Think Aloud Planning Sheet

Directions for Full Credit: Use the think aloud strategy planning sheet below to plan your strategy instruction. Please submit
this completed template to Canvas with the reflection.
Name: Mikaela Macdissi
Strategy:
● Activate prior knowledge through use of videos
● Visualize or “think” through the next images in the text
Content Area and ELA Standards: English (grades 11-12)
● 11-12.RL.4 Determine the meaning(s) of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings, while analyzing the impact of specific choices on meaning
and tone.
● 11-12.RL.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text
contribute to its overall structure and meaning, as well as its aesthetic impact.
Objective: Students will be able to analyze the structure/ elements of “Ballad of Birmingham” and
describe in a brief paragraph (min 4 sentences) how the author's choices work together to create
meaning in the piece, citing at least one piece of textual evidence.
Text: “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall
:*You may use bullet points if desired in the blue sections below*

Strategy Awareness & Explanation (Purpose for selecting the strategy)

How will provide students with a clear picture of the why and how?
● This poem makes a lot of visual and historical references to the bombing of the
16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alamba. It’s important that students
have the background knowledge of the bombing as well as freedom marches and
police actions against peaceful protests
● The poem forms a lot of images so thinking through these images aloud and
having students connect the structure and meaning to the images will help
students relate the imagery to the theme of the poem
Strategy Demonstration & Modeling (Think Aloud)
How will you model, explain, practice, and reinforce the rules or procedures of the strategy?

What the Text Says What I Say What Comprehension Strategy

I Model

“(On the bombing of a church “Ok, this tells me that the poem Synthesis/ Summary
in Birmingham, Alabama, is going to be about the
1963)”
“‘Mother dear, may I go
downtown/ Instead of out to
play,/And march the streets of
Birmingham/ In a Freedom
March today?’”
“‘No, baby, no, you may not
go,/ For the dogs are fierce and
wild,/ And clubs and hoses,
guns and jails/ Aren’t good for
a little child.’”
bombing of a church, which
from the video we know to be
the 16th Street Baptist Church.”
“Who is the speaker of this Asking questions, making
poem? Seeing the word inferences, clarifying
‘mother’, I can assume that the
speaker is probably a daughter
or son. It also makes me think
of a child since they are asking
to go play. I wonder why the
poet decided to write from this
point of view? Maybe it’s to add
innocence to the child. I can
definitely picture a cute little
child innocently asking their
mom to play. Interesting to
point out that the child is asking
to join a Freedom March. I
know from the video that a
Freedom March is a march for
racial equality.
“This sounds like a different Making inferences, synthesis/
voice from the first, and seeing summary, clarifying, asking
the words ‘baby’ makes me questions, reflect
think this is probably the
mother referenced in the first
stanza. So, this poem is
structured as a conversation
between a mother and child.
Something that catches my eye
in this stanza is the strong
imagery here. I can imagine
large dogs with foaming mouths
and loud barks. From the video,
I know that these clubs and
hoses are referencing the billy
clubs and fire hoses that the
police used against the
protesters. Hm, I wonder why
the author decided to describe
these in detail? Maybe it’s to
make us feel like the Freedom
Marches are unsafe. I definitely
wouldn’t want to send my kid

