Modeling Matters: Teaching Through Thinking Aloud

October 6, 2024

This week’s focus is on direct instruction and modeling. Some words—especially Tier 3 and complex Tier 2—require careful teaching. Using strategies like student-friendly definitions, visual representations, and repeated modeling helps deepen understanding.

Students benefit when we “think aloud” as we decode or analyze words. Modeling our metacognitive process—why we choose a definition, how we break down parts of a word—gives students tools they can internalize and apply independently.