Read-Aloud/ Think-Aloud Mono… · Think-Aloud 5 ©2007 3 See Appendix A for two sample...

Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud

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R e a d i n g M o n o g r a p h S e r i e s

ISBN # 1-931954-10-0

America’s Choice ®, is a subsidiary of The National Center on Education and the Economy®, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization and a leader in standards-based reform. In the late 1990s, NCEE launched the America’s Choice School Design, a comprehensive, standards-based, school-improvement program that serves students through partnerships with states, school districts, and schools nationwide. In addition to the school design, America’s Choice provides instructional systems in literacy, mathematics, and school leadership. Consulting services are available to help school leaders build strategies for raising student performance on a large scale.

© 2007 by America’s Choice

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R e a d i n g M o n o g r a p h S e r i e s


Introduction 1Benefits and Goals 3Types of Read-Aloud Think-Aloud 5A Possibility for More Advanced Student Readers

Classroom Conversations/ Talk-Alouds 6Teacher Responsibilities 8Student Responsibilities 11An Overview of Read-Aloud/ Think-Aloud 12Plan Your TimeSelect an Appropriate TextRead-Aloud/Think-Aloud Texts and CurriculumRituals and Routines for Read-Aloud/ Think-AloudInterview Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud TextsRead with FluencyModel a Variety of Reading/ Comprehension StrategiesProvide Time for Classroom Conversation/ Talk-AloudProvide Opportunities for ReflectionRe-Read Some Texts or Some Passages


Table of Contents

Thinking Aloud: Modeling Strategies 19Suggestions for Modeling Strategies

Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud with Nonfiction 23Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud Across the Curriculum 24Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud and Book Discussion Groups 26Assessing Student Performance 27A Final Note 28Appendix 29Sample Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud Lessons for Holes

References 33

Read-Aloud/ Think-Aloud

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Reading aloud…is one of the most helpful techniques for improving reading skills and engaging readers of all ages. Hearing the text while looking at it on the page helps many readers process the information more effectively and understand how it should be read. As they listen to the teacher’s emphases and pauses, they see how those accord with the punctuation and structure of the sentence….Reading aloud also develops students’ language sense as they hear the ways words are used, pronounced, and interpreted (Burke 2000, 8).


IntroductionIn a read-aloud/think-aloud session, a proficient and fluent reader reads a text aloud to the whole class. Students follow along with their individual copies of the text. During the read-aloud part of the session, the reader models proficient reading, exposing students to fluent reading: pace, accuracy and expression (pitch, stress and phrasing). In the think-aloud part of the session, the reader also demonstrates the strategies proficient readers use to comprehend the text.

A read-aloud/think-aloud session models for listeners the power of language to inform, communicate, persuade, and entertain.

When texts are read aloud, students are not only exposed directly to a challenging text, but they are also given the opportunity to see an expert reader in action. As proficient readers share strategies used to derive meaning from text, students are provided with models to emulate (Opitz and Rasinski 1998, 49).


2In 1985, the U.S. Department of

Education’s Commission on Reading issued its seminal report, Becoming a Nation of Readers. The report which began by referring to the results of over 100,000 research studies, states “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for success in reading is reading aloud…” (2–3).

Reading aloud to students offers perhaps the most direct method to show them literate behaviors, allow them to immerse themselves in text, and share this immersion with their peers. Pairing the read-aloud experience with demonstrations of thinking aloud allows students to experience not only the performance of reading by an expert but also the processes of reading that are so essential to comprehension.

Proficient readers are metacognitive; they “think about their own thinking during reading” (Keene and Zimmermann 1997, 22). Because they are metacognitive, proficient readers know when they stop understanding what they are reading, and they know what to do to help them get back on track. Any reader who struggles with new or unfamiliar text can lack this perspective. Proficient readers can struggle through new and unfamiliar text. It is vital to teach all students how this process can work for them, how they can learn to understand the signs of comprehension breakdown, and how to employ fix-up strategies to comprehend a text.

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Reading aloud to students offers

perhaps the most direct method

to show them literate behaviors,

allow them to immerse themselves

in text, and share this immersion

with their peers. Pairing the

read-aloud experience with

demonstrations of thinking aloud

allows students to experience

not only the performance of

reading by an expert but also the

processes of reading so essential

to comprehension.

The primary goal of instruction in comprehension should be “to develop a sense of conscious control, or metacognitive awareness, over a set of strategies that [students] can adapt to any text they read” (Dole et al. 1991, 246).

Regular read-aloud/think-aloud sessions and the classroom conversations that follow are crucial to the demonstration and implementation of those strategies essential to comprehension of text. All students should witness the use of these strategies and practice them so that when confronted with difficult text, they will know what to do.

Benefits and GoalsRead-aloud/think-aloud sessions, and the guided classroom conversation/talk- aloud1 that follows, offer a daily opportunity to stimulate interest and pleasure in reading. Through this instructional approach, students are also exposed to the strategies readers use to interact successfully with text (i.e., activating prior or background knowledge, determining importance, asking questions, visualizing, inferring, retelling/summarizing/synthesizing, using fix-up strategies2). As the expert reader (and teacher), you may also want to occasionally illuminate literary elements during a read-aloud/think-aloud for more proficient readers. For instance, you may sometimes wish to think aloud about character development, setting, plot, theme, and imagery — all of which can add to student readers’ deeper comprehension of text.


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1 America’s Choice Ramp-Up to Literacy courses use classroom conversation/talk-aloud to refer to the specific type of discussion that follows a read-aloud/think-aloud session. 2 These strategies are from Anderson and Pearson 1984; Pearson et al. 1992; Keene and Zimmermann 1997. See the Fluency and Comprehension monograph for a more detailed discussion of these strategies.


4The following goals and benefits

can be achieved and reinforced by reading aloud to students. Read-aloud/think-aloud creates an environment where you can:Build background knowledge — an essential ingredient for comprehension

l Create interest in reading

l Provide a proficient reader’s demonstration of fluent reading

l Provide a proficient reader’s demonstration of comprehension strategies

l Improve listening comprehension — a precursor to reading comprehension

l Introduce students to more challenging texts than they might read independently

l Make complex ideas accessible to students

l Introduce students to a variety of genres and authors

l Develop students’ sense of multiple genres and their conventions

l Demonstrate reading for a purpose

l Familiarize students with literary language

l Improve listening vocabulary — this store of words informs speaking vocabulary and reading vocabulary (See the Vocabulary monograph for more information.)

l Build vocabulary of both common and unusual words (See the Vocabulary monograph for more information.)

l Develop students’ knowledge of the syntax of written language — improve students’ understanding of sentence structure and usage

l Develop students’ sense of story

l Develop students’ knowledge of how texts are structured

l Support intertexual and intratextual connections

l Create a community of readers through shared knowledge and experience

l Improve students’ ability to visualize text (adapted from Beers 2003, 197–198; Fountas and Pinnell 1996, 22)

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Types of Read-Aloud/Think-AloudDuring each read-aloud/think-aloud session, a proficient reader reads aloud to students, offering a rehearsed, enthusiastic presentation and sharing strategies for comprehension.

