?" or "Can I explain this in my own words?" This is called reflecting. Reflecting means looking back at your own thinking.

If you cannot answer your own question, that is a clue. It tells you to go back and look again. If you can answer it easily, you know your thinking worked well. Either way, you learn something about yourself as a reader and a thinker.

You can picture self-questioning as three stops along a path. The first stop is before you start. The middle stop is while you work. The last stop is after you finish. At each stop, you ask yourself a question and listen for your own answer.

Self-questioning: Asking yourself questions to check if you understand what you are reading or doing.

Reflecting: Looking back and thinking about what you just read, solved, or learned.

Understanding: Knowing what something means and being able to explain it in your own words.

Checking: Stopping to see if your work or your thinking still makes sense.

Try using sticky notes with a question mark drawn on them. Put one at the start of your book, one in the middle, and one at the end. Each time you reach a sticky note, stop and ask yourself a question about what you just read.

You can do the same thing with math problems. Before you start, ask what the problem wants. While you work, ask if your steps make sense. After you finish, ask if your answer seems right for the problem.

Related lessons

• Metacognitive strategies reflecting questioning