Module: Reading As a Tool for Thinking and Learning

Activity 8

Title: Think Aloud

Module: Reading as a Tool for Thinking and Learning

Procedures for conducting the activity:

This strategy is great for allowing students to look inside your head and see how they should be thinking when they read. You will choose a piece of text and make a transparency for the overhead projector. Preview the text by looking at and commenting on the title, any headings, italicized words, etc. Decide what type of text is represented (fiction, non-fiction, poetry). We have provided an excerpt from The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe for you to practice on.
Begin to read the text aloud, stopping to express your thoughts about what you are reading. You might vocalize the following:
Connections to your life, to other texts, or to the world in general
How you derive meanings of unfamiliar words using context
How you use clues to make inferences
Questions you may have for the author
As you think, record words or phrases on the transparency of the text. You will find that as students catch on to what you are doing, they will offer suggestions for what you might write. After you have finished reading the selected text, lead students in a discussion of all the activities your brain went through as you interacted with the text. You might tell them that you have demonstrated is called metacognition - thinking about one's thinking.

Facilitator’s Notes:
For this activity you will use a copy of four stanzas of The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. You will lead participants through the activity as described in the Procedures section. Stress the importance of modeling thinking processes for students. This is also a good strategy to use in math while working a problem on the board or the overhead.

Source or Copyright Information:

The Think Aloud Strategy was explained by the following:
Davey, Beth. "Think Aloud - Modeling the Cognitive Processes of Reading Comprehension." Journal of Reading. October, 1983. pp. 44-47.
Nist, S.L. & Kirby, K. "Teaching Comprehension and Study Strategies through Modeling and Thinking Aloud." Reading Research and Instruction, 25, 1986. pp. 254-264.
Wade, S.E. "Using Think-Alouds to Assess Comprehension." The Reading Teacher, 43, 1990. pp. 442-451.
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Materials:

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe Handout
The Raven Transparency