STRATEGY 10
Open Ended Tasks
Open ended tasks or questions, are problems that have no specific answer. Students are ask to think critically about the reading or lesson and respond with what they know to answer questions. Open ended tasks allow for more student involvement as students can often time contribute their own ideas to the problem. By allowing the students to engage in this sort of activity, they are more involved in the reading and better able to grasp what the lesson is trying to convey.
Example 1. Hawker Brownlow Education offers great ideas on how to bring open ended tasks into the math room. By creating open ended tasks, students are able to put their own thoughts into a subject that can often be very structured and limited on personalization. Questions could be reworked for other subjects, using the general ideas offered by the questions.
Click on the example below for more information. Figure 1. Reposted from Emery, K., Lewis, L., & Morefett, C. (2006). Open-ended maths tasks. Hawker Brownlow Education. Retrieved June 13, 2014, from http://files.hbe.com.au/samplepages/HB2313.pdf.
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Example 2. The Institute for Learning has offered teachers a great document on using open ended questions in the classroom. They teach teachers what an open ended question looks like, why to use them, and how to incorporate it with the reading. This can be used before you introduce the open ended method with your students.
Click on the example below for more information. Figure 2. Reposted from Designing open-ended, text based questions using the patterned way of reading, writing, and talking. (2011). University of Pittsburgh, Institute for Learning. Retrieved June 12, 2014 from http://www.cfn107.org/uploads/6/1/9/2/6192492/8_designing_open-ended_text-based_questions.pdf
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Example 3. Ms. Boddy of the Inquisitive Classroom blog has a great list of open ended questions teachers can use to stimulate their students thinking. She offers both fiction and non-fiction questions for teachers wanting to add this strategy to english stories or science articles.
Click on the example below for more information. Figure 3. Reposted from Boddy. (2013, June 28). Open-Ended Reading Comprehension Questions - Inquisitive Classroom. Inquisitive Classroom. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from http://www.inquisitiveclassroom.com/open-ended-reading-comprehension-questions/.
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Example 4. A great example of open ended tasks or questions, is this use of open ended comprehension cards provided by Mary, the 3am Teacher. These cards ask students to think a little deeper into what they are reading and can be done out loud or written down. This activity is great for English as students discuss stories or the questions can be changed to fit other subjects.
Click on the example below for more information. Figure 4. Reposted from Open Ended Comprehension Cards. (2012, October 31). Teaching With a Mountain View: The 3AM Teacher Retrieved June 12, 2014, from http://www.teachingwithamountainview.com/2012/10/open-ended-comprehension-cards.html.
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Video 1. WordsAliveLiteracy offers a great resource for elementary school teachers looking to incorporate open ended tasks in their classrooms. This is an exemplary instructional video for teachers who wish to teach their students a great comprehension technique early on.
Video 1. Reposted from WordsAliveLiteracy. (20 September, 2012). Open ended questions. [Video file]. Retrieved June 12, 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cemddec-iIo.
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Video 2. This video is a great instructional video on how to answer open ended questions and how to incorporate that onto an anchor chart. This is a great how-to for teachers looking to improve their students comprehension by using their own ideas.
Video 2. Reposted from The Balanced Literary Diet. (20 November, 2011). Open-ended questions: organizing ideas using an anchor chart. [Video file]. Retrieved June 12, 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrZAdwM0vHA.
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What about the writing?
Offering your students a chance to work with open ended questions, helps students create full thoughts with supporting details for their answers. With practice, this technique also allows students to form well supported explanatory summaries as they explain their answers to open ended questions or problems Students who use the open ended technique not only comprehend more of the story but they are more able to personalize their information allowing for a more creative and meaningful experience as well.
Meeting the standards:
Elementary -
0.6.2.2, 1.6.2.2, 2.6.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
3.6.2.2, 4.6.2.2, 5.6.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Middle School -
6.7.2.2, 7.7.2.2, 8.7.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
6.7.3.3, 7.7.3.3, 8.7.3.3
Write narratives and other creative texts to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
High School -
9.7.2.2, 11.7.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
9.7.3.3, 11.7.3.3
Write narratives and other creative texts develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well structured event sequences.
Offering your students a chance to work with open ended questions, helps students create full thoughts with supporting details for their answers. With practice, this technique also allows students to form well supported explanatory summaries as they explain their answers to open ended questions or problems Students who use the open ended technique not only comprehend more of the story but they are more able to personalize their information allowing for a more creative and meaningful experience as well.
Meeting the standards:
Elementary -
0.6.2.2, 1.6.2.2, 2.6.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
3.6.2.2, 4.6.2.2, 5.6.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Middle School -
6.7.2.2, 7.7.2.2, 8.7.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
6.7.3.3, 7.7.3.3, 8.7.3.3
Write narratives and other creative texts to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
High School -
9.7.2.2, 11.7.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
9.7.3.3, 11.7.3.3
Write narratives and other creative texts develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well structured event sequences.