Thinking aloud means that as someone performs a task, they verbalize some of what they are thinking while doing the task. For instance, when students read a passage about frogs, they can perform Think Aloud by verbalizing:

• what they already know about frogs
• whether they like frogs
• the last time they encountered frogs
• an interesting story about frog
• any questions they have as they are reading (e.g., “I-don’t-understand” and “I-want-to-know-more” questions)
• strategies they are using for dealing with difficult vocabulary and concepts
• whether they are enjoying the reading, as well as expressing other emotions
• how the passage connects to other texts they have read.

Part of the beauty of thinking aloud is that it provides a window into people’s minds. Peers, teachers, and those who think aloud can all benefit from looking through this window. Heterogeneous grouping is a CL principle, and past achievements constitute one way that groups can be heterogeneous. When higher-achieving students think aloud, their peers can benefit from hearing the process by which they go about tasks, rather than just viewing their final product. When students who may struggle with classroom tasks think aloud, their higher-achieving peers gain insights into how they process the tasks, and, as a result, they can offer more focused assistance. This emphasis on thinking fits well with the CL principle of maximum peer interactions.

Think Aloud Squares can work via the following steps.

Step 1: Teachers model thinking aloud and lead a Think Aloud session in which the entire class is invited to think aloud together. This can involve modeling the Coach’s role (explained in Step 2). When students seem ready to try thinking aloud and coaching, they form foursomes—which resemble four-sided squares—divided into two pairs.

Step 2: Both pairs perform the same task. In each pair, one student plays the role of Thinker, while their partner acts as the Coach. These roles rotate. Thinkers verbalize what is happening in their minds as they do the tasks, and Coaches provide encouragement and feedback.

Step 3: After a set amount of time, or several tasks are completed, the two pairs in the foursome discuss their responses and try to reach a consensus on responses and the process of arriving at the responses. Of course, some tasks have multiple acceptable responses and multiple constructive processes toward developing such responses.

Step 4: After the discussion, the students thank each other for their ideas and go back to thinking aloud with their partner, or they can switch partners.

Reflective Break

Please try thinking aloud by yourself, thinking alone but verbalizing what you are thinking. How does it feel? Is it easy to do?

Sample Response

Once I became accustomed to doing thinking aloud, I enjoyed it. One problem I have is that sometimes my thinking goes far off topic. For example, if I was reading about frogs, I might think about a place where I saw frogs, the people who went with me, and other activities we did at that place.