On the Page, Between the Lines, Beyond the Page: Three Levels of Thinking and Reading

Three Levels of Thinking and Reading

by G. Rumpy-Norris

Three Story House - Costa's Levels of Questioning

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​To better understand the content being presented to you in various subject areas, it is important that you learn to think critically and to ask higher levels of questions.

By asking and understanding how to create higher levels of questions, you will deepen your knowledge and make connections with the ideas, themes or concepts being presented. This will then allow to your question and learn in a critical way.

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​One- Two- Three-Story Intellect Poem

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​

There are one-story intellects,

two-story intellects,

and three-story intellects with skylights.

​

All fact collectors who have

no aim beyond their facts

are one-story people.

​

Two-story people compare, reason,

generalize, using the labor of

fact collectors as their own.

​

Three-story people idealize,

imagine, predict—their best illumination

comes through the skylight.

Adapted from a quotation by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Open Ended

Using the poem as your source of information, can you tell me what a one-story person does?

​Now let's imagine an actual house!

​Think about the poem and look at the levels in the house.

​

​Take a minute to really study the house and the three levels.

Multiple Choice

The levels in the house are all...

• Nouns

• Verbs

• Adjectives

• Adverbs

​One- Two- Three-Story Intellect Poem

​

​

There are one-story intellects,

two-story intellects,

and three-story intellects with skylights.

​

All fact collectors who have

no aim beyond their facts

are one-story people.

​

Two-story people compare, reason,

generalize, using the labor of

fact collectors as their own.

​

Three-story people idealize,

imagine, predict—their best illumination

comes through the skylight.

Adapted from a quotation by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Open Ended

The poem says:

" Two-story people compare, reason and generalise."

Can you think of three other synonyms for two-story people?

​One- Two- Three-Story Intellect Poem

​

​

There are one-story intellects,

two-story intellects,

and three-story intellects with skylights.

​

All fact collectors who have

no aim beyond their facts

are one-story people.

​

Two-story people compare, reason,

generalize, using the labor of

fact collectors as their own.

​

Three-story people idealize,

imagine, predict—their best illumination

comes through the skylight.

Adapted from a quotation by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Open Ended

Three-story people idealize,

imagine, predict—their best illumination

comes through the skylight.

Can you explain what the poet means in this last stanza?

​On the page, between the lines, beyond the page!

​Learning about and learning to understand the three levels of thinking can be pretty daunting... but I have a cheat sheet for you, or as they say in the USA a crib sheet to help you remember what you need to do.

​

​On the page - Literal/Facts

​Between the lines - Infer/Interpret

​Beyond the page - Imagine/Speculate

​Level 1: Remember

• Define

• Repeat

• Name

• List

• State

• Describe

• Recall

• Memorize

• Label

• Match

• Identify

• Record

​Level 1: Show understanding

• Give examples

• Restate

• Discuss

• Express

• Rewrite

• Recognise

• Explain

• Report

• Review

• Locate

• Find

• Paraphrase

• Tell

• Extend

• Summarise

• Generalise

Multiple Choice

Which one of these is not a level one task?

• Locate the cadastral road on the map.

• Identify the highest point on the topographic map.

• Make a list of key geographic features on the map.

• Evaluate the impact of Covid 19 on the learning of high school students.

Open Ended

Using one of the verbs below, write a level one question or task that you would be given in History or Geography.

Define - Repeat - Name - Locate - Find - Paraphrase

​LEVEL 2: Use your Understanding

​

• Dramatize

• Practice

• Operate

• Imply

• Apply

• Use

• Compute

• Schedule

• Relate

• Illustrate

• Translate

• Change

• Pretend

• Discover

• Solve

• Interpret

• Prepare

• Demonstrate

• ​Infer

Level 2: Examine

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• Diagram

• Distinguish

• Compare

• Contrast

• Divide

• Question

• Inventory

• Categorise

• Outline

• Debate

• Analyse

• Differentiate

• Select

• Separate

• Point out

• Criticise

• Experiment

• Break down

• Discriminate

Level 2: Create

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• Compose

• Design

• Propose

• Combine

• Construct

• Draw

• Arrange

• Suppose

• Formulate

• Organize

• Plan

• Compile

• Revise

• Write

• Devise

• Modify

• Assemble

• Prepare

• Generate

Multiple Choice

Let's test your memory..

 Is this level 1 or level 2?

Interpret the data in the population graph. What can we infer from the information?

• It is a level 2 because the verbs ask us to read between this lines

• It is a level 1 because it asks us to report on statistics and data

Poll

Check in...

Do you think that you are learning things today that will help you as a student in future?