Blogs Need a strategy to assist struggling readers with visualization and comprehension? Check out the Think Aloud method—valuable for any grade level!
Video Transcript
Hi, I’m Julie from Learners Edge.
I wanted to share with you today a reading strategy called Think Aloud.
It’s a strategy that I’ve used myself with first grade, third grade and sixth graders. And I found it to be successful in helping kids work on their comprehension of what they’re reading. It engages them and it allows them to visualize what they’re reading, which is especially important at that primary level. So one way that I do this is, I take a book that we’re currently reading.
It might be a read aloud that I’m reading to the students. And I take a particular piece that we haven’t read yet, but they have some prior knowledge about the book itself. So the book today I’m looking at is Little House in the Big Woods. And we’re on to a section called Two Big Bears. And so what I would do with the students is, I start to think aloud with them.
So I’d say when I’m thinking about the two big bears, I’m all the sudden thinking, wait a minute, is Pa going to find some bears when he’s going into the woods hunting? Will Pa get hurt? Are we concerned about the family? What are we picturing? What type of bears do we know? I’ve seen brown bears at the zoo. Maybe it’s a brown bear.
So I’m thinking through all those pieces. And then as I start to read and find out what’s happening, I’m going to think about other things as I’m reading. I’m going to visualize it happening. So Ma and Laura are going out to the barn and they actually are in the middle of a snow storm. And they think that they’re talking to the cow that they own. And that they’re petting the cow, when in reality, Ma ends up petting the bear. And they don’t realize that until they run back into the house.
So what I’m thinking now is, oh, my gosh, what if that had been me. What would I do? I’m thinking about the safety of Pa, Ma, and Laura. So it’s a way to start visualizing in your head and not just reading the words themselves, but to think about and picture, and make sure that you’re engaged in the story along with the read aloud. So with the first graders after modeling that, I would have them go back to a book that they’re comfortable with and that they’ve already read.
And I would ask them to partner up in a group, small group or just with one other student and start to think out loud about what they’re reading. So maybe they read a page to each other, and then they start to think about what are they visualizing in their heads.
Again this helps with engagement, helps with that that visualization. It helps with prediction and especially the comprehension that is so important at that primary level.
Learners Edge is passionately committed to providing you with continuing education coursework, materials, and tools that will help you succeed in your classroom and in your career.
Offering more than 100 print-based or online courses for teachers, you can earn the graduate credit you need for salary advancement and meet your professional development needs. Contact us today to get started!
