Transcript Slide 1

The Boundaries of Think-Aloud as Practiced by
Teacher Educators
Prof. Lea Kozminsky,
Kaye Academic College of
Education Beer Sheva and
The MOFET Institute,
Israel
Prof. Tom Russell,
Queen’s University,
Canada
Dr. Amanda Berry,
Monash University,
Australia
Thursday, December 18th, 2008 from 20:00-21:30, Israel time [GMT+2]
Prof. Lea Kozminsky
 The head of the
graduate programs at
the Kaye Academic
College of Education in
Beer Sheva
 Serves as the head of
the Research Authority
at The MOFET
Institute in Tel Aviv
Prof. Lea Kozminsky
 Ph.D in 1992 from the University of Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
 Her research interests are in the areas of: language
(mainly semantic and pragmatic) competencies of
students with learning disabilities, self advocacy of
students with special needs, ICT implementation in
teacher education & pedagogies in teacher education.
 She has authored the book “Speaking for themselves”,
on self advocacy of students with learning disabilities.
Prof. Tom Russell
 A Professor in the Faculty
of Education at Queen’s
University, where he has
taught since 1977.
 Holds a Queen’s
University Chair in
Teaching and Learning
(2007-2010).
 Most of his teaching is
with pre-service teachers
in secondary science and
in the school practicum.
Prof. Tom Russell
 Co-editor, with John Loughran of Monash University,
of Studying Teacher Education, a Routledge journal
that began publication in 2005.
 His research focuses on factors influencing how
people learn to teach and how teachers improve their
teaching during their careers
 He is a co-editor of several books:
 Enacting a Pedagogy of Teaching Education (2007),
 International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and
Teacher Education Practices (2004),
Prof. Tom Russell
 B.A. degree in physics from Cornell University
 Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University
 Ph.D. in Educational Theory from the University of
Toronto
Dr. Amanda Berry
 A senior lecturer in the
Faculty of Education at
Monash University.
 Taught high school
science and biology
before joining Monash
University as a teacher
educator.
Dr. Amanda Berry
 Amanda’s research is located within the field of
teacher education,
 the development of professional knowledge of teachers
(preservice, inservice, university)
 the ways in which this knowledge can be articulated,
examined and shared so that it may be accessible and
useful for others, and ultimately, improve the quality of
students’ learning.
Dr. Amanda Berry
 contributed numerous publications to the field of
science education and teacher research
 A regular presenter at Australian and International
conferences.
 She has authored and edited several books related to
teachers’ professional learning.
The Boundaries of Think-Aloud
as Practiced by
Teacher Educators

Lea Kosminsky, Kaye College of Education and
The MOFET Institute, Israel

Tom Russell, Queen’s University, Canada

Amanda Berry, Monash University, Australia
Online presentation, 18 December, 2008
10
Who are We?
We are three teacher educators from three different
countries and continents:
Lea Kozminsky, Israel
Tom Russell, Canada
Amanda Berry, Australia
11
Lea Kozminsky from Israel

I teach in a regional teacher
education college’s
4-year program leading to a
B.Ed degree.

My students are in a 3rd-year
course on learning disabilities
that is required for their special
education specialization.

I have chosen to create ties
between what is learnt in the
course and what is
experienced by my students in
their school teaching
12
Tom Russell from Canada

I am studying my teaching of
18 prospective physics
teachers who have completed
an undergraduate degree and
are enrolled in an 8-month preservice teacher education
program.

Education classes occur in
blocks of 3 to 5 weeks that
alternate with practicum
periods of 4 weeks.

My think-alouds focus on ways
in which my teaching is
perceived as a model for future
practices.
13
Amanda Berry from Australia

I teach prospective
secondary science teachers
completing a
4-year
teacher education program.

I use think-alouds with my
pre-service science
students to stimulate
thinking about teaching as a
complex and responsive
activity.

The think-alouds I have
used include blogs and ‘inthe-moment’ commentaries
on my teaching.
14
A Shared Self-Study

We share a self-study on our pedagogy as teacher
educators:
Specifically, we are studying our use of think-alouds
to promote our students’ learning-to-teach.

We act as critical friends for each other, sharing and
commenting on protocols of think-aloud episodes
from our classes.

