So I am a major klutz and broke my computer with a few drops of water (let that be a lesson to the world to keep your water bottle at least 100 yards away from your computer). I'm currently writing this on my smartphone so this will mostly need some editting once I fix my computer(please computer Gods let my computer awaken tomorrow morning). Now it's time to get to the real post about my think aloud. I decided to use the same student as I did for my miscued just because I thought she'd be more comfortable with me. I was in luck when I noticed her reading the Hunger Games earlier in the week. I had already read The Hunger Games and was very comfortable with the book. I decided to focus on making predictions mainly because I know that's something her teacher always wants the students doing.
I decided to use the talk through strategy for my think aloud. The student and I took turns reading the story aloud, during this I would pause occasionally to share my thoughts and ideas while encouraging the student to do the same. Once again it took awhile for the student warm up to me but when she said she couldn't stop talking. She had so many ideas yo share which turned into a great discussion about the book. ,in order to focus on predictions, I would occasionally ask her to think about where she thought the story was going and what evidence she had to support her idea. I want to show her that in order to successfully be able to predict she has to have evidence from the text to support her ideas. When we finish reading I provided her paper to write a paragraph about where she thought the story was going while I did the same. I was pleasantly surprised to see her writing enthusiastically. After she was done she shared her prediction and then I shared mine. I asked her after what she thought of the think aloud and was again surprised when she saidthat it made writing her prediction ten times easier. After spring break I will be in charge of teaching half the class a book discussion and after seen the think aloud work so well I can't wait to try it on an even bigger scale.
Doing the think aloud gave me some great insight into my student's mind. We had a very mature discussion about how the book related to the real world. I was proud of her from making connections with her own life, which proves Miller's ideas that by making meaning and connections to the text students will be able to retain more information. She was able to retell most of the story because she felt a connection with the main character and in a way her journey in the book became my student's journey as well. Not only did the think aloud connect with Miller but also with Tovani. This book has become so much more than a book, it's become an adventure (and that's such a powerful tool). I want to incorporate think alouds regularly into my classroom for numerous reasons. I believe they help the student see that teachers do not know everything but they also have questions as well and it models how to process these questions that arise during reading. It also helps promote higher order thinking by prompting so many discussion with the text. I think it would be interesting to do the think aloud with an older grade and use a picture book. Please share your experiences with think alouds-I'd love to know more!
Don't forget to check out the links for Miller's text and Tovani's in previous post
I decided to use the talk through strategy for my think aloud. The student and I took turns reading the story aloud, during this I would pause occasionally to share my thoughts and ideas while encouraging the student to do the same. Once again it took awhile for the student warm up to me but when she said she couldn't stop talking. She had so many ideas yo share which turned into a great discussion about the book. ,in order to focus on predictions, I would occasionally ask her to think about where she thought the story was going and what evidence she had to support her idea. I want to show her that in order to successfully be able to predict she has to have evidence from the text to support her ideas. When we finish reading I provided her paper to write a paragraph about where she thought the story was going while I did the same. I was pleasantly surprised to see her writing enthusiastically. After she was done she shared her prediction and then I shared mine. I asked her after what she thought of the think aloud and was again surprised when she saidthat it made writing her prediction ten times easier. After spring break I will be in charge of teaching half the class a book discussion and after seen the think aloud work so well I can't wait to try it on an even bigger scale.
Doing the think aloud gave me some great insight into my student's mind. We had a very mature discussion about how the book related to the real world. I was proud of her from making connections with her own life, which proves Miller's ideas that by making meaning and connections to the text students will be able to retain more information. She was able to retell most of the story because she felt a connection with the main character and in a way her journey in the book became my student's journey as well. Not only did the think aloud connect with Miller but also with Tovani. This book has become so much more than a book, it's become an adventure (and that's such a powerful tool). I want to incorporate think alouds regularly into my classroom for numerous reasons. I believe they help the student see that teachers do not know everything but they also have questions as well and it models how to process these questions that arise during reading. It also helps promote higher order thinking by prompting so many discussion with the text. I think it would be interesting to do the think aloud with an older grade and use a picture book. Please share your experiences with think alouds-I'd love to know more!
Don't forget to check out the links for Miller's text and Tovani's in previous post
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