Share Your Test-Taking Thinking Processes Through Think-Alouds

by Jan Goodwin

If you want to learn to play the piano, you study under a good pianist to learn what an accomplished pianist does. If you want to become an electrician, you become an apprentice to a master electrician to learn how the electrician approaches the job. If you want to become a good reader, you need to know what good readers do as they encounter difficult text. Use of a think-aloud is one way in which struggling readers can learn about the strategies employed by good readers.

During a think-aloud, the teacher stops periodically while reading a text and describes what's going on in his or her mind while trying to make sense of the text. Some teachers have effectively used think-alouds to help their students understand not only how to read text but also how to read a test question and break that question down into understandable parts. That is the focus of this month's "A Look at the OGT" column: using think-alouds to help students learn how they can make sense of test questions they may encounter.

An easy way to begin is to display a test question on an overhead and then work through it step by step. The content area― reading, mathematics, science, social studies, writing― doesn't matter. The approach works with any of them. Below are two examples― one reading and one math. Needless to say, think-alouds work for any test, and in fact, the math example is from the OAT, rather than the OGT.

Thinking Aloud with a Reading Question

The following question appeared on the March 2005 OGT for reading:

How you might do a think-aloud for this question

The first thing I always do when I have a multiple-choice question is read the entire question. Sometimes after I read the first or second answer, I'm sure one of them is correct, but I've learned that sometimes I'm tricked by one of those answers, so now I always read all the choices before I pick one.

Which sentence summarizes the purpose of paragraphs 1 and 2 in the story? Let's see ... what do I know? I see the word summarize. That means I have to tell what it's about. And I also see that it's talking about paragraphs 1 and 2 ... so that means I don't have to worry about all of the selection, just the first two paragraphs. Oh, and then I see the word purpose― so it's not just asking what the paragraphs are about; it wants to know why the author wrote those paragraphs.

OK, so now I'm going to continue reading each of the choices.
A. They establish the main character, the setting and a conflict.
So, if that's the answer, I should find the main character, the setting and the conflict all in the first two paragraphs. I think they might be there, but I still need to keep reading all of the choices; then I'll probably need to go back and reread those paragraphs.

B. They introduce all of the characters who will play a part in the story.
That one says that all of the characters in the story are first talked about in the first two paragraphs. I don't think that's right because I remember that the small boy on the tricycle wasn't introduced early in the article. Let's keep reading ...

C. They contain several technical vocabulary words important for a full understanding of the story.
If that's the answer, I'll need to look at the paragraphs again and see if there are technical vocabulary words there.

D. They indicate that the narrator's experience will end happily.
The narrator ... let's see― the narrator is the person telling the story. Well, I remember when I read the selection, I didn't find out what was going to happen in the first two paragraphs, so I don't think that will be the correct answer.

Now, I'm going to go back and reread those first two paragraphs. I think I've eliminated B and D, but I'll check just to make sure.

My first bike got me nowhere, though the shadow I cast as I pedaled raced along my side. The leaves of bird-filled trees stirred a warm breeze and litter scuttled out of the way. Our orange cats looked on from the fence, their tails up like antennas. I opened my mouth, and wind tickled the back of my throat. When I squinted, I could see past the end of the block. My hair flicked like black fire, and I thought I was pretty cool riding up and down the block, age five, in my brother's hand-me-down shirt.
Well, in that paragraph, I learned about the main character― the narrator.

Going up and down the block was one thing, but taking the first curve, out of sight of Mom and the house, was another. I was scared of riding on Sarah Street. Mom said hungry dogs lived on that street, and red anger lived in their eyes. Their throats were hard with extra bones from biting kids on bikes, she said.
I think that sounds like the problem― if he doesn't stay on his block, there could be trouble on Sarah Street.

So, I have the main character, and I have a problem or conflict. Answer A also talked about the setting ... well, it says he's on his block; it talks about the leaves in the trees... that sounds like the setting to me. So choice A could be correct, but I'd better check the others just to make sure.

B. They introduce all of the characters who will play a part in the story.
No, I still think there was at least one other character in the story; in fact, when I look back at the story, I see that there is a boy he meets in paragraph 5, so B can't be the correct answer.

C talked about technical vocabulary. There was one word in the first paragraph I wasn't sure of― scuttled― but I'm not sure that's technical vocabulary. If it were a technical word, I probably wouldn't understand the paragraph, and that's not the case. I understand what's happening here. Plus, it says they contain several technical words, and that's the only one that could possibly be a technical word. So I'm not picking C.

Let me read D again.
They indicate that the narrator's experience will end happily.
Well, I don't see anything in those paragraphs about a happy ending. In fact, after I read the second paragraph, I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, so I don't think that's the correct answer.

That leaves me with choice A as the only possibility, so that's what I'll pick.

Using Think-Alouds in Math

Here's another example using a question from the 2005 Grade 7 Math OAT.