Lea: my motivation to join a shared study
T
15
Self-Study

A form of practitioner research
“… intentional and systematic inquiry into one’s own practice …that yields
knowledge of practice” (Dinkelman, 2003: 8-9)

A conceptual frame for understanding
practice
“Self-study is about the learning from experience that is embedded within
teachers creating new experiences for themselves and for those
whom they teach….” (Russell, 1998: 6)

M
A methodology for studying professional
practice settings
“Self-study is… self-initiated and focused… improvement
aimed…interactive…uses multiple, largely qualitative methods…and
advances the field through the construction, testing, sharing and
retesting of exemplars of teaching practice.” (LaBoskey, 2004: 820821)
16
Think-Aloud
Think-aloud is a metacognitive strategy in
which we think publicly about our thinking
processes as teacher educators and
examine those processes with our student
teachers.
M
17
Poll of Participants
Are you using some type of
think-alouds in your teaching?
Please respond:
YES or NO
18
Using Think-Alouds: Why and How

The goal: Help our student teachers to understand
how teaching and learning interact

How do we do it?


T
Overtly presenting aspects of our pedagogical decisionmaking
Putting our thoughts forward for discussion, analysis and
critique
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Example: Alone and Together
The Context
I often combine in class individual and group
learning. When studying about causal attributions,
each student was engaged in three learning
activities:
L
(1)
She wrote down to herself notes about a teacherstudent dialogue that we presented
(2)
She discussed her notes with a classmate
(3)
She participated in an entire-class discussion.
20
My Think-Aloud at the End of Class:
Alone and Together
I planned the three activities believing that each had its own merit.
The "alone" phase, enabled each of you in her own pace to think and
understand, as others did not hasten her to finish, and "the first to
finish" was not setting the pace for others.
The second phase enabled dialogue and more intimate clarifications
with a colleague, describing aloud your thoughts and reasoning.
The third phase in the general assembly brought into the open the
knowledge of the entire group. This way I have used a systematic
“alone and together process.” However, I have some hesitations
about this process. It looked systematic, but it might have been too
long and tiresome. I wonder: Do you perceive these steps that I
have used as reducing your enthusiasm to learn?
L
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Studying Three Perspectives
T

Our own perspectives:
what, when, how to think-aloud

Our students' perspectives:
the contribution to their learning to teach

Ecological perspective:
the environment that enables think-aloud
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Data collection
24 episodes
T-A
&
Real-time recording
Student’s comments
on the blog
L
transcription
Adding a post
to the blog
www.takaye.blogspot.com
23
Teacher Educators’ Perspectives

Understanding the reasoning behind our
think-alouds,

The topics for think-aloud,

Considerations of when, how and what to
think-aloud.
M
24
Parts of the Think-Aloud
L

Rehearsing: describing the events in detail, including
the reasoning

Focusing

Raising tensions/hesitations

Suggesting alternatives/
offering different perspectives

Inviting dialogue:
students' comments/reactions
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“Examples from others”
(Rehearsing) I have showed you today examples of other
students' applications of the learning/teaching strategies.
(Focusing) However, showing these examples may direct you to
apply the strategies to the very certain directions that are shown
in the examples and thus to fixate your thoughts.
(Tension/Hesitation) If I were not presenting the applications used
by other students I might have enabled you to create your new
and fascinating applications.
(Alternatives/Perspectives) Indeed, when I do so I present a
variety and not a sole example, and this way I hope to encourage
the diversity. Sometimes I even present you with examples in
which the strategy is not applied appropriately, and we try to learn
from it.
(Inviting dialogue) I am wondering: Does presenting application
examples, before you have a chance to apply the strategy in your
classes, direct you to closed routes? What do you think?
L
26
Categories of Think-Aloud
Category
Reasoning to
Content
Teaching
method
Values
L
Examples
# Timing
Include certain
contents in
lesson
Syllabus
5
prior
Use certain
teaching
methods
Telling and growth
12
prior,
Actions
representing
values
Safe environment
7
H&N
or
after
H&N
Teaching journal
Teacher-researcher
Explicit instruction
Planning & flexibility
Individual & group needs
The complexity of sharing
27
Students' Perspectives

M
How do student-teachers see our think-alouds
as important in the process of learning to teach,
and how they start practicing think-alouds in
their own classrooms?
28
Students speak up for themselves
As learners
“to describe my learning preferences and feelings”

Learning style: "I want to think-aloud as a learner. You asked us to
collaborate in pairs but I know that I do better when I work first on
my own. I was hesitant to talk about it as my peers can look at me
as uncooperative. I decided to use think-aloud to explain my
preference and how it influences my learning.“ (November, 22,
2007, in class)

Vulnerability as learner (the need for a positive feedback): "I want to
think-aloud about my feelings as a student in regard to your
feedback. Usually, you mention in class the comments written to
your blog. After some trials I finally put a comment and was hoping
that you would refer to it in class. Alas, in this session you went on
without referring to my comments on the blog. I know that I am
supposed to study for my own benefit but here I could identify with
the children who do not receive positive feedback following an effort
that they made.“
(January, 24, 2008, in class,)
L
29
Students speak up for themselves
As learners

