Think Aloud Reflection

Preparation:

For my think aloud, I selected a text related to the 5th grade standards, about a man named Henry. Henry’s family was taken away from him in the slave trade, and he was determined to make his way back to freedom. In many ways, everyone faces some type of struggle like the one Henry faced. I have not faced something so horrible, but I have experienced things that made me search for freedom. In my lesson, I sought to make connections to the text, and allow the students to relate to the text as well, while extending their view of the world. In Subjects Matter chapter 4, the author discusses our role as educators in introducing our students to new cultures and cultural experiences. We place value in their culture as well, but by emphasizing historical experiences of a certain culture, we as educators are fulfilling our role of helping to expand our students’ horizons. In selecting this text, I feel like I was able to model a selection that would serve a purpose without expliciting telling the students what I was doing. I think in preparation, I chose a strong text to achieve my goals and for the grade level.

Presentation:

I was not particularly nervous about doing the think-aloud in class. I enjoy talking in front of people, and so nerves were not something that impacted my reflection upon my think aloud. However, what I did find restricting in the presentation was the document camera. I prefer to face my students, walk around the room, interact, and get on the level (kneel down) when discussing a text with students. Notice how I said “with”. My personal hope is that I never talk at a group of kids, but become a person they feel comfortable sharing thoughts, ideas, and perspectives. By staying “with” them I can better understand how they learn and what they do and do not respond to. In this way, I hope to create an open and welcome thought space in my classroom environment.

I also really appreciated the plethora of comments and the discussion following my think-aloud. Sarah commented that she appreciated that I left enough space in between lines to make her own notes and annotations. I had purposefully done so not only so there was plenty of space to write, but for many students who struggle with reading, spacing the words out enough to make it a little easier to read. I found her validation of why I did so confirming.

Overall, I think my think aloud went well and am glad I got the opportunity to do so.
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