Read-aloud/think-aloud sessions take several forms3 (some of which follow). As the teacher, you are the most frequent reader, but other proficient readers may occasionally read — guest readers, other staff, other teachers, administrators, even parents.

l A proficient reader reads a selected text and the students follow along with their individual copies. The reader pauses occasionally to model strategies used to derive meaning and enjoyment from the text.

l A proficient reader reads a text or portion of a text posted on the overhead projector or duplicated on chart paper, and the students follow along.4

l A proficient reader reads a selected text and the students listen.

A Possibility for More Advanced Student ReadersAfter you have shared several texts through read-aloud/think-aloud, and educated your students on how to approach the sessions, you may want to allow more advanced students to lead a read-aloud/think-aloud. Student-led sessions could take two forms:

l A single student can be the proficient reader. As you do when you read, the student must rehearse reading the text aloud for fluency and must prepare to think aloud about reading strategies.

l You may divide the text into parts that the students rehearse and read to the rest of the class (this is especially effective when reading a play or a movie script or Reader’s Theater script). Having students volunteer to read can be a most enjoyable and productive experience for them, because all students have a chance to participate.


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3 See Appendix A for two sample read-aloud/think-aloud lessons with brief explanations of modeled strategies.4 When every student has a copy of or access to the text, when particular strategies are highlighted, and when there is a specific instructional purpose, you are engaging in shared reading. “Shared reading” is one way of naming the instructional approach many teachers on multiple grade levels use to teach/model reading strategies (or even the writer’s craft when appropriate). Shared reading requires that all students have a copy of or access to the text being read.


6By occasionally allowing students

to read aloud and share the strategies they have found useful, you can add to the tools you use to assess their progress as readers and learners. For less-proficient readers, reading aloud for a performance of some kind, such as Reader’s Theater, could be a positive experience if you allow enough preparation time.

If you decide to implement this option, be sure students are ready for public reading performances. You will know whether students are ready through your work with them in reading conferences and through observation of their independent reading and book discussion group performances. Students will need to prepare for student-led sessions — and you will need to closely supervise their preparation to ensure that what is being modeled is accurate and productive.

Classroom Conversations/ Talk-Alouds An important component that follows the read-aloud/think-aloud is the classroom conversation/talk-aloud. The success of classroom conversation/talk-aloud depends on students’ understanding and using Accountable TalkSM. Accountable Talk is defined as follows:

Talking with others about ideas and

work is fundamental to learning. But

not all talk sustains learning or creates

intelligence. For classroom talk to

promote learning, it must have certain

characteristics that make it accountable.

Accountable Talk seriously responds

to and further develops what others in

the group have said. It puts forth and

demands knowledge that is accurate and

relevant to the issue under discussion.

Accountable Talk uses evidence in

ways appropriate to the discipline (for

example, proofs in mathematics, data

from investigations in science, textual

details in literature, documentary sources

in history). Finally, it follows established

norms of good reasoning. Accountable

Talk sharpens students’ thinking by

reinforcing their ability to use knowledge

appropriately (Resnick 1999, 40).

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l Is this an example of what you mean…?

When you confer with students, guide them toward productive discussion by encouraging them to elaborate on their thoughts and give evidence to support their opinions. If your students’ statements lack validity, you might say something such as, “Okay, I appreciate your opinion, but what part of the text or particular lines led you to think that?” This type of question like this from you affirms the fact that they offered an opinion, but it challenges them to refer back to the text. By listening carefully and responding appropriately to students, you encourage them to use evidence from their reading to support and extend


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Accountable Talk is a vital component in the classroom for building a sense of community. Introduce the norms for constructive conversation early in the year or term and reinforce it periodically with supportive lessons. These norms exemplify the approach to listening and speaking reflected in talking productively. (See the Book Discussion Groups monograph for more information on how to establish and maintain productive book talk in your classroom.) As students learn about and practice these norms, they will be more likely to deal with the problems of communication in a calm and respectful way.

Certain phrases generate accountability and productive book discussion. Teach these phrases so that your students can begin engaging in courteous, helpful conversation as soon as possible. Polite and productive conversation occurs when the following phrases and questions are used:

l I agree with you because…

l Could you say more?

l I agree with the part about…, but I disagree with…because….

l I see it that way because….

l I do not understand what you are saying. Could you say it another way?

Developing the practice

of talking accountably or

productively in your classroom

is a fundamental way to build

student confidence by making

students more responsible for

what they think and how they

share their thoughts.


8their thinking. As students learn these conversational strategies, they will begin to offer more insightful responses. Developing the practice of talking accountably or productively in your classroom is a fundamental way to build student confidence by making students more responsible for what they think and how they share their thoughts.

Helping students employ productive book discussion in and out of the classroom should include teaching them to think about the following strategies for conversation and how to employ the accompanying phrases:

l Involve links to our own lives: “This reminds me of a time when I….”

l Refer to the text, repeatedly: “I said that because in the book, I read….”

l Question or wonder why an author did something: “I wonder why the author….”

l Look at elements of the author’s writing style: “This sentence is a perfect example of the writer’s economic use of language.”

l Involve building on what others say: “What you said makes me think the author….”

l Revolve around the validation of other’s thoughts: “I agree with….” and “When I read that, I thought the same thing and….”

l Encourage speakers to look deeper through appropriate questions: “I did not notice that. Show me what part of the book made you think that.”

When you introduce students to these concepts, ask them to spend some time thinking about how these conversational strategies are connected to comprehension strategies. You may wish to create a chart comparing the above list to comprehension strategies: for instance, “involve links to our own lives” is akin to activating prior or background knowledge and “question or wonder why an author did something” is akin to questioning. Draw parallels between Accountable Talk strategies and the roles students may don to initially participate in book discussion groups. (See the Book Discussion Groups monograph for more information.)