Uncertainty over purpose: Today Mandi stopped the
class and explained why she was doing something and
how she thought it would work. I really liked this but I
wonder if there were some students who thought, ‘I
really don’t care’…What I am trying to get at is: Do we
need to know we are meant to be learning something to
learn it?” (2nd April, email to Mandi)

Need for confidence as a learner: “I think it was
important for us to trust that you would be able to teach
us well…opening up your vulnerability and uncertainty
about things was unsettling for many [student
teachers]…It was like like ‘whoa! She doesn’t know what
she is doing all the time - what hope have we got?”
(15th March, 2001, email to Mandi)
M
30
As prospective teachers

Using think-alouds in their practicing classes
proved to be problematic. A few used thinkalouds successfully in their teaching, but
others felt reluctant.

We perceived it as a challenge and decided
to explore this further.
M
31
Some students:
“to learn how to think like a teacher”
L
“The idea of thinking aloud has received an upgrade
since the beginning of this school-year. I have never
thought of think-aloud as a teaching method, but
rather as an act that one uses in personal topics and
situations. Teaching is so complex and this year I
have realized that think-aloud can assist me in
solving dilemmas during my teachings… my
students feel like my partners and once they share
my hesitations and decision makings they feel
morally obliged to the proper ongoing of the lesson,
…I have used it in my practicum and will continue
using it as a teacher.” ( July, 17, 2008, comment on
the blog)
32
Some students:
“not something I would do…”
“I think the reflection within [university] class allows us
to know what’s going on and so that it’s a kind of
process of “Would I do that or would I say that?”…it
actually gives us some insight into the way you’re
thinking…[But] It’s not something I would do in [senior
high school] class because I think students really need
to know that the person out the front has some
confidence in what they’re doing and they make a
decision for a particular reason, so I am not sure how
[senior high school] students …would find that, but for
me, it’s good because I can say, now would I be
thinking that at this particular time?…Would I be
thinking the same thing that you’re thinking?” (Student
teacher interview, October, 2000)
M
33
Ecological perspective

T
What are the characteristics of the
environment that enable thinking aloud to
become open and safe despite possible risks
(such as vulnerability to criticism) for the
teacher?
34
Think-Alouds
Sharing thoughts, deliberations and
reasoning for teaching actions

Pre-requisites to using Think-Alouds:

Basic curiosity about self as a teacher and about
teaching as a profession
 Readiness to share thoughts and hesitations

Think-Alouds create the atmosphere:

L
Think-alouds can create an intimate classroom
atmosphere. This encourages me and my
students to be more sharing, trustful, and
cooperative.
35
Tool and Context

Tool: Think-aloud is an important tool for
talking about teaching and learning
Also

L
Context: Think-alouds create the classroom
context and atmosphere for learning about
teaching
36
Challenges with Think-Alouds
M

Selecting what to make explicit and when: being able to
distinguish between my (teacher educator) needs for
students’ learning and students’ needs for their own
learning,

Being seen as somehow different from the ‘real’ world of
practice: think-aloud may be perceived as an
unnecessary academic exercise,

Portraying confidence in uncertainty: how to make the
complex, problematic aspects of teaching explicit without
undermining students’ or the teacher educator’s
confidence.

Trust is crucial in developing new approaches to
practice.
37
Challenges with Think-Alouds

T
Much as Tom believes in the importance
and value of Think-Alouds, he does not
always find them easy to introduce. His
students in a Physics Methods class seem
puzzled when he tries to get them to talk
about our teaching and learning. Some
seem genuinely uncomfortable, while others
seem to question the need. In an 8-month
program, it takes time for the potential of
Think-Alouds to be recognized.
38
Teacher's use of
Think-Alouds (TA)
Other students are hesitant
(Lea)
means
Using Think-Aloud depends on the
sense of teaching ownership
(1)
Engaging pupils/
student-teachers in
pedagogical reasoning
and decision making of
teachers
enables
(2)
(3)
Changes in
teacher's attitudes
(4)
Sense of Teaching
Ownership (TO)
influences
Based on
Examples
(2a)
(2b)
Recognize the
complexity of
teaching
Tension
between
stating and
doing
Advantages
and
disadvantages
of a teaching
method
Role
of the teacher
depends on
Identify with
the teacher's
role
(3a)
if
(3b)
Holding
own
class
Compentency
using teaching
methods
(4a)
if
(4b)
Teacher
educator
Practicing
teacher
if
(4c)
Student
teacher
(3c)
Teacher's
vulnarability:
can make
mistakes
Confidence
with lesson
plan
Perceived as having
Teaching Ownership
Perceived as
not having
Teaching Ownership
Percieved positive
feasibility to use TA
39
Challenges (2)

Last year Tom found that his students were much
more comfortable responding on paper. This may
be related to the fact that at the end of every class
they write a comment about what big ideas they are
taking away from the class. They may have come to
associate the kind of discussion Think-Alouds
require with the sorts of thinking they do on paper at
the end of each class.

