Re: [MOSAIC] think aloud parent training
Ginger, I also work with parents. My area of interest is parents initiating change and reform in a school. Parent empowerment. This information is of great interest to me. It is what I am doing my dissertation on. Have you read of schools that were changed when their parents were introduced to an educational strategy or method. I am really impressed that the principal would introduce their staff to information to get the staff interested. PatK On Aug 1, 2009, at 12:01 PM, ginger/rob wrote: At one school I presented at the teachers were not implementing explicit strategy instruction and it was the parents who asked for it to be taught in the classrooms. The principal was able to "use" the interest of the parent population (this is the school where 50 parents attended) to begin to move her staff. Ginger Weincek ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
Re: [MOSAIC] think aloud parent training
Robyn asked: "Thank you Ginger for your parent training outline. I was wondering when you schedule these workshops and what the attendance looks like." I have done day and evening workshops. At one district (with three elementary schools) I offered a day and an evening workshop at each school. The invite had all the dates and welcomed parents from any school to attend any date that was convenient. As far as attendance... the smallest draw was 5 parents. Actually that was one of my favorite experiences. I sat with them around a table and talked with them on a more personal level. The largest draw was 50 parents. Lots of couples. All totally engaged and interested. I realize that often the parents who come may not be the ones "we need to reach" but from my own experiences, not many parents think aloud in this way so pretty much everyone goes home with a new understanding. Always very grateful for the modeling and opportunity to practice themselves. At one school, I was asked to come back 2 months later after the parents in attendance said they would tell all their friends how helpful it was. The second session was larger there. I have presented at schools where the teachers offer small group settings for the children while the parents are with me in hopes to draw in more parents. At one school I did a shortened version with the parents while the children were with a storyteller. Then the teachers got the parents and their children together in various classrooms (all set up ahead of time by the school- not me!) and they had pictures books set out for the parents to practice thinking aloud with their children that very night. As I walked around to each room I was so touched by the efforts of the parents. At one school I presented at the teachers were not implementing explicit strategy instruction and it was the parents who asked for it to be taught in the classrooms. The principal was able to "use" the interest of the parent population (this is the school where 50 parents attended) to begin to move her staff. Ginger Weincek ___ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
Re: [MOSAIC] think aloud parent training
Thank you Ginger for your parent training outline. I was wondering when you schedule these workshops and what the attendance looks like. We have tried these in our district with mixed success. Often times the parents who attend are the ones already on board with reading to their children in a meaningful way and we never reach those parents who we would like to help. Robyn Hoefling Literacy Coach Grades 3-5 From: ginger/rob [read.th...@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2009 3:23 PM To: 1 mosaic list Subject: [MOSAIC] think aloud parent training This is a resend from a couple years ago. + I actually do training in thinking aloud with the parents. I designed this workshop as a way to begin to introduce the comprehension strategies and being metacognitive to our parents. Here's what I do in my hour and a half parent workshop. First I ask the parents to turn and talk about what reading is. We chart it. I stress that reading is much more than just reading the words. Huge in my district. (along with reading fast!) Next I have them turn and talk about the value of reading books with their children and discussing them. We share back whole group. (I don't chart this) I briefly talk about the proficient reader research and what we now know about what makes a strategic reader. (Reading is thinking, metacognition, the little voice in our heads, interacting with the text, and all that) I go over each strategy very briefly. I tell them that one important way they can help their children become strategic readers is to think aloud with them as they are reading together. Thinking aloud is great because kids need to hear the metacognitive voice outloud that we want them to have inside when they are reading. I tell them that they can be the examples for their children. I then model a general think aloud for them using the book Rudy's Pond by Eve Bunting. Then I model a think aloud with a Clifford book to show that you can think aloud when reading a variety of texts to all ages. I make sure that I give make connections, sensory images, questions, and inferences. I try to determine importance and synthesize along the way. I also try to do some rereading or fix ups along the way. But I do not talk about WHAT I am doing (at the time), I just read and think out loud naturally like I would in my classroom or with a child. I then have them turn and talk and share what they SAW ME DOING and HEARD ME SAYING as I was reading the text. They share back whole group. I stress the things they don't notice. Then I pass out to the tables the picture books that I use when training adults (teachers/parents/administrators) to think aloud. I have them EACH pick a book and then get a partner (if the group is huge I have the partner group pick ONE book). I give them the following directions. This is always hard for adults. They want to make it into a discussion and that is NOT my purpose for this exercise. I want them to simply MODEL (the reader is the one doing the work) a think aloud. I tell them that at first this may not be easy and it may feel uncomfortable. But all they have to do is read and pay attention to when they have some thinking. When that happens, they are to STOP and share that thinking. I tell them they can start out by saying, "I'm thinking..." if that helps. They are NOT retelling the story. They are simply sharing their thinking as they are reading. Whatever bubbles up into their brains or comes from their heart. 