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Think Big with Think Alouds
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Think Big with Think Alouds
A Three-Step Planning Process That Develops Strategic Readers

Foreword by Douglas Fisher

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August 2017 | 280 pages | Corwin

I’m guessing that those two are planning a surprise. . . . The author keeps mentioning the storm because she wants us to think that the character’s upset. . . . Wait—yikes, I gotta go back and reread because I’m not getting this part. . . .

These are the flickering thoughts of a strategic reader. If only we could bottle all these mental moves and pour them into the minds of our students, then readers’ achievement would grow exponentially. In Think Big With Think Alouds, Molly Ness delivers a process that comes close to bottling that magic.

Molly spent a year researching teachers’ think alouds, and she uses these findings to help you know just what to do. The big time-saver? You focus on just these five strategies: asking questions, making inferences, synthesizing, understanding the author’s purpose, and monitoring and clarifying. Select the one or two strategies that align to your text, and get ready with a stack of sticky notes! Grab a pencil, and you are on your way to dynamic lessons using Molly’s three-step planning process:

Read Once: Go wild, putting a flurry of sticky notes on spots that strike you

Read Twice: Whittle your notes down to the juiciest stopping points 

Read Three Times: Jot down what you will say so there’s no need to wing it in front of the kids 

Other practical tools include

  • More than 20 ready-made think aloud scripts for favorite texts by Sandra Cisneros, Seymour Simon, Shel Silverstein, and many others, to use for think alouds for fiction, informational text, and poetry. 
  • Fun small group and partner activities to gradually transfer comprehension strategies to your students.
  • Downloads on the companion website, including spinner and dice templates, planning forms, and think aloud scripts 

Molly Ness is an associate professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University and earned her PhD in reading education from the University of Virginia. A former Teach For America corps member, she is an experienced classroom teacher and reading clinician. Her numerous books and articles focus on reading comprehension, the instructional decisions of teachers, and the assessment and diagnosis of struggling readers. Contact Molly Ness at http://www.drmollyness.com.

 

 
Foreword by Douglas Fisher
 
Acknowledgments
 
CHAPTER 1 The Genius of Think Alouds: To Think Big, Readers Need to Hear What “Big” Sounds Like
What Think Alouds Are

 
What Think Alouds Are Not

 
Why Think Alouds Are Relevant Today

 
The Educational Theories Behind Think Alouds

 
Practice Makes Perfect: The Three-Step Process to Planning Think Alouds

 
A Final Note About the Three-Step Process

 
How to Use This Book

 
Final Thoughts

 
Ready for a Trial Run?

 
 
CHAPTER 2 Think Aloud With Focus: Five Comprehension Strategies That Go the Distance
How Think Alouds Benefit Our Readers

 
Arming Yourself With the Five Essential Think Aloud Strategies

 
The Five Essential Think Aloud Strategies

 
Final Thoughts

 
Ready for a Trial Run?

 
 
CHAPTER 3 Read Once: Identifying Juicy Stopping Points
An Overview

 
Using Poetry in Kindergarten

 
Using Narrative Text in Third Grade

 
Using Informational Text in Fifth Grade

 
Final Thoughts

 
Ready for a Trial Run?

 
 
CHAPTER 4 Read Twice: Determining Where and When to Think Aloud
Examining the Original Stopping Points in “Sick” by Shel Silverstein

 
Examining the Original Stopping Points in Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

 
Examining the Original Stopping Points in Eyes and Ears by Seymour Simon

 
Final Thoughts

 
Ready for a Trial Run?

 
 
CHAPTER 5 Read Three Times: Writing the Scripts on Sticky Notes
Signaling for Think Alouds

 
Think Aloud Sentence Starters

 
Introducing the Three-Column Chart

 
The Think Aloud Scripts for Our Model Texts

 
Final Thoughts

 
Ready for a Trial Run?

 
 
CHAPTER 6 How Did They Go? Teachers Share Successes and Challenges
Inside K–5 Classrooms: A Yearlong Study

 
Lessons Learned From the Yearlong Study

 
Ideas to Hone Your Thinking Aloud

 
Evaluating Your Own Thinking Aloud

 
Final Thoughts

 
Ready for a Trial Run?

 
 
CHAPTER 7 Students Do: Tips and Tools for Helping Your Readers Think Aloud on Their Own
Using Gradual Release of Responsibility to Scaffold Think Alouds

 
Encouraging Self-Evaluation With Think Alouds

 
Applying Think Alouds Across Content Areas

 
Thinking Aloud With Visuals

 
Final Thoughts

 
Ready for a Trial Run?

 
 
Appendices
Appendix A: Sample Think Aloud

 
Appendix B: Sample Texts

 
Appendix C: Think Alouds for Sample Texts

 
Appendix D: Think Aloud Sentence Starters

 
Appendix E: Three-Column Think Aloud Chart

 
Appendix F: Think Aloud Script for The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen

 
Appendix G: Think Aloud Script for A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

 
Appendix H: Think Aloud Self-Evaluation

 
Appendix I: Think Aloud Scripts

 
Appendix J: Putting It Together: Think Aloud Scripts

 
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

Sample Materials & Chapters

Table of Contents

Chapter 2

Chapter 5

Appendix


For instructors

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