Generating questions is key in the understanding of literature of non-fiction. There are three types of questions listed below. Also listed, are the types of answers that are expected.
Literal Questions: factual and address key issues; the answers are found directly in the text; the answers lead to an accurate and complete summary of the text.
Interpretive Questions: inferential; motive of author or character; answers found by following patterns and seeing relationships among parts of the text; good answers lead to an identification of the significant patterns.
Big Idea Questions: connecting; link text to prior knowledge, other texts, or experiences; answers are found by testing the ideas of a text against readers' schema; good answers lead to an appreciation of the text and further discussion.
Poetry
Miguel Pinero "Bodega Sold Dreams"
Walt Whitman "Mannahatta" and "Broadway"
Susan Scutti "Manhattan"
Mark Doty "Broadway"
Victor Hernandez Cruz "The Lower East Side of Manhattan"
Hart Crane "To Brooklyn Bridge"
Langston Hughes "Harlem" and "Night Funeral in Harlem"
Claude McKay "The Tropics of New York"
