Think Alouds

Tips for Effective Think-Aloud

• Choose a short piece of text.
• Let the text tell you what to do.
• Keep your think-alouds authentic.
• Think like a scientist, mathematician, historian, artist, literary critic
• Tell them what you did.

Choose a short piece of text.

• Focused and well-paced.
• Use a passage of 1-4 paragraphs.
• Model a maximum of two strategies.

Let the text tell you what to do.

• Don't go into a think-aloud cold.
• Read the text several times.
• Make notes about the comprehension strategies you are using.
• These notes will provide the ideas for the content of your think-aloud.
• Annotate the text for you to refer to as you read.

Keep your think-alouds authentic.

• Adopt a conversational tone that mirrors informal language.
• Say: "Hey--when I read this part about chromosomes, right away I see ...
• Rather than: "I was metacognitively aware and activated...
• Ensure that you refer to your annotations to show what you were thinking.
• It's okay to use pictures to draw in your visual learners.

Think Like a Scientist, Mathematician, Historian, Artist, Literary Critic,

• Choose content specific articles
• Show students how you process text through the lens of your content
• Remember your understanding of content text is influenced by your knowledge

RESIST THE URGE TO OVERTHINK!