Teacher Responsibilities Read-aloud/think-aloud is an important instructional tool in your daily teaching routine. While reading aloud, you not only teach students how to construct meaning by adapting and adopting various reading strategies, you demonstrate fluent reading and help develop a literate community in the classroom. The enthusiasm and respect you have for authors and their writing will be apparent. Students will discover how much can be learned about a

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topic of interest and how opinions can be strengthened or swayed, and decisions influenced, by a piece of writing. Students should also come to understand the sense of satisfaction and power inherent in sharing texts with others. Read-aloud/think-aloud can also help strengthen students’ writing if you demonstrate writer’s craft in the think-aloud portion of the session. But no matter what types of strategies you highlight, by honoring the time allotted for read-aloud/think-aloud each day, by preparing for readings and discussions, and by establishing and maintaining a climate of respect, you demonstrate the importance and relevance of this activity to all students — from fluent and proficient readers to students who struggle with reading.

Often the difference between proficient readers and less effective readers lies in the fact that proficient readers are not as intimidated by difficulty because they possess strategies that help them make meaning from text (Beers 2003, 15). Read-aloud/think-aloud sessions provide you with an efficient and productive way to show students how to work with difficult text. In fact, read-aloud/think-aloud may be the best way for you to connect with each reader in your class.

[As expert readers, teachers are often]

unaware of all the cognitive, emotional,

and visual processes they enact as they

read. So automatic is their expert reading

that it’s hard for them to grasp the

difficulties of those who most need their

help, those who are least like them, the

kids who are unmotivated to read and

who don’t do it very well. This makes it

hard for us expert readers to teach these

kids who don’t understand why someone

should want to read, much less to set

about doing it in more productive ways.

Think-alouds can provide immeasurable

help. They make us slow down and take

a look at our own reading process. They

show us what students are doing — and

not doing — as they engage in the

reading process and they help students

to take on our expert strategies (Wilhelm

2001, 27).

All students will benefit by your example of expert reading and thinking about reading. It is vital that every student learn about the reading process. Students also need to know how to get all that is possible from a read-aloud/think-aloud session. The rituals and routines of the Readers Workshop will establish guidelines for behavior during read-aloud/think-aloud sessions. You may even need to teach your students how to listen to oral reading. You might ask students to have a pencil and sticky-notes handy during the reading so they


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10can write a question and/or place a sticky-note next to anything they have a question about — or by something they really like and wish to discuss. Asking students to share something significant they learned or liked about a text is an excellent way to validate their growing proficiency in applying reading strategies.

Conduct a model read-aloud/ think-aloud to make sure all of your students understand the activity and why it is important. This model can demonstrate the necessity for close, attentive reading to develop the fluency and comprehension that are hallmarks of proficient readers.

Consider the following tasks before and during the model reading:

l Read the passage aloud several times to discover how you want to deliver it.

l Prepare some strategies you want to demonstrate before your delivery. These can often be suggested by the content or arrangement of the text you have chosen to read, such as helping students visualize particularly difficult or abstract passages.

l Challenge students to watch for specific moments in the text when they could apply a reading strategy.

l Pause briefly and occasionally while you are reading to model your thinking.

l Use the read-aloud/think-aloud to show students how to monitor for meaning, and how this strategy can help them think about and increase their vocabulary as they encounter and learn new words. (See the Vocabulary monograph for a discussion of this and a sample vocabulary lesson using the novel Holes, by Louis Sachar).

l Offer students the opportunity to write down their reactions to the day’s reading in their Reader’s Notebooks (making connections to prior or background knowledge, asking questions, inferring) before responding orally.

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While reading aloud, you not

only teach students how to

construct meaning by adapting

and adopting various reading

strategies, you demonstrate

fluent reading and help

develop a literate community

in the classroom.

l Before starting a read-aloud/think-aloud, every student should have the required materials such as a text, or access to the passages being read, a pencil, sticky-notes, and their Reader’s Notebooks.

l During the reading, students should practice the behaviors they have learned are the rituals and routines that make the Readers Workshop a productive learning experience for all.

l During the reading, students place sticky-notes in the text where they have questions, when they want to talk about something they like in the text, or when you, as the teacher and expert reader, sees an opportunity to apply a reading strategy to deepen comprehension.

Active listening may be difficult for some students. Shorter periods of reading aloud, at first, will allow students to concentrate more fully on the content of the text (what is being read), your fluency (how the text is being read), and comprehension strategies (thinking aloud about how you are comprehending the text).


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l Spend some time encouraging students to talk about the parts of the text that they like best with a small group, partner or large group.

Student ResponsibilitiesLike many instructional approaches, read-aloud/think-aloud should be interactive. But the process of reading to students can lead to silent passivity unless you establish guidelines for participation after the reading, such as whole-class conversation, individual written response, or small-group or partner discussion. Ways of developing Accountable Talk have been discussed previously and in great detail in the Book Discussion Groups monograph. The following suggestions will help your students take responsibility for learning and listening in a read-aloud/think-aloud session:


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You will want to ask students to regularly reflect upon the read-aloud/think-aloud sessions in their Reader’s Notebooks. Here, students may note places in the text that were difficult; places where they made connections to their lives, their world, or another text; or places where they applied other reading/comprehension strategies. They could also record concerns or successes regarding reading aloud and listening. Essentially, students can respond to the reading in multiple ways — all of which will help reinforce the meaning of the text. Encourage students to periodically share their writing with partners, small groups, or even the whole class in the closing meeting. Students can share successes and failures they learned from, ask questions, or recommend strategies that worked for them — all of which can come from their responses and interpretations in their Reader’s Notebooks.

In this way, read-aloud/think-aloud and the conversations that ensue will help make students responsible for their participation in the literate community developing in their classroom.

An Overview of Read-Aloud/ Think-AloudThe list below serves as a general set of guidelines for thinking about how to establish and implement a read-aloud/think-aloud session in your classroom. In this section, you will find additional information to supplement this list: suggested texts and websites, tips on planning, suggestions for selecting texts, a guide to modeling strategies, and so on.

As you plan for and carry out read-aloud/think-aloud sessions, you will want to consider the following:

l Plan read-aloud/think-aloud sessions carefully, including practicing the reading and carefully choosing examples of the strategies you want to emphasize.

l Select an appropriate text to read to students that may present a challenge for the grade level you teach.

l Teach and practice appropriate rituals and routines to establish the read-aloud/think-aloud time period as an integral part of your daily routine.

l Introduce a new text by “interviewing” it.

l Read the text with fluency.

l Model a variety of reading strategies appropriate for the text and your grade level and class.

l Provide opportunities for discussion after the read-aloud/think-aloud.

l Provide follow-up opportunities for students to reflect on the reading through conversation and writing.

l Re-read some sections or passages of a text.

The above suggestions should be used as a general guideline to help you set up and conduct a read-aloud/ think-aloud. In the following sections, you will find more detailed information about pertinent parts of the read-aloud/think-aloud and more tips on how to make this an instructive and effective part of your teaching.

