Thinking Aloud Allowed
Have you ever found pieces from two different jigsaw puzzles that actually fit together, one a blue piece of a geometric design and one a scrap of sky from an entirely different puzzle box, yet surprisingly an appropriate “match”? Two posts from separate feeds in my Google Reader today interlock for me into a new idea. One was from the New York Times, a post about today’s young parents and the need for them to turn off their cell phones, iPods, and Blackberries and just talk to the stroller set. Nothing in that post was new to me, but it got me thinking about thinking out loud and its importance for learning. The other post was elementary teacher Brian Crosby’s post about allowing students time to process what they have done and learned, even (especially?) when the learning is project-based. Whether toddlers, elementary kids, or even adults, we need time to think out loud about what we have done. Those around us understand us better and learn from us when we do. Young ones grasp our language to build their own language of understanding. Peers and elders appreciate what we have done when we can stop and explain it.We find our own meaning better when we do it out loud.
But the world does not like to grant time for thinking aloud. Brian Crosby bemoans the fact that end-of-day recap time has slipped away in his classroom. Most of us who take the world with us via iPhone or Blackberry use that once-precious think-back time to check email now.
Maybe we need an app for that. I’d like a “thinking aloud allowed” app that lets me record my thoughts aloud at the same time that it blocks email with autoreplies telling others that this is my time for thinking, so go away. The same app would turn OFF young parents’ iPhones, etc. until they had conversed about red stop signs, sidewalk cracks, and at least twenty-five other topics with their stroller-bound munchkins. How could
the app help Brian’s students? Maybe it could ask them to record their reflections, prompting and saving their comments so they could store them up like Bandaid box treasures (do you remember metal Band-Aid boxes and their treasure-holding capacity?).
No one would make money on this app, but they would make learners and thinkers. Thinking aloud allowed. There’s an app for that.
I recently stumbled upon your blog through searching educational blogs for my class. Entering into the education field, this concept of “thinking aloud” is something I would love to strive to keep in the forefront of my classroom. Although I know it is unrealistic to strive for a debriefing at the end of every lesson, those that do provide time, will provide students with proper reflection. In this fast-paced, standard driven education world, I think it takes a responsible educator to allow students to think aloud, process, and make evaluations. Not only is it great for students to be provided the opportunity, I believe it is important for teachers to do the same at the end of the day. Thank you for sharing this, I definitely need this app for my blackberry
Comment by Nathan — November 23, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
Nate,
Don’t be afraid to think aloud YOURSELF as a teacher. Kids learn a lot from “hearing” how others process ideas. If they can see and hear what you go through as you test a hypothesis or edit your own writing, they realize that some of the thoughts they may have are OK to pursue. They may even mimic some of the higher level thinking they “see” and “hear.” I fear that today’s tweeting, texting, emailing world misses out on the more immediate and intimate way of sharing our own thoughts out loud — and F2F.
Comment by Candace Hackett Shively — November 23, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
You make some very good points in this post. With the increasing number of state tests and work that needs to be covered in a day, there has been a shift away from giving think time to just presenting the information and moving on. We are forced to rob the students of critical thinking time to get as many things covered as we can in a very short period of time. This is not helping the students, it is hurting them in the end because they don’t truly learn how to think about certain things.
Comment by David Broom — November 4, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
We live in such a fast-paced world that even when we have time for thinking or reflection I am so exhausted from the pace that that time is used to take a breath. In today’s classroom, especially at my school, we are trying to find ways to incorporate technology- smartboards, computers, hand held devices,etc.- into the classroom to improve student growth and achievement. Maybe you are on to something with the thinking aloud app! Or maybe we should find a way to slow the whole process down and reflect with our students. I am a high school social studies teacher and some of the best learning takes place when I take a moment and just talk to my class.
Comment by Dougle Hankins — November 14, 2010 @ 3:53 pm
some of the best learning takes place when I take a moment and just talk to my class
I can relate to that. I would guess that those moments are also the only ones that students recall ten years later.
CHS
Comment by Candace Hackett Shively — November 16, 2010 @ 8:44 am