Process

• The act of reading is invisible, unconscious. Think Alouds make the unseen seen, the unconscious conscious.

• During a Think Aloud, we unpack our thinking as we read by talking out loud about the reading process and our thinking as we engage as a reader.

• Think Alouds expose to the struggling reader the strategies able readers use of which struggling readers are unaware.

• With Think Alouds, we model our thoughts, share the schema, and the strategies one employs while reading.

Strategies to Demonstrate

• Making connections and using prior knowledge

• Questioning while reading and searching for answers

• Predicting 
- What will happen next? 
- What conclusion can be reached? 
- Revising and/or confirming predictions

• Visualizing what is read
- I can see…

• Monitoring comprehension and understanding throughout the reading process 
- This makes/does not make sense because…

• Summarizing and synthesizing

• Interpreting and making inferences

• Evaluating - I like/don’t like this because…

Other Considerations

• Think Alouds should be planned in advance.
- Where to break from the text
- What comment(s) to make

• Comments should be concise, not long-winded.

• You may want to physically change position for the Think Aloud comments and return to original position as the reading continues.

• Focus on one or two strategies in a Think Aloud.

• Don’t break from the text too often – it is important to maintain the flow of the text.