Questioning--is it the same as critical thinking?

I am so glad that Kylene Beers chose to put the Robert Probst article after Ellin Keene. She had some great ideas, but as I read on, there was something about her tone that felt elite and was turning me off of her ideas about understanding. As I read the Probst chapter, I felt more comfortable with the concept. It amazes me how vocabulary choices can impact the reader so much.

I loved the tools that Probst offered teachers as stepping stones into teaching questioning to the kids. They are user friendly and easy to tier to a variety of reader levels. (I fully plan on using Find the Poem to put my students into their seating charts.) His strategies reminded me of a technique from the Kylene Beers book, When Kids Can't Read, called "Say Something". It is very similar. We tried the say something strategy this year, but it was challenging. I think that using some of Bob's techniques to scaffold to Say Something would be helpful. I agree that questioning and working for understanding are some of the most challenging aspects of reading for my kids.

At times I feel that they lack stamina when reading and that's why they give up, but I am realizing that it is not so much an issue of stamina as it is a lack of knowing that you have to struggle to understand. They feel that struggle means stupidity and they quit before they ever get the reward that comes from struggling.

I think video games would be a good analogy for teaching this. I was watching my son play a new game this weekend. He tried and failed and tried and failed, yet he never quit and I never heard him saying he didn't understand. He did comment that it was hard, yet he kept at it. Once he got it, he knew there would be another challenge coming. Why do kids like to simulate the struggle of learning, but they do not enjoy doing it for real? He was able to analyze his mistakes, question how to fix them and then act on the corrective action. To me, this was critical thinking or creative problem solving. Is there a difference between this and questioning for understanding?