0:03 So today I'm going to do a text to world
0:04 connection and it's going to be a
0:07 difficult one since I'm really really
0:09 going to talk you through how I think
0:11 about this connection. So try thinking
0:14 along with this to yourselves while I
0:16 think about it out loud. The think aloud
0:20 is an um activity that has two purposes.
0:22 One, so children can hear a fluent
0:25 reader. She made 19 trips back into the
0:28 south. to so that they can learn how to
0:30 critically think through literature.
0:32 Clarissa Grimes, a fourth grade teacher
0:35 at Citizens Academy in Cleveland, Ohio,
0:38 models the think aloud strategy, a key
0:40 to increasing critical thinking and
0:43 reading comprehension. It makes
0:45 basically just everything so much
0:48 easier. Good reading strategies also
0:51 include predicting outcomes, cause and
0:54 effect, analyzing character and plot
0:58 setting and textto world connections.
1:00 How think aloud works is you spend 15
1:02 minutes to read. I was too deeply moved
1:05 by his words to clap. You stop at
1:08 appropriate points. So I'm a pretty good
1:11 reader. At the end you perform the skill
1:13 out loud. There was a part in there that
1:15 confused me.
1:18 So try thinking along with this to
1:19 yourselves while I think about it out
1:21 loud. Thinking through new material
1:23 requires connecting to the students
1:26 known world. Connections help you
1:29 understand people's motivations and how
1:32 those feelings affect the actions they
1:35 take. And today the reading selection
1:38 I'm doing is a non-fiction comment
1:41 article on the Gettysburg address that
1:44 Abraham Lincoln gave at the end of the
1:47 Civil War. Clarissa begins by walking
1:49 students through the steps of a text to
1:51 world connection. First text contains
1:53 something that activates your background
1:57 knowledge. Is a country? It is. It is.
1:58 Oh. So I'm going to give you a little
2:00 background knowledge. Okay. and the
2:03 rebels who think that they are not being
2:06 treated fairly. Second, you compare the
2:08 situation in the book to a situation
2:09 that is occurring in the world. I'm
2:12 going to be connecting one section, just
2:15 one section that's hard for me to
2:18 understand as a reader in this article
2:22 to what I've seen on the news in Libya.
2:24 It's now that she reads a short text.
2:27 When Lincoln was done, there was hardly
2:30 any applause. Then she begins the think
2:33 aloud process. The Gettysburg address is
2:34 considered to be one of the greatest
2:36 speeches in history, but no one clapped
2:39 after he gave it. That confuses me. How
2:41 many of you were slightly confused by
2:45 that? Be honest. Yeah. As a good reader,
2:48 I'm going to think about what I've seen
2:50 of the civil wars that are going on
2:53 right now in the world. So I know that I
2:55 can compare situations today to
2:59 situations that happened long long ago.
3:01 And the thing that makes you mad now are
3:02 the same things that are going to make
3:04 people mad in 200 years. Right?
3:07 Comparing helps me understand this text.
3:10 Whatever we don't understand,
3:13 um, she kind of walks us through it. The
3:16 final step of the text to world skill is
3:18 connecting actions to feelings. And I
3:22 see clips of people in Libya. I make you
3:24 watch the news and I watch it and you
3:25 see the
3:28 anger, but then there's always the
3:32 sadness left over because even though
3:33 they have different
3:37 opinions, they're all still Libyans. I'm
3:38 going to connect that to these people
3:40 listening to this Gettysburg address on
3:42 this battlefield. They like these
3:46 Libyans are thinking about all those who
3:49 died on that field. What I read in this
3:52 text was an expression of
3:55 sadness, just like what I saw on the TV
3:58 was an expression of sadness. So that's
4:01 my connection. It's cool to hear her
4:04 opinion. I match up what she's thinking
4:07 and what and what I think. Makes it easy
4:11 for us because she'll do it herself and
4:13 then she'll tell us to do it. I cannot
4:15 stress this enough. The most important
4:17 part is how it helps you understand what
4:21 you read. Critical analysis of both the
4:23 text they're reading and the world in
4:24 which they exist. That's how you want
4:26 them thinking. Her reading has come a
4:28 long way with the help of Miss Grimes.
4:30 She's taught her different techniques.
4:34 When I look at the fluency um reports,
4:36 her numbers have skyrocketed. Miss
4:39 Grimes is the greatest teacher ever. She
4:41 gives us different strategies to make
4:44 our reading and writing better.
4:46 to do a think aloud. Well, one, do it
4:49 quick. Make a skill focus. Have the
4:51 steps on the board behind you. Do it
4:52 exactly the way you want them to be able
4:54 to perform the skill once they are
4:56 proficient at it. Teach them how to
4:58 think through doing this act so that
5:00 when they go to do it, they already have
5:06 down. If I want them to know it, then I
5:08 got to show it. Come on, Socrates. This
5:10 isn't college. This isn't ancient
5:13 Greece. We can't walk around in gardens
5:15 all day. I don't have time for that.
5:17 They have a lot to learn. They do it
5:19 though. Put them in toas and slippers.
5:21 They think it was awesome. There's no
5:24 better reason to really just put on your
5:25 full armor, right? Go out your house
5:27 every day. Ready to do war. And I'm
5:29 ready. I will battle for my kids to
5:32 learn. Do what it takes, man. So, and
5:33 there's just no better reason than
5:36 education. And it's a job that I
5:38 actually feel really motivated to do
