With Riss Leung

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which

we live and learn.
I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and thank them for
taking care of this country over countless generations.
According to the 2018 NAPLAN:
Only 36% of Indigenous Year 5
students in very remote areas are at
or above national minimum standards
for reading.
This is compared to 96% for non-
Indigenous students in major cities.
’
● Recap of the Gradual Release of Responsibility
● Focused instruction in reading
● Think-alouds: what, why and how
● Online delivery tips and tricks
“ Technology amplifies practice:
good AND bad.
 Teacher Responsibility
Focused
“I do it”
Instruction
Guided
“We do it”
Instruction

Collaborative “You do it together”

Learning
Independent “You do it alone”
Learning
Student Responsibility
Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
 Teacher Responsibility
Focused
“I do it”
Instruction
Guided
“We do it”
Instruction

Collaborative “You do it together”

Learning
Independent “You do it alone”
Learning
Student Responsibility

Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
 Teacher Responsibility
Focused
“I do it”
Instruction
Guided
“We do it”
Instruction

Collaborative “You do it together”

Learning
Independent “You do it alone”
Learning
Student Responsibility

Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
 Teacher Responsibility
Focused
“I do it”
Instruction
Guided
“We do it”
Instruction

Collaborative “You do it together”

Learning
Independent “You do it alone”
Learning
Student Responsibility

Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
 Teacher Responsibility
Focused
“I do it”
Instruction
Guided
“We do it”
Instruction

Collaborative “You do it together”

Learning
Independent “You do it alone”
Learning
Student Responsibility

Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
“ All four phases of the gradual release of
responsibility framework are necessary if we
want students to learn deeply, think critically
and creatively, and be able to mobilize
learning strategies.
(Fisher and Frey, 2014)
 Teacher Responsibility
Focused
“I do it”
Instruction
Guided
“We do it”
Instruction

Collaborative “You do it together”

Learning
Independent “You do it alone”
Learning
Student Responsibility

Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
 Teacher Responsibility
Focused
“I do it”
Instruction
Guided
“We do it”
Instruction

Collaborative “You do it together”

Learning
Independent “You do it alone”
Learning
Student Responsibility

Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
 ● Establish the purpose of the instruction.
● Provide learners with information about the ways in which a
skilled reader or writer processes information.
● May involve:
○ direct explanation,
○ modelling and/or “Students need to witness a more knowledgeable
○ think alouds. other utilise the strategy being demonstrated, and
they need to be invited into the mind of that
knowledgeable other.”

Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
● Modelled reading
● Shared reading
● Guided reading
● Independent reading
“Modelled reading (reading to or reading aloud) involves students
listening to a text read aloud by the teacher. The teacher models
skilled reading behaviour, enjoyment and interest in a range of
different styles of writing and types of text. It provides an
opportunity for teachers to demonstrate their enjoyment in
reading, and allows students to see a purpose in learning to read.”
(Literacy Teaching Toolkit)
● The thinking aloud strategy provides direct access to the reader's
mind through the talk they engage in as they are thinking (Literacy
Teaching Toolkit).

● Teachers use this technique as an instructional practice to help

students verbalise the thoughts they use during reading, and thus
bring that thinking into the open so that they can replicate it more
effectively in the future (Oster, 2001).
● Although thinking aloud to model the active comprehension process
has been purported to increase comprehension for all students, this
instructional procedure is far from being standard practice in
classrooms (Pressley cited in Walker, 2005).
Think-alouds:
● prepare students to apply reading comprehension strategies to
independent reading.
● are effective for children of all ages, from preschool to secondary
levels.
● benefit students across text format and genre: in online text, in
narrative text and in informational text
● are beneficial for struggling readers and English learners.

(Ness and Kenny, 2016)

● I am going to read a text to you.
● I am going to think aloud as a I read the text.
● I want you to pay attention to what I do (and what I don’t do).
● We will talk about your observations afterwards.
● What DID I do?
● What DIDN’T I do?
● When a teacher uses this strategy, they must be explicit and concise
about the examples they choose to articulate. (Literacy Teaching
Toolkit)
● Less is more: beware the buffet effect!
“Time and time again, participants were surprised to realise that
effective think alouds do not simply emerge naturally and
spontaneously….
They require careful preparation, advance planning and intimate
knowledge of relevant text sections.”
(Ness, 2018)
1. 1st read- identify potential stopping points
2. 2nd read- refine stopping points
3. 3rd read- write script/sticky notes
● Aim= identify the places you might stop and think aloud.
● Treat this like a brainstorm- no judgement.
● 12-15 stopping points.
● In this step you will identify far more stopping points than you
will actually use in the lesson.
● When the reader asks questions about unknown things and wants to try to
find the answer.
● When the reader uses clues to make educated guesses and predictions about
the text.
● When the reader stops because of confusion.
● When the reader thinks about the text in relation to his or her life, the
world, or other texts.
● When the reader creates pictures in his or her mind connected to the text.
● When the reader has a general comment, a question, or a reaction, or
simply wants to say something about the text.
Page
1
 Identify your own potential
stopping points in this text.