Plan Your TimePlanning ahead allows you to preview a text for potential impediments to comprehension or fluency (Templeton 1997, 352). What may be seen as obstacles can be turned into teaching opportunities. Below are some questions you may want to ask yourself as you are preparing for a read-aloud/think-aloud are:

l What parts of this reading will lend themselves to demonstrating specific habits (reading strategies) of proficient readers?

l What inflection should I adopt to best reflect the text?

l How should I adjust my voice as I read?

l What will be the pace of the reading?

l How else can I prepare for this reading? Are there words, concepts, and language I need to be aware of that my students might not be familiar with? If so, how can I prepare my students for this without disrupting the read-aloud/think-aloud? And how can I elicit student response in the classroom conversation/talk-aloud as a follow-up to the reading?

Finally, practice reading aloud to ensure that the phrasing is correct. If possible, read the passage silently to become more familiar with the content, structure and language. You will also want to estimate how long you will need to read the passage or text you have selected, with pauses for modeling strategies and sharing thinking. When you plan ahead and practice, the text comes alive and is easier for students to understand.


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14l Select texts at the students’ listening

comprehension level (higher than the reading comprehension level). These texts will contain vocabulary, syntactical patterns, and concepts that are more difficult than students would encounter in their independent or shared reading.

l Select texts rich in language and meaning.

l Select texts that represent a variety of genres and authors.

l Select texts that connect to students’ lives.

l Select texts that open new worlds and develop new knowledge for students.

l Select texts that students will want to read again.

Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud Texts and CurriculumIf you teach a Ramp-Up to Middle Grades Literacy or Ramp-Up to Advanced Literacy course, you will find that most of the author and genre studies that are part of each of these courses offer a recommended text for reading aloud. Some of the studies also offer an alternative text.

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A read-aloud/think-aloud should last no more than 15 minutes. When you practice and plan ahead, you will ensure that your plans fit into this timeframe.

Select an Appropriate TextThe choice of text will be based on the goal of the session. The text should be slightly more challenging than students might choose to read independently, but it should be within the range of students’ listening comprehension.

Considerations for book selection include the following:

l Select texts that are part of your required curriculum whenever possible. (Some curricula, such as that for Ramp-Up to Middle Grades Literacy and Ramp-Up to Advanced Literacy courses,5 include a read-aloud/think-aloud text or a suggestion for an alternative read-aloud/think-aloud text).

l Select texts that you and your students will like — texts based on students’ interests (Cooper 1997, 32).

l Select books that provide many opportunities for highlighting multiple habits of proficient readers’ comprehension strategies.

l Select texts that match and challenge students’ language development and conceptual knowledge. A text should use language and concepts that students can understand with some instructional support.

5 Please visit the NCEE website, www.ncee.org, for information on America’s Choice Ramp-Up to Middle Grades Literacy (Year 1 and 2) and Ramp-Up to Advanced Literacy (Year 1 and 2) courses and accompanying professional training.

The key to making a good text selection is that the text should align with whatever you are teaching. For instance, reading a realistic fiction book in Readers Workshop while students are working on a nonfiction report in Writers Workshop would not be a good choice. The read-aloud/think-aloud text should be in the genre that students are writing. Generally, students need to read the genres that they will be required to write. Exceptions might be that a particular idea is important in one genre to help students work as writers in another genre. Carefully considering the read-aloud/think-aloud text alongside the curriculum is a must, no matter what genres or authors you are required to teach for your grade level.

Rituals and Routines for Read-Aloud/Think-AloudThe read-aloud/think-aloud session should occur at the same time, and for approximately the same length of time, every day. The guidelines that you establish as a part of your classroom rituals and routines will help your students become organized and adopt appropriate behaviors for this part of the Readers Workshop. (See the Rituals Routines and Artifacts monograph for more information.)

Interview Read-Aloud/ Think-Aloud TextsInterviewing a text prepares students for what they are about to hear. It allows them to anticipate what they will find as the reading begins. The interview before reading is an important step that students need to learn for future independent reading. It can be a powerful comprehension tool for helping students understand how to predict and then confirm/adjust those predictions.


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More Tips for Selecting Texts for Read-Aloud/Think Aloud

Several good resources exist for finding appropriate books for read- aloud/think-aloud. Included below are books and websites with reading lists:

Books:

Freeman, J. 1990. Books Kids Will Sit Still For. New Providence, NJ: Bowker.

Freeman, J. 1995. More Books Kids Will Sit Still For. New Providence, NJ: Bowker.

Hahn, M.L. 2002. Reconsidering Read-Aloud (pages 23–32). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Robb, L. 2000. Teaching Reading in Middle School (pages 190–198). New York, NY: Scholastic.

Websites:

The American Library Association www.ala.orgparents

Reading Is Fundamental Reading List www.udel.edu/ETL/RWN/ReadingLists.html#rif

The New York Public Library “On–Lion” Recommended Reading List www.nypl.org/branch/kids/reading/recommended.cfm


16To model how to interview a text,

do what you do when you consider reading a book. Examine the cover and make predictions about the story based on the photography, drawings or cover design. Turn to the inside of the front cover to see if there is a blurb or an excerpt. Turn to the inside of the back cover to read the author’s biography. Explain to your students why you think the publisher included this information, and discuss how that background information helps you form an initial impression of the text. Does the text interest you because you are familiar with this author’s work or with books on this topic?

Interview a text every time you begin a new book in read-aloud/ think-aloud.

Read with FluencyThis is an opportunity for your students to hear an expert read a text. It is important not to underestimate the importance of modeling fluency and comprehension strategies. Students need to hear text read by fluent readers as they make strides to improve and practice their own fluency in reading.

And demonstration of comprehension strategies through thinking aloud is vital to students’ metacognitive growth as readers. Together, fluency and comprehension modeling and practice work help students become more successful readers.

During your planning, read through the text to determine the best pace, to become familiar with all the vocabulary, and practice expression (pitch, stress and phrasing). This preparation will allow you to convey the text as completely as possible to your student audience. Modeling expert fluency gives students an ideal to aspire to, aids in comprehension, and helps keep audience attention. (See the Fluency and Comprehension monograph for more information on fluency and modeling fluent reading.)

