🍎 🛠️ Try our free Discussion Question Generator — generate results instantly, no signup needed.

Here’s what I’ve noticed about reading comprehension questions in most textbooks: they’re boring. “What is the main idea?” “What happened in paragraph 3?” Students answer them on autopilot without actually thinking about what they read.

Creating good reading comprehension questions — the kind that make students genuinely engage with a text — takes real thought and time. Especially when you need them at multiple levels for different readers. AI can generate a full set of questions across Bloom’s taxonomy in minutes, and honestly, the higher-order thinking questions it produces are often better than what’s in the textbook.

The All-Purpose Comprehension Prompt

Prompt:

Create reading comprehension questions for [text title/topic] at a [grade level] reading level. Include:

• 3 recall questions (who, what, when, where)
• 3 inference questions (why, how, what evidence supports)
• 2 analysis questions (compare, contrast, evaluate)
• 1 synthesis question (create, design, propose)
• 1 evaluation question (argue, justify, defend)

Format each with the Bloom’s level labeled. Include answer guidance for the teacher.

This gives you 10 questions spanning all cognitive levels in one prompt. The Bloom’s labels help you quickly select which questions to use for different groups.

Fiction vs Non-Fiction

The question types should differ based on text type.

For fiction, add to your prompt:

Focus questions on: character motivation, theme, author’s craft (word choice, figurative language), plot structure, and point of view.

For non-fiction, add:

Focus questions on: main idea, supporting details, text structure, author’s purpose, vocabulary in context, and evaluating evidence.

Differentiation by Reading Level

This is where AI saves the most time. Instead of writing three sets of questions manually:

Prompt:

Take these comprehension questions and create three versions:

1. Below-level: Simplify vocabulary, add sentence starters for answers, include page/paragraph references where students can find the answer
2. On-level: Keep as written
3. Above-level: Remove scaffolding, add open-ended extension questions, require text evidence in every answer

For Diffit specifically: Paste your text into Diffit and it automatically generates leveled versions of the reading passage itself — not just the questions. This pairs well with AI-generated questions at each level.

Discussion Prompts

Not everything needs to be a worksheet. AI generates strong discussion starters too.

Prompt:

Create 5 discussion questions for [text] that would work for a [grade level] literature circle or Socratic seminar. Questions should have no single correct answer and require students to reference the text. Include one question that connects the text to students’ own experiences.

Quick Activity Ideas

Beyond questions, AI can generate full activities:

Prompt:

Create a 20-minute reading comprehension activity for [text] at [grade level]. The activity should be collaborative (pairs or small groups), require no technology, and produce a visible product (poster, graphic organizer, or written response) I can use for assessment.

Sample activities AI generates well:

• Two-column evidence charts (claim + text evidence)
• Character perspective maps
• “Found poem” activities using key vocabulary from the text
• Before/during/after reading graphic organizers

Tool Comparison

Task	Best tool
Custom questions at specific Bloom’s levels	ChatGPT or Claude
Auto-leveled reading passages	Diffit
Quick comprehension quizzes	MagicSchool
Discussion-based questions	ChatGPT (more creative)
Vocabulary-in-context activities	Diffit

Tips for Quality

Always read the questions yourself first. AI occasionally writes questions where multiple answers could be correct, or where the “correct” answer requires information not in the text.

Match questions to your actual text. If you paste the full text into the prompt, questions will be more specific. If you just give the title, questions will be more generic.

Use AI for the structure, add your own best question. Generate 9 questions with AI, then write the 10th yourself — the one you know will spark the best discussion in your specific class.

Save your best prompts. Create a Google Doc with your go-to comprehension prompts for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama. Reuse them all year with different texts.

Related reading: 7 Best AI Tools for Teachers · 10 ChatGPT Prompts for Teachers · AI for Rubric Creation