Page
4
● Prune your stopping points down to focus on points that seem
poised to have the biggest instructional impact.
● Which comprehension strategies are shining through?
● (Our goal is to apply the most relevant comprehension strategy
at the most opportune stopping points, we don’t want forced
application).
● 5-7 stopping points.
● Try to use the text’s natural breaks for stopping points.
● Does this stopping point align to the lesson’s learning intention or a
particular reading comprehension strategy?
● In what ways is this stopping point effective or ineffective for
showing young readers my metacognitive processes?
● What do young readers gain from hearing my talk during this
particular think-aloud?
● Is this stopping point a necessary and advantageous one?
 ● Read through the example to see
which thoughts I have highlighted.
● Which comprehension strategy have
I prioritised?

Page
6
Consider the comprehension strategies:
● Making connections
● Predicting
● Inferring
● Questioning
● Summarising and Synthesizing
● Visualising
● Monitoring
● Activating and Connecting
● Record your stopping point thoughts on sticky notes to use as
guides when reading the text to the students.
● “Too many times, we vowed that we would remember what we
intended to say, but in the hectic nature of classroom
instruction, we lost our train of thought or had to ad-lib…The
most effective think alouds are planned performances.” (Ness,
2018)
● I wonder…
● I predict…
● I don’t understand
● This reminds me of…
● When I read this, I think…
● This does not make sense to me
● because…
● I already know something about…
● I think I will learn…
● I wonder what it means when…
● I can picture…
● I think…because it said…
● The most important thing I have
learned so far is…
● It was interesting to me because…
● I really like how the author…
● I think/I bet…
● Now that I reread, I…
● I am confused by this, so
I am just like the main
character I also have three
brothers.
I know that they can be
helpful or annoying and they
can also spell trouble.
I wonder which one of those
things her brothers are
going to be.
This reminds me of the That happened to my sister
book Cinderella- now Go Go once- she lost her thong on
is left with only 1 shoe! the lake and it went floating
across the top in the wind.
We had to run to the other
side and wait for it.
I wonder if Go Go will be
able to run to another part
of the creek and find her
shoe.
This part
That happened
remindsto my
me sister
of
once-my
when she
Mumlostused
her thong
to giveon
the lake
advice about
and itthings
went AFTER
floating
across
they had
thehappened.
top in theItwind.
was
We hadtoo
always to late
run to
andthe
it other
used to
side and
make me wait
reallyfor
cross
it. too!
I wonder
She did this
if Go
when
Go will
my bird
be
able to
died andrun
shetosaid
another
I shouldn’t
part
of the
have taken
creek him
and
outside.
find her
shoe.
This sounds exactly like my
brothers- right when
something really bad has
happened they give silly
suggestions to try and help
you cheer up. Sometimes it
works on me and sometimes
it doesn’t.
They did this to me when I
lost my front tooth and
looked terrible.
This part is similar to my
life because I have had to
show new people around the
school before.
Sometimes they end up being
your friend and sometimes
they don’t.
You don’t know until you meet
them.
● Text to text
● Text to self
● Text to world

● Need to focus on HOW making connections contributes to

deeper learning.
Deep connections help us to:
● Relate to characters
● Activate prior knowledge
● Predict
● Visualise
● Infer
● Question.
Discuss what you need to STOP
● STOP,
● STAY and
● START STAY
doing to ensure you are implementing effective
think-alouds in your teaching.
START
1. Use PowerPoint to take photos of each page of the text.
2. Insert-’Photo album’ to put one photo on each page.
3. ‘Record slide show’ to record your voice with the slides.
4. Export as a video.
Ozlitteacher.com.au
Ozlitteacher.com.au
Ozlitteacher.com.au
Oz Lit Teacher
@rissL
narissa@ozlitteacher.com.au
● Block, C.C. and Israel, S.E. (2004), The ABCs of Performing Highly Effective
Think‐Alouds. The Reading Teacher, 58: 154-167.
● Ness, M. and Kenny, M. B. (2016). Improving the Quality of Think‐Alouds. The
Reading Teacher, 69( 4), 453– 460.
● Ness, M. (2018). Think Big With Think Alouds. Corwin.
● Read, S., Landon‐Hays, M. and Martin‐Rivas, A. (2014). Gradually Releasing
Responsibility to Students Writing Persuasive Text. The Reading Teacher, 67( 6), 469–
477.
● Walker, B.J. (2005), Thinking Aloud: Struggling Readers Often Require More Than a
Model. The Reading Teacher, 58: 688-692.