1. Person A goes first with his/her book. Person B is to represent the child (or the class if you are training teachers). For this exercise Person B is NOT TO INTERACT with Person A- just "receive" the thinking. Person A reads and shares his/her thinking. 2. When about 10 minutes has gone by I tell them to switch and Person B now will do the think aloud with his/her book. Person A is to "receive" the thinking. Person B reads and shares his/her thinking. 3. After 10 more minutes (and yes they often do not finish the books and BOY do they want to!!!) I have them turn and talk and share how it FELT to do the thinking outloud. We then share back whole group. I've mentioned before how I choose VERY emotionally charged books. I do this on purpose so that they will have something to think about. I warn them that some of the books are tear jerkers. I even have a box of tissues ready in case! But when reading with their children they can think aloud with any text. I do encourage them to read books TO their children that are above their reading level. Because we know that kids can comprehend at a higher listening level than they can read. I then have them turn and talk about how they now envision themselves using thinking aloud with their children. I tell them to imagine themselves grabbing small snatches of time to get into a book- even in their busy lives. Ultimately both
[MOSAIC] think aloud parent training
This is a resend from a couple years ago. + I actually do training in thinking aloud with the parents. I designed this workshop as a way to begin to introduce the comprehension strategies and being metacognitive to our parents. Here's what I do in my hour and a half parent workshop. First I ask the parents to turn and talk about what reading is. We chart it. I stress that reading is much more than just reading the words. Huge in my district. (along with reading fast!) Next I have them turn and talk about the value of reading books with their children and discussing them. We share back whole group. (I don't chart this) I briefly talk about the proficient reader research and what we now know about what makes a strategic reader. (Reading is thinking, metacognition, the little voice in our heads, interacting with the text, and all that) I go over each strategy very briefly. I tell them that one important way they can help their children become strategic readers is to think aloud with them as they are reading together. Thinking aloud is great because kids need to hear the metacognitive voice outloud that we want them to have inside when they are reading. I tell them that they can be the examples for their children. I then model a general think aloud for them using the book Rudy's Pond by Eve Bunting. Then I model a think aloud with a Clifford book to show that you can think aloud when reading a variety of texts to all ages. I make sure that I give make connections, sensory images, questions, and inferences. I try to determine importance and synthesize along the way. I also try to do some rereading or fix ups along the way. But I do not talk about WHAT I am doing (at the time), I just read and think out loud naturally like I would in my classroom or with a child. I then have them turn and talk and share what they SAW ME DOING and HEARD ME SAYING as I was reading the text. They share back whole group. I stress the things they don't notice. Then I pass out to the tables the picture books that I use when training adults (teachers/parents/administrators) to think aloud. I have them EACH pick a book and then get a partner (if the group is huge I have the partner group pick ONE book). I give them the following directions. This is always hard for adults. They want to make it into a discussion and that is NOT my purpose for this exercise. I want them to simply MODEL (the reader is the one doing the work) a think aloud. I tell them that at first this may not be easy and it may feel uncomfortable. But all they have to do is read and pay attention to when they have some thinking. When that happens, they are to STOP and share that thinking. I tell them they can start out by saying, "I'm thinking..." if that helps. They are NOT retelling the story. They are simply sharing their thinking as they are reading. Whatever bubbles up into their brains or comes from their heart. 1. Person A goes first with his/her book. Person B is to represent the child (or the class if you are training teachers). For this exercise Person B is NOT TO INTERACT with Person A- just "receive" the thinking. Person A reads and shares his/her thinking. 2. When about 10 minutes has gone by I tell them to switch and Person B now will do the think aloud with his/her book. Person A is to "receive" the thinking. Person B reads and shares his/her thinking. 3. After 10 more minutes (and yes they often do not finish the books and BOY do they want to!!!) I have them turn and talk and share how it FELT to do the thinking outloud. We then share back whole group. I've mentioned before how I choose VERY emotionally charged books. I do this on purpose so that they will have something to think about. I warn them that some of the books are tear jerkers. I even have a box of tissues ready in case! But when reading with their children they can think aloud with any text. I do encourage them to read books TO their children that are above their reading level. Because we know that kids can comprehend at a higher listening level than they can read. I then have them turn and talk about how they now envision themselves using thinking aloud with their children. I tell them to imagine themselves grabbing small snatches of time to get into a book- even in their busy lives. Ultimately both the parent and the child will do the thinking aloud as they are reading together. But the parents can be so instrumental if they think aloud with their kids. I field any questions and we are off. I hope this makes sense. It is really rather simple and from the feedback, the impact is POWERFUL. It's like I introduced them to the most amazing thing. They leave excited and very grateful. (It cracks me up actually!) This works exactly the same with teachers and administrators. Practicing a "general" think aloud was something I never did when I first started teaching the strategies. I read MOT and jumped right in to my first strategy study:
