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Friday, September 14, 2007

Think Aloud Part I

PD 1

OM: List the things you do in your head while writing.

Handout practice test and graded scantrons. Students corrected answers.

Pd 3 & 7

Reading Strategies

OM: List the things you do in your head while you're reading.

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…
* 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.

I will model these strategies using a picture book after the benchmark exams which begin next week.

Students will bring in their own picture books for Friday, 9/21 when they will practice these strategies with a partner.

Pd 6:

Finish Learning Test Success pre-assessment


Pd 8:

OM: same as pds 3&7

Do Huck Finn questions. Read tips, answer together.