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Literacy 4-6

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Literacy 4-6 > Strategies > Explaining Their Thinking

Explaining Their Thinking

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Overview

When students explain their thinking process aloud, they recognize the strategies they use and solidify their understanding. Think-alouds, or self-explanations, require students to reflect on the details of text, the strategies needed to understand or write it, and the reasons behind those decisions. They can also be used as formative assessment to monitor students' understanding and address any misconceptions. Research cautions that this strategy is most effective when students are prompted with specific protocols or questions, and that prompts should be carefully aligned with target learning outcomes so students avoid reinforcing incorrect approaches or choices.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch how this teacher uses a think-aloud to review and model reading strategies, such as activating Background Knowledge and using Genre Knowledge to anticipate what the text will be about, as well as guide students in applying the strategies. While this teacher is working with older students, her model can be applied to students of any age.

  • Teachers can and should model think-alouds, but they are especially important for students to attempt themselves. As students talk through an assignment that requires shifting between strategies and tasks, they build their Cognitive Flexibility. Teachers can also reinforce comprehension or writing strategies through multiple think-alouds, during which students verbally repeat information to support Long-term Memory and understanding.

    • Design It into Your Product

    Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

    Starting at 1:26, learn how digital portfolios like Seesaw allow students to take photos of their work and voice record their thinking.

  • Products can provide question prompts that focus on the learning goal and have students write their self-explanations. They can also provide voice recorders for learners to share their Verbal Reasoning with their teachers for feedback. These records of thought can be also powerful reflective learning tools where students listen to older recordings to see their growth.
    • View References

    Resources

    Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
    Examples

    Think-Aloud Strategies

    Scholastic guide and downloadable resources for developing think-alouds

    Examples

    Think-Alouds

    Reading Rockets procedure and examples for a think-aloud

    Research

    Metacognition & Self-Regulated Learning

    Subtopic that includes research on metacognitive processes that help learners plan what and how to learn on Digital Promise's Research Map

    Examples

    3 Steps for Think-Alouds

    Quick tips for great think-alouds

    Factors Supported by this Strategy

    Student Background
    Adverse Experiences
    Physical Well-being
    Primary Language
    Safety
    Sleep
    Socioeconomic Status
    Social and Emotional Learning
    Self-regulation
    Cognition
    Attention
    Auditory Processing
    Cognitive Flexibility
    Inhibition
    Long-term Memory
    Metacognition
    Short-term Memory
    Visual Processing
    Working Memory
    Literacy
    Foundational Writing Skills
    Genre Knowledge
    Morphological Knowledge
    Orthographic Processing
    Syntax
    Verbal Reasoning
    Vocabulary

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