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Stop and Think Reading or Say Something Reading

Partners divide the reading into sections. They both read the section silently or aloud and then take turns saying something. If reading aloud, students learn NOT to read for one another. The trick is to learn to ask one another questions to help the partner read for himself. In addition, students stop periodically and say what they are thinking to their partner: a personal connection, a question, something noticed, a connection to another book or movie... say or ask something! Students can read this way in groups with a teacher, as well.

"The small group in today's classroom should not look, sound, or feel like the small group of yesterday."
Where Have All the Bluebirds Gone: How to Soar with Flexible Grouping
by JoAnne Caldwell and Michael Ford

Getting Started: Modeling Stop and Think

I see three purposes for Stop-And-Think Reading: (1) To show students that there's more to reading than calling words, (2) to make meaning of text with another person, hopefully a friend, and (3) to demonstrate how to stop and think when reading independently.

To accomplish these objectives, I begin with a Think Aloud. I think aloud in one of two ways: (1) Sometimes I read the book ahead of time and mark what I'm thinking. I slow down and thoughtfully watch my brain at work. In the quiet of my office at home, I record what I observe so that I can tell my students. (2) Sometimes, I stop and think spontaneously. I read a book in front of my children that I know is a safe choice. (Someone recommends it to me and essentially does the pre-reading I was taught to do in college.) Then, I just Stop and Think whatever comes to mind.

If I prepare, it's because I'm concentrating on teaching one strategy. If I'm spontaneous, I'm showcasing my full range of proficient reader strategies. That's my way of doing think aloud.

When I begin, I sit on the floor and gather my students to me. I ask them to observe what I'm doing. I challenge them to be explicit! This, again, is tougher than it looks. Hopefully, the children notice that I scanned the book and accessed by background knowledge first. Then I stopped on every page (or I had a specific boundary in mind like every paragraph or after every subsection). I recorded my thinking in brief notes on sticky notes or in my daybook. I reread when I got confused. I showed emotion when reading (excitement, wonder, sadness, embarrassment). I might have consulted a dictionary or figured out words from context clues. Of course, we make a chart of what I did as I modeled.

I then ask students to try Stop and Think with a partner. I select a short picture book on purpose; it's important to carefully select a book that is meaty enough to discuss and finish within one session. I look for books with obvious themes or slightly controversial topics.

Next, the partners place a picture book between them. At first, I assign them to stop and think at the end of every page. If I get real ambitious, I mark spots where I want them to stop and think with a light pencil point. (By about the third day, most stop to think whenever they see the need; they get it.)

We come back to the rug and discuss how Stop and Think worked for them. I point out that they don't always have a partner, but talking to a partner is similar to what I want them to do when they read on their own. Real reading involves talking to yourself. (It's obvious, I know, but we have to be explicit.) I beg them to watch the inner conversation they have as they read a book. I especially want them to STOP when the book doesn't make sense and use one or more of their fix-up strategies (see index).

I also use Stop and Question, Stop and Infer, Stop and Connect, etc. when teaching new strategies. Eventually, we try the fully integrated Stop and Think method with novels, textbooks, or nonfiction books. In addition, my students choose Stop and Think as a partner-reading selection.

The story below illustrates why this strategy is so powerful.

A True Story...

Many of our students, especially our borderline students, are looking to us for confirmation every time they come across a word they don't know. Here's a deal to make with them: I promise we will STOP AND THINK at the end of every page. We're not going to stop every time you don't know a word.

Say something like, "Read the page and when you come across a word you can't read, keep going. Do the best you can. Skip the word if you have to. When you get to the end of the page, you can ask about what you don't know. Sticky note your place if you think you will forget."

I tried this with a group of 3 girls the other day. One 5th grade student could not read "ankle-deep water," but I pointed out that she could read "deep" water. She could not read "moccasins" but I showed her she could visualize an Indian from the "leggings and the feathers" and the picture on the page. She could not sound out the word, "whooshing" but she did understand from context that a "wall of water came rushing down the canyon" and made a sound. She wasn't sure what sound. She was reluctant to keep going but I reassured her.

By Stop and Think time, she didn't ask about the 3 words. Instead, she used her time to ask why a character fainted. Interesting that by the end of the page, she had enough comprehension to ask about an important detail. By missing only 3 words on the page, I knew that this was a just-right book for her and so I challenged her.

I pointed out what she read incorrectly - not to show her that she missed those words, but to teach a lesson. "You understood enough to keep going," I told her. "You don't need to know every word to understand the story. If a word completely confuses you to the point where you don't understand what's going on any more, look it up or ask someone. You have to decide the difference. As it turns out, none of those 3 words you wanted to read perfectly mattered to understanding the story!" The point? She needs to build skill, comprehension, and confidence - not perfection. Are we sending that message?

Another example: one fifth-grader was reading the narrative poem Edward the Emu about an emu who was dissatisfied with his life in the zoo. At his Stop and Think time, he said, "I used to pretend to be something I was not." Whoa! He just stepped right into the theme! I asked him to share but he said it was too embarrassing. So I tried another tact. I asked him to look at the end of the story and tell me how the author feels about being someone you are not. The whole group chimed in. Edward the Emu tries being a seal, a lion, a snake, but in the end he goes back to being an Emu again. Obviously, the author thinks that you should be who you are.

I want readers to ask questions about words and plot details - that's the first level and they must get those questions answered in order to move on to inferential understandings. I want them to wonder about the author's purpose, main ideas and themes, and why reading this story even matters to them.

To get to that point, we have to stop jumping in every time a student can't read a word or worse yet, let other students supply the word. We actually interfere with readers' comprehension if we do that! If we constantly interrupt our students or if they stop and ask us about each word they don't know, they will miss the gist of the story. It's like feeling a behavior-modification buzzer every time the child comes across an unfamiliar word. We inadvertently create word-for-word readers.

Instead, offer them Stop and Think time to get unconfused! As their teacher, take notes on what gave them trouble. You may decide to teach to the troubling issues AFTER the child reads.

And by the way, the teacher of the 3 girls reported another benefit for them. Whereas, at first they really wanted to ditch their novel because they said it was too hard to understand, they finished it in a day and went into the library to find the next book in the same series!