This week I attempted to gather a useful Think-Aloud recording of a student working through a piece of writing. I was able to get 7 minutes of reflection and speaking from my selected student, but instead of thinking through the editing process, my student really focused on reading aloud his draft and only paused a few times to think about what he was writing and why. After the first read aloud, I asked him to go back and edit and share the similes he included in the piece in an effort to get more details about his writing process. This activity helped me gain insight into his thought process and actually served as a strong understanding check for the student, but it wasn't as authentic as I was hoping the recording would be.
At least I was able to gather such gems as:
"I put a lot of similes because I'm, I'm like nasty at them"
and
"But, I really want to be a wrestler. A hard core, high flyin', sensational hall of famer, like Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock and all of those good people."
HA! love those comments - definitely one of the best parts of teaching!!! I'm glad that you brought up the word "authenticity" - In trying to make my think aloud work, I was trying to give guidance, but not too much guidance in an effort to obtain as authentic a process as possible. I wonder what kind of instructions you gave your student - I think that it would be interesting to see what kinds of instruction each of us gave and think about how that corresponds to our outcomes...
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a common theme that has emerged throughout this think-aloud task and that is the inability to draft a piece of writing and think aloud simultaneously. In my response to Cara I stated, I am wondering if the skill of "think-aloud" while writing is one that must be taught and practiced?, in order to be an effective tool for developing writers. Your strategy of asking specific questions surronding a student's writing is also an excellent idea to help guide the dialogue.
I'd like to know more about what you did with the student. What was the process? Did you model thinking aloud? What would you do differently in using this as a research tool?
ReplyDelete