The responses on paper named most of the major
themes Tom was trying to develop. When thinkingaloud is a challenge, try writing-aloud!
T
40
Challenges (3)

Just the day before entering these comments, Tom
asked his students to respond anonymously online
to two prompts:
 (1)
How would they describe the main teaching
strategy I am using?
 (2) What questions do you have?

T
The responses so far suggest that it takes time for
them to start thinking in the ways that Think-Alouds
require.
41
Two Illustrative Responses
T

The teaching approach so far
seems to include plenty of time
for asking questions and (most
importantly) having questions
asked of us. We have been
asked to put ourselves in the
learners’ shoes and feel what it
is like to share that perspective
at a time when so much
emphasis is put on how to
teach.

I don’t have any questions at
the moment.

* Use of engaging activities
(Predict-Observe-Explain)
* Effective classroom
discussion
* Sufficient thinking and
questioning time
* Excellent experience

No questions. Everything's
perfect so far!
42
Challenges (4)

These comments are very different but illustrate what
Think-Aloud (or Write-Aloud) can contribute. Once others
respond, we can and will discuss as a class.

I recently did an exercise with 35 of our students asking them
to write (individually) their sense of Program Strengths,
Weaknesses, Suggestions and Question. In groups of 6 they
then compiled ideas and posted them on the board for other
groups to see. The ensuing discussion was a kind of ThinkAloud, as I “thought out loud” about their concerns, sharing my
many experiences of hearing such comments over many years.
(The challenges and frustrations of pre-service teacher
education never seem to go away.)
T
43
Importance of Think-Alouds
T

In any class, it is all too easy to lose sight of the BIG
PICTURE. Nowhere is the Big Picture more
important than in a teacher education program.
Future teachers ALWAYS ask why their professors
do not teach them in the ways they talk about.

We simply cannot fulfill our responsibilities as
teacher educators if we do not step into Think-Aloud
mode (or Write-Aloud, followed by Think-Aloud)
when the time is right, particularly near the end of
courses and programs.
44
Powerful Questions
from those Learning to Teach
M

Why do we have so many ‘busy work’
assignments?

Why is there so much reflection?

What are we supposed to be learning?

Why are we told to teach one way and then
taught in another?
45
Think-Alouds as Response

M
Think-Alouds have critical potential in
responding to questions such as those on
the previous slide. If those learning to teach
are asking such questions early in their
program, then their further progress is in
jeopardy unless they can hear responses
that take their questions as important and
significant!
46
Our upcoming webinars
The Online Learning and Teaching
Environments (OLE(
The MOFET Institute in Israel
http://mofetitec.macam.ac.il/calendar/Pages/ole.aspx
Self-construction in computer-mediated discourse:
Theoretical and methodological perspectives
Prof. Kupferberg is a professor of discourse analysis at
Levinsky College of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel, where she
founded the Shahak Institute for Language, Society and
Communication
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 19:00– 20:30, Israel time [GMT+2]
The bilingual brain: Lexical organization and
cognitive consequences
Dr. Gal Ben-Yehuda,
Post-doctoral Scholar University of Pittsburgh and
the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 from 20:00-21:30, Israel time [GMT+2]
Multimedia Authoring: A Shared Workshop in
AutoPlay Media Studio
The workshop will be held in three sessions of 3 (academic) hours each:
 Part I: February 3, 2009, 17:00 – 19:30 - Israel time [GMT+2]
 Part II: February 10, 2009, 17:00 – 19:30 - Israel time [GMT+2]
 Part III: February 17, 2009, 17:00 – 19:30 - Israel time [GMT+2]
Mr. Yossi Klein,
Jerusalem College of Education, Israel
NewMedia consultant to hi-tech companies and was a member of the
Israel Ministry of Education Committee that developed the Digital Video
Curriculum
http://mofetitec.macam.ac.il/calendar/Pages/ole.aspx
The Boundaries of Think-Aloud as Practiced by
Teacher Educators
Prof. Lea Kozminsky,
Kaye Academic College of
Education Beer Sheva and
The MOFET Institute,
Israel
Prof. Tom Russell,
Queen’s University,
Canada
Dr. Amanda Berry,
Monash University,
Australia
Our team
Rachel Krupel
Wafa Zidan
Ziva Deutsch
Nitsa Waldman
Olzan Goldstein
Einat Rozner
Jay Hurvitz
Eleanor Adika Sarah Peer
We look forward to meeting
you online!