We watched and discussed a slideshow today called Think Aloud Strategy, which was about the things students should do while they are reading to make sure they are 'constructing meaning'. A few notes were taken. The main parts of the slideshow are as follows:
As students read they should…Tomorrow I will model these strategies using a picture book.
* pause occasionally to think aloud about connections they are making.
* create images or pictures of concepts from the reading.
* recognize when they are experiencing problems in understanding.
* identify ways they see of fixing these problems.
As students use this strategy, they should:
* predict (“I bet that..” or “I wonder if…” or “I think that…”)
* picture the text (“From this part here I can see…” or “I imagine that…”)
* make comparisons (“This reminds me of..” or “This part is like..” or “This is similar to..”)
* monitor their comprehension (“I don’t get this...” or “This confuses me because..” or “This is a difficult part because…”)
* decide how to fix up (repair) comprehension problems (“Maybe I better reread..” or “Maybe I need to keep on reading to see if…” or “I better find out what this word means because..”)
* comment on what they’ve read (“I like this because…” or “This part is sad because..”)
Good readers have a constant dialogue with the text as they read, although they usually do it silently. Think alouds provide struggling readers with a structure on which to build this dialogue; they learn to think about their reading and to monitor what they do and do not understand.
Students will bring in their own picture books for Monday, 9/25 when they will practice these strategies with a partner.