Model a Variety of Reading/ Comprehension StrategiesWhen you pause during reading aloud to model reading strategies, you are thinking aloud about the ways you make meaning in a text, the way you “get the meaning.” It is important to model the strategies proficient readers use when they read text. Students need to hear and see what this looks like in order to learn how the strategies

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work, what it feels like to use them, and how they might be employed in various situations. Plan when to pause for modeling strategies/thinking aloud. Avoid stopping randomly and too often. Sustain the momentum and keep the reading focused. For more information on modeling reading strategies, see the section in this monograph titled “Thinking Aloud: Modeling Strategies.” (Also see the Fluency and Comprehension monograph for more details on modeling comprehension strategies.)

Provide Time for Classroom Conversation/Talk-AloudComprehension of text is improved when students have the opportunity to discuss the books that are read to them, books they may later re-read. Students need many chances to demonstrate their understanding of texts read aloud, to ask questions, to hear others’ opinions, and to participate in conversations. In discussion of texts read aloud, guide students to make connections to other texts that have been read or connections to their own lives. Encourage conversation about the writer’s craft or lead a discussion

of the information found in the text. (See the Book Discussion Groups monograph for details about whole-group and small-group discussion options that might be useful for a post-read-aloud book discussion.)

Provide Opportunities for ReflectionAs students have the opportunity to listen to texts being read aloud, they can come to realize that they, too, have important stories to tell or information to share. This extends the connection between reading, writing, and life beyond the text, beyond the classroom. Oral responses to texts read aloud provide models for the kinds of responses students will need to make independently, and later, in their writing and beyond (Taberski 2000, 81).

For students to absorb the rhythm of language and the meaning of texts, they need time to reflect upon the reading. Ending the read-aloud/think-aloud session with a classroom conversation/talk-aloud session gives students the opportunity to clarify moments in the text that were obscure or difficult, to talk about how character is revealed by the author, and how they might have applied certain reading strategies to the passages read. Consequently, this conversation deepens comprehension.


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18Written reflection is also crucial

to understanding texts. Returning to the text to write in response to specific passages or sections allows students to process the information in a slower, more thoughtful way. With your guidance, students can also discern the writer’s craft and begin to ask how and why an author uses a particular strategy. These writer’s craft techniques can then be employed by students in their own writing. To

facilitate a written response to a text, students should return to the text to support their responses. Each time students return to a text, they will notice new features and perceive new ideas — their comprehension can also be strengthened. Follow-up response opportunities should be structured to guide students in their reflective thinking about the text, whether the response is oral or written.

Re-Read Some Texts or Some PassagesPeople re-read certain texts or parts of texts because they love the language, the story, and/or the characters or information in a text. Memorable writing provides readers with a carefully drawn sense of place and precise mood or detailed and relevant information.

Re-reading texts also provides a way to practice reading strategies and enhance comprehension. Each time students encounter a familiar text, they can discover something new about it. As they learn more about a story or a subject, they can make deeper connections between what they already know and what they are learning (the reading strategy of activating prior or background knowledge). By gaining more knowledge and making more connections, students build the conceptual knowledge necessary for academic and lifelong success as readers.

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Ending the read-aloud/think-

aloud session with a classroom

conversation/talk-aloud session

gives students the opportunity

to clarify moments in the text

that were obscure or difficult,

to talk about how character

is revealed by the author, and

how they might have applied

certain reading strategies to the

passages read. Consequently,

this conversation deepens

comprehension.

how you use what you already know to help you understand what you are reading.

l Determining importance

With both fiction and nonfiction, emphasize to students that not all information is important. Emphasize that readers cannot remember everything they read, and therefore must select carefully what they will pay close attention to. Model how you select what is most important in fiction and nonfiction. To do this, consider using sticky-notes to emphasize important information in the text.

As you read, ponder whether passages are important or not. After the reading, discuss whether the passages were indeed important and why or why not.

l Asking questions

There are various reasons readers ask questions of their reading. Some of these reason include the following:

Thinking Aloud: Modeling StrategiesThinking aloud provides you with an opportunity to share your reading process with your students, the chance to demonstrate how a proficient reader thinks about a text and ensures comprehension. The most important point to remember about thinking aloud is that reading strategies should be taught directly (introduced through lessons that explain strategies in detail). You should then monitor students to ensure that they apply what they are learning. Monitoring can be done through reading conferences and by checking entries in students’ Reader’s Notebooks.

The reading strategies that you will model by thinking aloud can include:6

l Activating prior or background knowledge7

Proficient readers call upon prior knowledge or schema to bridge the gap between known and unknown information. At appropriate times during the reading, demonstrate


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6 This list includes the seven habits of proficient readers, which are, in essence, reading/comprehension strategies. There are many other learning strategies you can teach to help students improve comprehension and fluency. See the Rituals, Routines and Artifacts monograph for a discussion of other strategies. 7 These comprehension strategies — the habits of proficient readers — are adapted from Anderson and Pearson 1984; Pearson et al. 1992, Keene and Zimmerman 1997.


20◆ To clarify meaning

◆ To speculate about text yet to be read

◆ To determine an author’s style, content or format

◆ To locate a specific answer in a text or consider rhetorical questions inspired in the text (Keene and Zimmermann 1997, 119)

The demonstration for applying this strategy that you provide will help students ask and answer questions — by going back to the text, by discussing questions with others, by seeking information elsewhere, by talking about questions to find answers together, or by reflecting on the reading by asking and answering questions in written form.

l Visualizing

Few reading experiences are more powerful than the development of vivid images in a reader’s mind. Expert and experienced readers

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“spontaneously and purposefully create mental images while and after they read…images emerge from all five senses, as well as the emotions, and are anchored in a reader’s prior knowledge” (Keene and Zimmermann 1997, 141).

Proficient readers often envision what is going on in a scene. They use their imaginations to see, hear, smell, feel, and even taste what is being described. Powerful images may also be created figuratively, through the use of similes, metaphors, personification, etc. Help students become sensitive to imagery by emphasizing word pictures while reading aloud. Connecting the sensual with the verbal will give students a deeper understanding for remembering what they have read.

l Inferring

Making inferences from text involves accessing prior knowledge and clues from the text to draw a

conclusion or gain an insight. To model making an inference, pause during a reading and talk about what you assume is being left out or implied, and what information in the text or in your experience makes you believe that information is missing.

For example, in Louis Sachar’s Holes, the warden of the boy’s prison camp orders the boys to dig holes, daily, in a dried lake bed. The warden states that digging the holes builds character, but she seems to have another, more personal, perhaps even nefarious reason, for excavating the lake bed. Although Sachar does not reveal the warden’s motive until later in the book, a reader could infer that the warden is looking for something important that is buried there.

l Re-telling, summarizing and synthesizing

Re-telling is restating the story using details and basic facts in the order they appear in the text.

Summarizing recounts the gist or essence of the text and is a quick and useful way to check a student’s understanding of what has been read (Pearson et al. 1992, 163).