How you might do a think-aloud for this question

The first thing I always do is read the whole problem. This one seems long to me, but I know I still have to read everything. After I read it once and have a general idea of what it is about, I go back and read the question again and stop and think about what each part is asking me.

John has a $100 budget to buy sandwich meat and cheese for a picnic.
I'm thinking the $100 budget may be important, so I'm going to underline that.

His shopping list and the prices at the deli are shown in the table. There is no tax on these food products.
OK, nothing I have to do there. It's probably important to remember that I don't have to worry about tax.

Let me read the table.

Shopping List― 6 lbs. of Turkey, ? lbs. of Salami
That ? must mean that's something I'm going to have to find out about,

5 lbs. of Roast Beef, 6 lbs. of Cheese
OK, that seems easy enough; now let me look at the prices.

Turkey― 3 lbs. for $13, Salami, 2 lbs. for $9
Why do they do this to me? Why can't they just tell me how much 1 lb. costs? I better pay attention to how many pounds are listed for each of these things. In fact, I think I'll underline the number of pounds so I don't forget that part.

Roast Beef― 1 lb. for $5, Cheese ― 2 lbs. for $8
I've read all that, and it still hasn't told me what I need to do. OK, I'd better keep going.

In your Answer Document, determine how many pounds of salami John can buy after he purchases the turkey, roast beef and cheese that he needs.
That's the first thing I need to do― determine how many pounds of salami he can buy. I think I'll put the number 1 beside that to remind me I have to do something.

Be sure that John stays within his budget.
There are more directions for me― he has to stay within his budget, and I underlined the $100 up above, so that's the second thing I have to do― stay within the budget. I'll put a 2 there.

Show or describe
More words that tell me I have to do something― that's a 3
all the steps you use to find the number of pounds he can buy.
That seems like a lot to do, and I still haven't finished reading the whole problem. I bet it would be easy to forget this last part, but if I want to get full credit, I should probably keep reading.

When John gets to the deli he finds that the cheese is on sale for $2.50 per pound. Write
There's another word that tells me to do something― sounds like number 4
how you can determine how many additional pounds of salami John can now purchase and still stay within his budget.
So after I figure out how much salami he can buy with cheese at 2 lbs. for $8, I have to figure it out again if cheese is only $2.50 a pound.

Well, let's get started. Number 1 says how much salami can he buy. To figure that out, I have to find out how much the turkey, roast beef, and cheese will cost. So, if turkey is 3 lbs. for $13 and I need 6 lbs., I can set up a proportion― 3/13 = 6/x, then solve that proportion and find out turkey will cost $26. Roast beef is 1 lb. for $5 and he needs 5 lbs. so the proportion would be 1/5 = 5/x with x = $25. The cheese is 2 lbs. for $8 and I need 6 lbs., so I use the proportion 2/8 = 6/x and find x = $24.

Now, I know that I need to stay within the $100 budget, so I have to find out how much money I've spent so far― 26 + 25 + 24 = $75. If I subtract that from $100, I find out I have $25 left for salami.

Salami costs $9 for 2 lbs. and I have $25 to spend, so I can use a proportion again― 9/2 = 25/x. When I solve for x I find out x = 5.555 or about 5� lbs., so now I can answer the first part of the question. I can buy 5� lbs. of salami. The second thing I had to do was stay within my budget, and I've done that. Then it says to show my work, so I guess I'd better not erase any of the work I've done. I'll just leave it here, and it's a good idea that I've labeled everything so someone will be able to tell what I've done.

OK, am I done yet? Oh, no, I still have that next paragraph to think about. Boy, sure seems like I should be done. Well, let's see what I have to do. It says that cheese is on sale for $2.50 per pound. Well, how much will I save on each pound. Originally it was $8 for 2 pounds, so I can figure out that would be $4 for 1 pound. So if I subtract $2.50 from $4, I find out I'll save $1.50 on each pound. Well, I am going to buy 6 pounds, so $1.50 x 6 = $9.00. That's how much I have to buy more salami. If I look at the table, it says salami is 2 lbs. for $9. I have $9, so I guess I can buy 2 more pounds for a total of 7� pounds.

Now, I think I'm done, but I'm going to go back and check one more time that I've done all of the parts. Number 1― how much salami can I buy originally― did that; number 2― stay within budget― did that; number 3― show work― did that; number 4― tell how to find how much more salami if cheese is on sale― did that. I think I should do well on this question.

Sharing your thinking about how to approach difficult test questions is something that should be done periodically throughout the year. After you've modeled how to think aloud, allow your students to do the thinking aloud with a partner. Emphasis should be on the thinking process, not on how to answer isolated questions. The most successful think-alouds are those that are authentic. Try thinking aloud with questions that you haven't previously attempted to answer so you'll be able to truly share your thoughts and struggles as you attempt to answer the question.

Jan Goodwin, recently retired from South-Western City Schools in Franklin County as the K-12 Language Arts Coordinator, is currently working as an independent educational consultant. She focuses on instructional practices that will enhance student achievement and has been exploring the concept of literacy coaches for secondary schools.

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