Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Can't you hear it? The heartbeat returning? As we continue to revive the thinking strategies and how to best to support our own understanding as well as teach students, it's often handy to find a resource that really "spells it out."
Think Alouds are not just for kids. Teachers need them, too. Oh, and they need resources, too! Well, the author's of Strategies that Work actually published a fabulous little tool titled the Comprehension Toolkit. Each booklet takes a strategy and provides you with pertinent strategy background, a detailed workshop approach lesson (i.e. purpose, connect & engage, (explicit)model, guide, collaborate, reflection/share the learning), and follows up with reflection/assessment questions for you, the teacher, as you consider how well it went with the learning goals. Additionally, you can find support with adapting and differentiating! This toolkit is not short of teacher tools!
Each Thinking Strategy booklet offers 3 lessons with engaging and approachable (K-2 & 3-6) fiction and nonfiction text. Personally, I love the vision for the complexity of text for the range of learners. It's almost like they met up with Mike Schmoker, author of Focus when they chose the selections! They are meaty, relevant, engaging, and lengthy- just the kind of texts we really ought to be including in our readers workshops. Additionally, authors even provide possible ways (and examples!) of how students could record their thinking. Who doesn't love examples from REAL learners!!!
I highly recommend you check out this valuable resource- even it it's only for your own learning as you re-engage with the strategies themselves and your own understanding of how the thinking could look, sound, and BE in your classroom.
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| Little booklets with lesson for EACH of the 7 Thinking Strategies |
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| Examples from the Primary (K-2) Toolkit for Student Responses to their Reading. |