When readers synthesize material, they continually revise and update inferences and

predictions that lead to a new and unique understanding of the text. Synthesis “is the process of ordering, recalling, retelling, and recreating into a coherent whole the information with which our minds are bombarded every day…[it] is about organizing the different pieces to create a mosaic, a meaning, a beauty, greater than the sum of each shiny piece (Keene and Zimmermann 1997, 169).

When readers synthesize, they put the re-tellings or summaries together to understand or even discover connections to larger concepts, themes or ideas.

l Using fix-up strategies

When proficient readers are stuck, they have a number of strategies to repair broken-down comprehension. Self-monitoring and self-correction are important parts of fix-up strategies.8 Re-reading is one strategy but it is only the beginning (Tovani 2000, 50).


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8 For a detailed treatment of all the reading/comprehension strategies, including fix-up strategies, see the Fluency and Comprehension monograph.


22The following are possible fix-up strategies:

◆ Make a connection between the text and your life, your knowledge of the world, or another text

◆ Make a prediction

◆ Stop and think about what you have read

◆ Ask yourself a question and try to answer it

◆ Visualize

◆ Retell what you have read

◆ Notice patterns in text structure

◆ Notice words and word structures

◆ Adjust your reading rate by slowing down or speeding up (adapted from Tovani 2000, 51)

Suggestions for Modeling StrategiesStudents will benefit from and may even enjoy hearing the various ways you derive meaning and sustain interest in a text. As you conduct the read-aloud/think-aloud for a text, your approach should adjust according to your students’ needs.

The following tips can supplement all you have already learned about modeling reading/comprehension strategies during read-aloud/think-aloud. The following tips can be used throughout the term or year:

l Explain that this is a time when you share your process for gaining meaning from a text and that you will not always set aside time for such a lengthy discussion after the selected reading is finished for that day.

l Pause and think aloud two or three times in a 10- to 15-minute read-aloud.

l Start with activating prior or background knowledge, beginning with personal connections, then move to text-to-world connections, then text-to-text. (The next strategy to model could be visualizing — it can be a productive second strategy to follow-up activating prior or background knowledge.) By starting with self-to-text connections, you will show students how to connect to a text, without which bonds between a reader and text will rarely form.

l Spend time modeling each strategy (even a few weeks per strategy might be worthwhile in some cases).

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l You may integrate two strategies, such as visualizing and inferring, in the same read-aloud/think-aloud once students have a clear understanding of each one. In some situations, you will only want to emphasize one strategy per session over many sessions. For instance, determining importance may be a difficult concept for some students, and you may find yourself having to return to modeling this strategy repeatedly.

l Repeat strategies and thinking aloud in each session and over time, if students express confusion.

l After the read-aloud/think-aloud, take a minute to explain why you used the strategy you modeled. This can be done prior to the larger classroom conversation/talk-aloud. If you are working on the same strategy for several weeks, offer repeated explanations. Confirm in a follow-up conversation that students can explain why the strategy is beneficial (adapted from Robb 2000, 189–190).

Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud with NonfictionAlthough nonfiction can be difficult for some students to read, or may not be a favorite for some students, it is essential for all students to master. Students will learn from nonfiction texts — especially in textbook format — throughout their academic careers and their lives. Nonfiction often lacks the entertainment, engagement, and suspense of fiction. It also employs difficult visual aids such as pie charts, graphs, and timelines that may be new to students. For these reasons alone, it is important to include nonfiction texts as a part of your reading aloud agenda. Students need proficient demonstrations of the strategies involved in understanding nonfiction.

Standards or features of nonfiction often make the information in the text more accessible. Before reading, through interviewing the text, familiarize students with these supportive features (table of contents, indices, appendices, maps, charts, tables, figures, photographs, diagrams, glossaries, and graphs) that often expand and explain the content. Teach students how to use all these features.

In preparing to read a nonfiction text aloud to students, preview the book to plan the reading. Some


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24nonfiction incorporates the elements of fiction (suspense, careful plotting, characterization, and dense detail) to engage readers. Other nonfiction texts are collections of the same type of information about a category of things. Reading nonfiction texts with varying formats to students and modeling strategies for comprehension help support the students’ independent reading of such texts.

At the start of the first nonfiction read-aloud/think-aloud session, ask students questions to determine what they know about the topics contained in the reading. The answers to your questions will help you understand what they will need the most assistance with. Unless their understanding of topics and concepts is completely erroneous, make the

students’ initial statements and explanations the basis for modeling specific strategies and teaching new information during the first and subsequent read-aloud/think-aloud.

Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud Across the CurriculumStudents encounter a vast amount of challenging information in disciplines across the curriculum. Reading aloud and thinking aloud and the conversations that ensue provide excellent ways to introduce students to difficult subject matter and discipline-specific formats and text structure. You may be able to coordinate your curriculum with those of colleagues in other disciplines so that what you read aloud can support student work in your class and enhance students’ comprehension of content material in other courses.

Enlightening and entertaining text that enhances the study of science, mathematics, social studies, music, art, and even physical education are becoming more prevalent. Anne Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, for example, takes a microscopic look at stream ecology in a fascinating

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Reading nonfiction texts with

varying formats to students

and modeling strategies for

comprehension help support

the students’ independent

reading of such texts.

and highly personal way. Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels brings the Battle of Gettysburg to life by making the heroes come alive as deep and intriguing characters. Collin Fletcher’s The Thousand-Mile Summer and The Man Who Walked Through Time demonstrates how physical stamina and incredible organization make hiking in the canyonlands of the western United States a joyous and redemptive experience. Katherine Neville’s novel The Eight involves the search for a mathematical equation that will result in a formula for immortality.

Judy Richardson’s book Read It Aloud! Using Literature in the Secondary Content Classroom provides an annotated list of superior read-aloud literature from every discipline and offers suggestions on how to use them in the classroom.

Richardson’s criteria for choosing great selections for reading aloud for subject areas should apply in Readers Workshop as well.

l The selection should “tie reading to pleasure, not pain” (Chandler 1997, 107). Your students should enjoy hearing the selection so much that

that they will want to finish it on their own.

l The selection should encourage discussion and application of content material.

l The selection should make the content “come alive.”

l The selection should encourage further reading (Richardson 2000, 4–5).

Reading aloud and thinking aloud should be part of teaching for every subject. Until that is a reality, coordinating reading aloud and working on specific genres in your class with content in other courses can be a productive way to help students find literacy success across the curriculum and beyond the curriculum.


