Improving the Quality of Think-Alouds

Abstract

The power of effective teacher-generated think-alouds is indisputable. However, teachers often struggle to plan and implement think-alouds in routine classroom instruction. This article breaks down the process of planning effective think-alouds into three easy-to-follow steps.There are many steps between knowing what an effective teaching strategy is and knowing how to do it. The more I prepared and tried out think-alouds, the more confident I became in my knowledge that this was something I both should do and could do.

Interacción entre demanda, proceso y competencia: un análisis cognitivo del constructo del test de comprensión lectora de ELE para sinohablantes

“…Cada participante realiza la verbalización durante entre 40 y 50 minutos en la oficina de la universidad, lugar libre de molestia externa. Esa verbalización introspectiva viene haciéndose el paradigma preferente para acceder a la "caja negra" de la mente humana (Ashraf, Yazdi y Samir, 2017;Ness y Kenny, 2016;Caldwell y Leslie, 2010;Block e Israel, 2004). Tomamos a estos 15 participantes como procesadores de información conscientes, que hagan una mediación consciente de su comprensión y verbalicen de manera simultánea los procesos y estrategias cognitivos.…”

What does an effective teacher of writing do that makes a difference to student achievement?

“…When students needed to be introduced to new or challenging concepts or appeared to be unsure of learning points during active demonstrating, teachers used "think alouds" to demonstrate the concept or point (Ness & Kenny, 2016). While the teacher articulated an inner dialogue about how to solve a writing problem (such as selecting the most appropriate detail or word in a text), students watched and listened in order to be able to transfer the demonstrated skill to their own writing.…”

Supporting Beginning Readers in Reading to Learn: A Comprehension Strategy

“…We found that a highly scaffolded read-aloud / think-aloud process (e.g., Ness & Kenny, 2016) was very helpful when we introduced the strategy to our grade 1 classes. We modeled the use of the strategy repeatedly using very simple informational texts, and we then guided students through other simple informational texts.…”