Chapter 4 "When Kids Can't Read"

In chapter 4 the author is mainly talking about how to teach comprehension of text to students. There are 6 steps that she outlines, but 1 of the important ones that I have never seen modeled is the "Think-alouds." This chapter has a lot of information on how to model these strategies and how to actually teach them.

As a student there have been many times (especially in junior high) when the teacher read aloud to us. Now according to many experts this seems like a very important key factor in classes (not to mention fun for the students) but I have never heard of "think-alouds." The author sets the example that the teacher reads a passage from the selected text and then literately thinks aloud about how he/she is visualizing the text, predicting what will happen next, and trying to clarify anything that is confusing as well as a few other strategies. I think if this had been done in my classroom when I was a student there would have been a lot less comments such as "just reread it or just fill out the worksheet." No one is born knowing how to read, infer, comprehend and everything else that we are expected to learn. This seems like an excellent way to model these key elements and an excellent placement for "just reread it, or fill out the worksheets."