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26

Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud and Book Discussion GroupsBook discussion groups and book clubs can be key extensions of the read-aloud/think-aloud. Book discussion groups are small groups, up to five students, formed to talk about texts the students are reading. Group members usually choose their own books and meet during Readers Workshop as often as possible. Book clubs are groups of students who get together in or out of class to discuss texts. Book clubs can be formed to focus on particular genres or authors, whatever the student members decide. Students from many classes may join a book club that meets at lunch or after school, but if the members are all from the same class, members may also meet during Readers Workshop. The structure for book clubs can be much less formal than book discussion groups, because book clubs are not necessarily part of the Readers Workshop. The book club is not a substitute for the book discussion group, but it can be a supplement to any reading students do in the classroom. The book club extends the students’ opportunities for reading and interacting with others. (For a

detailed description of book discussion groups and book clubs see the Book Discussion Groups monograph.)

You plant seeds for student-led book discussion groups during whole-class conversations (classroom conversation/talk-aloud) following a read-aloud/think-aloud session. The whole-class conversations that stem from your reading and thinking aloud serve as models for productive book talk that students can apply for discussing books in smaller groups. Small-group and individual-reading conference conversations can also help support the best book discussion practices. With skillful guidance during all these activities, students can learn to listen actively and talk accountably with each other.

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Assessing Student PerformanceRead-aloud/think-aloud is an instructional approach for teaching many important components of reading (and writing) success: vocabulary, comprehension strategies, fluency, features of text, text structures, and writer’s craft. Assessing student progress can be done by listening to the content of the conversations that follow reading aloud and thinking aloud, by observing and assessing the follow-up activities students complete in response to read-aloud/think-aloud, and by paying close attention to the focus of student discussions as they develop the habits of productive (or accountable) talking about books.

Look for evidence of comprehension, recognition of the features of a genre, understanding of writer’s craft, and the ability to compare and analyze texts. Observe the interpersonal skills that are necessary for discussion, such as the ability to disagree politely or the ability to restate one’s ideas to make a point clearer to the listener. Record evidence of meeting or working toward meeting the standards of speaking and listening. Finally, assess the work students complete in direct response to a read-aloud/think-aloud session. These responses may take the form of Reader’s Notebook entries, such as a re-telling or a summary.

Evaluate the responses and record the evaluations as anecdotal records. You may also want to assess a student’s comprehension of a read-aloud/think-aloud session during a reading conference. (See the Reading Conferences monograph for more details on conferring with individuals or small groups.)


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Reading aloud and thinking

aloud should be part of

teaching for every subject.


28

A Final NoteIncorporating read-aloud/think-aloud and the follow-up classroom conversation/talk-aloud into your classroom gives you the opportunity to create a classroom environment that promotes proficient reading habits and fosters lifelong readers. By modeling articulate, fluent, and enthusiastic reading aloud, by encouraging students to practice reading strategies, and by inviting proficient readers in the community to model reading aloud, you challenge students to go beyond what they know. By making language and ideas come alive through read-aloud/ think-aloud, you are demonstrating for students the value of reading and writing, the importance of fluency and comprehension, and the benefits of literacy. And by showing students that reading aloud can be a strategy to help them in all subjects, you give them a powerful tool they can employ throughout their academic careers.

It is not by chance that this instructional approach is widely practiced and praised:

In the literacy-rich classroom of an artful teacher, read-aloud is not a discrete activity. It is deeply embedded in teaching and learning throughout the day, the unit, or the year. Each book is thoughtfully chosen to support the skills the students are acquiring in their own reading, their own writing, or their own thinking and learning….To describe read-aloud in a literacy-rich classroom is to describe one strand in a tapestry of teaching in which read-aloud is woven into the classroom community, the reading and writing workshops, and the teaching that is part of every classroom event (Hahn 2002, 3).

When you implement read-aloud/think-aloud in your classroom, you share a powerful instructional approach with your students; you teach them how to go beyond their comfort level; you show them what it is to be a proficient, fluent reader; and you give them the opportunity to become successful readers. Ensuring that every student leaves your classroom with tools to become highly literate is among the most important goals of English language instruction.

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Appendix

Sample Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud Lessons for HolesThe following is a sample read-aloud/think-aloud lesson and classroom conversation for Louis Sachar’s novel Holes. Subsequent real-alouds/think-alouds and classroom conversations/talk-alouds, for each text selection in middle and high school, follow this format.

Remember to make only a few, carefully considered stops for modeling so that your students will remain engaged in the story and eager for the next installment. At the beginning of the term or year, you will want to focus on only one reading/comprehension strategy per read-aloud/think-aloud period. Later in the year/term, you will be able to model more than one strategy per session. For more proficient readers, you may be able to do this sooner, as well as model thinking aloud that more explicitly deals with literary devices rather than literacy issues.

Part 1 of this sample lesson is the type of introduction you will want to use to prepare students for reading any text aloud. Part 2 is a read-aloud/think-aloud session. It is offers three examples of how to model strategies. These examples are meant as samples only — illustrating ways in which you can incorporate modeling (thinking aloud) into reading aloud. You should always introduce a new strategy by

modeling only one strategy per session, and you should always begin the year/term by modeling only one strategy per session, especially for readers who struggle.

Sample Lesson 1 — Part 1: Holes9

l Preparing for a Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud

Distribute copies of Holes and interview it with your students. Examine the cover drawings and make predictions about the story based on the illustrations. Read the blurb on the back cover and talk about what might interest or intrigue you about the story. Read the author’s profile if there is one (often found on the inside back cover). Look at the table of contents to see whether there are clues about


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When you implement read-aloud/

think-aloud in your classroom,

you share a powerful instructional

approach with your students; you

teach them how to go beyond their

comfort level; you show them what

it is to be a proficient, fluent reader;

and you give them the opportunity to

become successful readers.


30the book there as well.

Initiate a classroom conversation by asking students for some of their predictions. Then create a chart titled “First Impressions of Holes.” Use this chart to continue and deepen the conversation. Students can check this chart later (after the first reading) to see which first impressions were correct and which need adjustment (then make those adjustments). Be sure to ask for assumptions about what the title might mean. List these assumptions/predictions on the chart for reference after the initial reading.

Sample Lesson 1 — Part 2: Holes

l Read-Aloud/Think-Aloud

Begin reading Holes on page 3. Read through page 4.

Model: Activating prior background knowledge (schema)

Make a text-to-self connection by saying something such as the following:

Stanley’s arrival at Camp Green Lake reminds me of my first day at summer camp when

I was eleven. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m really freaked out by reptiles and insects:

snakes, lizards, scorpions. This yellow-spotted, creepy thing in the text — I don’t like it.

