Learning Log: Chapter 7

Vacca, Vacca, and Mraz (2011) discussed five basic steps when using think-alouds.  The first is to select passages in a text to read orally that include particular points of difficulty, ambiguities, contradictions, or unknown words.  Next, have students follow silently and listen to the teacher as the text is being read and think-alouds are being modeled.  Then students can with in pairs to practice this strategy.  Students should then work independently.  And lastly, think-alouds should be integrated into other lessons and think-alouds should be continued to be modeled as appropriate (Vacca, et al., 2011).  Frequently, I've used think-alouds while teaching and found the strategy to be very effective for the young students I've taught over the years.  With think-alouds, students are able to know what you are thinking about while reading and why.  I've always used think-alouds to some extent every single day of teaching.  I've used the K-W-L strategy as well, and that too has worked well.  I don't use it as frequently.

References 

Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J. L. & Mraz, M.  (2011). Content area reading: literacy and learning across

the  curriculum. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.