Homework Assignment: Preparing for Your Think-Aloud Mini-Lesson
Homework Assignment: Preparing for Your Think-Aloud Mini-Lesson
“Tackling the Text” 15 points (or 20 points with extra credit)
For this assignment, you will create a short think-aloud lesson (no more than 8 minutes) for 2-3 students who are not experts in reading complex text in your discipline. This will give you practice in designing and carrying out a think-aloud lesson and help you prepare for the think-aloud you will create for your EDC448 lesson plan assignment.
1. Consider the principles of cognitive apprenticeship and making thinking visible. Review the think-aloud models in your Lapp, Fisher, & Grant (2008) reading and note how the authors choose challenging sections of the text, provide a short teacher commentary that models their thinking for students, and then label the thinking/reading strategies they were modeling. You will create a similar chart for this assignment.
2. Locate a challenging text in your discipline OR go to the Curriculum Materials Library and locate a text in your discipline (e.g., primary source, political cartoon, poem, short story, diagram, news event) for Grades 6-12.
a. Locate a 2-page section of text that can be used to address a certain learning objective and standard in your discipline. (Get familiar with the Common Core standards in your discipline).
b. Make 4 copies of the text (one for you and three for your “students”)
3. Identify the learning objective, thinking strategy you will model, CCSS standard, and the guiding question that sets a purpose for reading.
4. To prepare for modeling how you (as an expert in your discipline) “tackle” this text to meet your learning objectives, choose two potential challenges in your text. What’s hard? Where might a reader need support beyond what the text offers? Use the “active reading strategies” ideas for “marking up the text” (see attached) to actively read and mark up the text from your perspective as a teacher in preparation. Select at least one (if not two) different M&MDAVIS strategies that would be useful to help you understand your particular text.
5. Fill in the table on the next page with commentary you might use to model your thinking (in the left column) and identify the reading/thinking strategies [e.g., M&MDAVIS) you were modeling. Besides thinking aloud, show your thinking by marking your text (writing on Post-Its, in the margin, coding text, underlining, etc.)
6. Be prepared to model/teach how you might “tackle the text” in a think-aloud mini-lesson (no more than 8 minutes) to three students. Leave 2 minutes for your students to “notice and name” the particular strategy(s) you used to help you monitor, clarify, and/or deepen your understanding of the text.
7. EARN 5 EXTRA CREDIT POINTS by creating a digital screencast of your think-aloud using Educreations, Noteability, Jing, or another tool of your choice. Use examples on the wikispace to guide your thinking but be creative! See Dr. Coiro if you have questions or would like to borrow an ipad for this assignment.
Remember that a “think-aloud” is different than a “read-aloud”.
Consider the following as you plan and carry out your think aloud. 
“Tackling the Text”
(Download electronic version from wiki to type your response)
Text Title:
Subject and grade level:
Learning Objective:
M&MDAVIS Thinking Strategy you will model:
Common Core State Standard:
Guiding Question:
Type your commentary you would use to help model how you are making sense of something difficult in your reading. Be explicit in your thinking and model tips you would use as an expert reader/thinker/problem solver in your discipline.Don’t be constrained by the term “reading” – consider the higher level thinking skills need to deeply understand the concepts, processes, and/or phenomena in your text. / M&MDAVIS Strategy you modeled
Location #1:
Commentary:
(Remember to mark up your text to illustrate your thinking too).
Location #2:
Commentary:
(Remember to mark up your text to illustrate your thinking too).
**To get credit for this assignment, you must also attach a copy of your marked up text.