5.13.A

ELA5th GradeThe student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.

The Standard

generate and clarify questions on a topic for formal and informal inquiry

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students turn a broad topic into questions that guide an investigation. They clarify and revise questions to match a formal report, casual interview, survey, or other purpose.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students write focused questions that fit their purpose and can be answered through research, observation, or conversation. They revise wording when a question is vague, too broad, or unlikely to produce useful information.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat a topic as a question or write questions that are too broad to investigate. They may also rely on yes-or-no questions or assume their first question cannot change.
How to Assess It: Give students the topic “school lunch waste.” Ask them to write one informal question, one formal research question, and one revision that makes either question clearer.

Lesson moves

Give pairs sticky notes with broad and focused questions, then have them sort the notes and revise two weak examples.
Ask students to explain how questions for interviewing a classmate would differ from questions for a written report.
Play Question Makeover by giving teams vague questions to revise for clarity, focus, and useful evidence.
Have students choose a school concern and draft questions for a student survey, staff interview, and formal research search.

Keep exploring

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