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Lesson
Builder: Think Aloud
A Think Aloud is an activity where readers verbalize their internal
thoughts while building an understanding of what they are reading.
This process of figuring out what the text means begins from
the very moment readers pick up a book and glance at its title.
Readers' thoughts might include questions, connections to personal
experiences and past reading experiences, judgments of the author's
writing, as well as thoughts about their lives. Consider the
following leading questions and statements as you prepare to
model a Think Aloud for your students:
When you first approach the text:
- What
does the title mean?
- This
reminds me of…
-
I've heard of this…
- The
title…
- This
author is known for…
Throughout
your reading:
- I
predict that this will be about…
- I
predict that the character will…
- I
am surprised by…because…
- I
am confused by…
- Why
didn't the character….
- I
imagine the character to be like…
- I've
had experiences similar to…I have read something similar
to this before…
- This
type of literature usually…
- What
happened….when….I didn't get it…
- This
is different from what I expected…
- I
originally thought…, but now I think…because….
- I
particularly like the phrase…word….image…
- I
did not understand…
- This
reminds me of …
- This
literature makes me wonder if I made the right decision
when…
- It
must be easy/difficult/interesting to be that character,
because…
-
I would/not want to be that character's friend because…
-
I imagine the town/setting/place/house/etc. to be like….
I think this because….
- Why
did the story turn in that direction or why did the author
choose to shape it that way?
- The
word choices of the author are…
Throughout
your reading:
- My overall opinion/reaction to story/passage is…
- Some points I still did not understand are…
- Some questions/concerns I would like to discuss include…
- Some connections with my own experiences (reading and life experiences) are…
- The
author built a believable story because…
- From this literature, I have learned that…
- This piece makes the following statement about society or culture…
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