“‘But, mother, I won’t be
alone./ Other children will go
with me,/ And march the
streets of Birmingham/ To
make our country free.’”
“‘No, baby, no, you may not
go,/For I fear those guns will
fire./But you may go to church
instead/And sing in the
children’s choir.’”
“She has combed and brushed
her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her
into an environment like that. I
also see a rhyming scheme
starting to emerge. ‘Wild’ and
‘child,’ the same in the first
stanza. Why did the poet
choose to rhyme? Well, it
makes me think of a nursery
rhyme. And that makes me
think of innocence and puts me
in a calm mood.”
“We’re back to the child! I Synthesis/ summary
recognize the good ol’ ‘try to
convince your parents why this
is a good idea’ tactic. Having
the child be adamant about
participating in the march really
makes me understand how
passionate the child is about
this.”
“Back to Mom. I notice Synthesis/ summary, making
repetition in the mother’s lines inferences, asking questions
with ‘No, baby, no.’ Seeing
repeated lines definitely makes
me more alert and even though
the poet doesn’t straight out
say, I can tell that the mother is
really concerned for their child.
I see new action has been put in
the poem. The mom has
suggested the child go to church
instead. Hm, why would the
mom say this? Probably
because the church feels safe.
What does a children’s church
choir make me think of? Makes
me imagine something angelic
and pure. Something away
from the chaos of outside. I
wonder if the poet meant this.”
“What’s different about this Asking questions, clarifying,
stanza? Well, we have no making inferences
dialogue. We have actions
here. The child is dressing up to
small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.”
“The mother smiled to know
her child/ Was in the sacred
place,/ But that smile was the
last smile/ To come upon her
face.”
go to church. The images really
stick out to me here. I notice
words like ‘rose petal sweet,’
‘white gloves,’ ‘small brown
hands,’ and ‘white shoes.” A lot
of white. I wonder why the
poet chose this color. Maybe
because white has been
associated with purity.
Describing the daughter in
detail too gives me a good
picture of what she looks like. I
can picture her all nicely
dressed for church. As I’m
reading this, I am definitely
keeping in mind this image of
the child. Keep in the mind the
rhyme scheme still continues.
Still gives that nursery/ lullaby
essence.”
“Whoa, this stanza gave me the Reflect, asking questions,
chills! What is going on? Why monitoring/ clarifying, making
did I get chills in this stanza? predictions
That ending! ‘The last smile/ To
come upon her face.’ That
doesn’t sound good at all. That
makes me feel scared and
unsettled. What did the poet
do here to give me these
feelings? Foreshadow, right?
We don’t know why that is the
mother’s last smile, but we
know that something bad is
going to happen that will make
the mother stop smiling. Is it
possible it has something to do
with her child?
Guided Practice
How will you have students practice the strategy with support?
● I can have students fill out a sheet with some supporting questions to help narrow
their focus when reading the poem (graphic organizer)
● The think-aloud video can also give an example of how to read the poem and get a
feel of annotating

Strategy Application
How will students apply the strategy independently?
● Students will read the last 2 stanzas of the poem and annotate like in the
think-aloud video
● Students will write a brief paragraph describing how the author’s choices/
elements of the poem work together to create meaning/ theme

Reflection Write a 2-3 paragraph detailed reflection about your teaching experience based off your
own self-assessment.
● How did the structure (awareness & explanation, demonstration & modeling, guided practice,
application) help support your instruction and student learning?
● How does this strategy support learning in your discipline specifically?
● What were your strengths, and areas for growth (please consider both your planning and your
instruction of the strategy).

I think this structure of think aloud planning sheet really helped hone in my instruction. Writing down
what I am going to say to the students helped me focus more on the important pieces of information I
wanted to get through this practice. I also think going through and recording my thoughts made me
feel better prepared for what I was going to say to the students. This structure really benefits students
because it gives me a taste of what goes on in my head! Instead of telling students what to do, this
structure shows them what I expect. I think it could be comforting to see teachers do the same task as
the student. It shows that we aren’t so different and we’re both learners.

This strategy is so helpful for English disciplines! All throughout high school, poetry frustrated me. I
loved reading it, but when it came to analyzing, I found myself getting confused and not sure where to
start first. Having these think alouds, especially for difficult texts and poems, can help students see the
process in action. Personally, I think the think aloud makes the task feel less intimidating. You get the
teacher’s thoughts in real time, every blip and “um,” but also every “ah ha” moment and connection.
Showing students these moments can help give them an idea of how to approach the task
independently. Overall, I could see this structure being used a lot in English when it comes to textual
analysis and even for writing in all genres (argumentative, persuasive, rhetorical, narrative, etc.)

I think a strength I had during this strategy was the planning. I don’t think it was too complex and I
think I did well in organizing my thoughts. Nothing felt off topic or confusing. I also think my delivery
for the most part was smooth and not hard to understand. I also like that I annotated the video. I think
writing out my thoughts is a helpful way for both students to hear and see what I am saying. That
being said, I do think I could improve in some aspects. Maybe I could implement more wait time in the
video to give students time to digest what I said. Also, I do think planning-wise, I could include
examples of a specific poetic element and how that adds to the meaning. I do feel like I touched the
topic briefly, but it wasn’t explicitly stated so I could see some potential confusion arising when
students try this by themselves. I also think I could dig deeper into the poetic elements. I did mention
them here and there, but again I think I need to be more specific and clearly state these elements, such
as imagery and the connotation of words. I believe I did these things, but in the future I would address
them by name so students would become aware of these terms/elements. There were also a few
times I also stumbled over my words or lost my place in the text so I would also want to work on these
for next time.