On my first day of camp, a little garden lizard got into our cabin, and I thought I would pass

out. I jumped up on the bed and screamed bloody murder. Some of the other girls in the cabin

were frightened, but none as badly as I was. The whole two weeks at camp, my nickname was

“Screamy.” I got used to the nickname, but I never got used to the lizards.

I’ve just recalled some prior knowledge about camp that helps me relate to Stanley’s situation.

Really good readers who want to get the most out of their reading will often use prior knowledge

to help them get into the story, relate to the characters, and picture the setting. Thinking back to

how I felt at camp, I can truly say I know how Stanley feels.

Read on through page 11, except for the last line on the page.

Model: Questioning

After reading say something such as the following:

Good readers ask themselves questions as they read. Here are a couple of questions that occur to me as I read this section:

© 2007

9 See the Vocabulary monograph, secondary level, for a vocabulary/word study based on the first few chapters of Holes.

What does the story about Stanley’s great-grandfather’s being robbed and stranded in the desert

by Kissin’ Kate Barlow have to do with Stanley and his situation? Maybe the author is saying

that Stanley’s survival will depend on his ability to adapt to his surroundings with very little help

from anyone or anything. What does Kissin’ Kate have to do with anything? I know good authors

sometimes throw in odd things that don’t seem to fit into books to make readers ask questions

and make predictions. Maybe Kissin’ Kate is related to the area around Green Lake in some way.

Maybe she’s an ancestor of someone at Green Lake. Now that would be a coincidence.

Please notice that I’m not able to answer every question that occurred to me right now. But I’ll see

if I can answer them later.

Read on through page 15.

Model: Visualization

After reading say something such as the following:

Really good writers create such vivid pictures that good readers can see — or visualize — those

pictures clearly. That’s what happens to me when I read this section.

Listen to this sentence again: “Stanley could see some of the kids dressed in orange and carrying

shovels dragging themselves toward the tents.” What I see are a bunch of dirty, dusty, thirsty boys

slowly shuffling along in a pack, with a few straggling behind. They look beaten and tired. Their

orange, prisoner-looking outfits don’t fit very well and are probably hot. I see the wavy lines of the

horizon off in the distance to show just how hot and miserable this place is. I imagine Stanley

with a look of horror and fear after Mr. Sir tells him he’d better get used to being thirsty.

What I’m doing is visualizing what is going on at the end of Chapter 4. This way I can remember

Stanley’s first reactions to arriving at Camp Green Lake.

Note: These examples are meant as samples only — illustrating ways in which you can incorporate modeling (thinking aloud) into reading aloud. You should always introduce a new strategy by modeling only one strategy per session, and you should always begin the year/term by modeling only one strategy per session, especially for readers who struggle.


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32l Classroom Conversation/Talk-Aloud

This conversation/talking time should be prompted by the kind of strategy you modeled while reading aloud. The conversation can begin by creating and adding to a chart. The above samples offer various strategies for thinking aloud (they would not normally be used in the beginning of a term or when first introducing a strategy). In a situation where only one strategy is modeled, you should begin the conversation with a review of the strategy, how and where you modeled it, and solicit student response to the strategy with questions such as:

◆ Did you find other places in the text where you applied this strategy? Where?

◆ Did this help you comprehend the text better? How?

◆ Does this strategy make sense to you now? How so?

◆ If this strategy does not make sense to you, can you say why not?

After discussing your use of a particular strategy in thinking aloud (and in this particular sample case), you could extend and deepen the conversation by taking your students back to the “First Impressions of Holes” chart. You may, as a whole group, determine which first impressions were correct and which require adjustment. Remind students that proficient readers constantly predict and adjust their predictions to stay connected to and understand the text.

If you chose to continue this conversation, you might find that talking about students’ first impressions of the book might lead to more thinking and talking about the way the book is written (chapter length, character development, etc.). Additional conversation might prompt the creation of another chart called “Major Features of Holes,” which you can return to on a regular basis during this part of the daily routine (for as long as you are reading Holes).

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ReferencesAnderson, R.C., and P.D. Pearson.

1984. A schema-theoretic view of basic processes in reading comprehension. In Handbook of Reading Research, P.D. Pearson, ed. New York, NY: Longman.

Beers, K. 2003. When Kids Can’t Read — What Teachers Can Do. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Burke, J. 2000. Reading Reminders. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Chandler, K. 1997. The Beach Book Club: Literacy in the “lazy days of summer.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 41: 104–115.

Cooper, J.D. 1997. Literacy: Helping Children Construct Meaning, 3rd, ed. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.

Dillard, A. 1998. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Dole, J.A., G.G. Duffy, L.R. Roehler, and P.D. Pearson. 1991. Moving from the old to the new: Research on reading comprehension. Review of Educational Research 61 (2): 239–264.

Fletcher, C. 1989. The Man Who Walked Through Time. New York, NY: Knopf.

Fletcher, C. 1989. The Thousand-Mile Summer. New York, NY: Knopf.

Fountas, I.C., and G.S. Pinnell. 1996. Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hahn, M.L. 2002. Reconsidering the Read-Aloud. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Keene, E., and S. Zimmermann. 1997. Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Neville, K. 1990. The Eight. New York, NY: Random House.

Opitz, M.F., and T.V. Rasinski. 1998. Good-bye Round Robin: Twenty-five Oral Reading Strategies. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Pearson, P.D., et al. 1992. Developing expertise in reading comprehension. In What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 2nd, ed. Samuels, S.J., and A.E. Farstrup, eds. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Resnick, L. 1999. Making America smarter: A century’s assumptions about innate ability give way to a belief in the power of effort. Education Week (June 16): 38–40.

Richardson, J. 2000. Read It Aloud: Using Literature in the Secondary Content Classroom. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Robb, L. 2000. Teaching Reading in Middle School. New York, NY: Scholastic.


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34Sachar, L. 1998. Holes. New York, NY:

Dell Yearling.

Shaara, M. 1996. The Killer Angels. New York, NY: Ballantine.

Taberski, S. 2000. On Solid Ground: Strategies for Teaching Reading K–3. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Templeton, S. 1997. Teaching the Integrated Language Arts, 2nd. ed. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.

Tovani, C. 2000. I Read It, but I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

U.S. Department of Education. 1985. Becoming a Nation of Readers. Urbana, IL: The National Council of Teachers of English.

Wilhelm, J. 2001. Improving Comprehension with Think-Aloud Strategies. New York, NY: Scholastic.

© 2007

In This Series

Book Discussion Groups

Fluency and Comprehension

Independent Reading


Reading Conferences

Rituals, Routines and Artifacts

Vocabulary

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