Building Reading Comprehension Through

1. Building Reading Comprehension Through Think-Alouds By: Xenia Stamoudis

2. Purpose “To model for students the thought processes that take place when difficult material is read. Teachers verbalize their thoughts while they are reading orally. Students will understand comprehension strategies better because they can see how the mind can respond to thinking through trouble spots and constructing meaning from text.” Richard T. and Joanne L. Vacca

3. What is it? It is very simple… • You are asking students to say out loud what they are thinking about when they are reading. By doing this you are letting students know they are not alone in having to think their way through the problem-solving process. • As students think out loud, they learn how to learn.

4. Importance and Making it Happen • Think-alouds are used to model comprehension processes such as making predictions, creating images, linking information in text with prior knowledge, monitoring comprehension, and overcoming problems with word recognition or comprehension (Gunning) • Teachers must model appropriate think aloud strategies. Once students are familiar with the strategy, they can be included in the think-aloud process.

5. When reading aloud, stop from time to time and orally complete sentences like these: • So far, I’ve learned… • This made me think of… • That didn’t make sense… • I think____will happen next. • I reread that part because… • I was confused by… • I think the most important part was… • This is interesting because… • I wonder why... • I just thought of…

6. Teacher Modeling Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes "Chrysanthemum wilted. She did not think her name was absolutely perfect. She thought it was absolutely dreadful.” Teacher thinking aloud: "Wilted. Hmm, I know that plants wilt when they don't have water (lean over in the chair as if to be a wilting flower). "Chrysanthemum wilted" must mean that she felt pretty bad about herself and pretty sad. Chrysanthemum is upset about her name because the other students are teasing her". (Teaching point- cause and effect- the students tease her and she no longer likes her name.)

7. Student Practice Pair up and find a short passage to read in one of the following stories: The Three Little Pigs - by Paul Galdone AmeilaBedelia Goes Camping - by Peggy Parish A Chair For My Mother - by Vera B. Williams Matthew and Tilly– by Rebecca C. Jones There is a paper with hints as to what you can focus on. Verbalize your thoughts as you read and share with us. You will have 2-3 minutes to share your think aloud.

8. Use the following links to help you further understand and learn about Think-Alouds: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/building-reading-comprehension-through-139.html http://www.adlit.org/strategies/22735/ http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think_alouds/ http://www.brighthubeducation.com/high-school-english-lessons/7018-you-are-special-think-aloud-lesson-plan/

9. More Links http://www.tantasqua.org/superintendent/profdevelopment/etthinkalouds.html http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1598/RRQ.34.2.4/abstract http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/20201231?uid=3739656&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101110500291 http://www.brighthubeducation.com/elementary-school-activities/6734-examples-of-think-aloud-lesson-plans/?cid=parsely_rec

10. Think-Aloud Videos Reading: http://bit.ly/rmRqKk http://bit.ly/oVaSH1 Math: http://bit.ly/osTUzl http://youtu.be/S3fCoJ5VDtc http://youtu.be/lvQ3INPKhHE

11. Remember… “Think alouds are intended for students to pause reflectively throughout their reading and gain further understanding of concepts and ideas related to the text.”