Reading Comprehension- Think Marks

Think Marks are a great way for students to show that they are thinking while reading. I have always had a very active imagination and for me it was always simple to picture what was happening in books. I loved teacher read aloud, listening to my parents read, and having the librarian read to us. I was always picturing what was happening and questioning when I didn’t understand something. This came very naturally to me. As a teacher I have found that it is hard to teach something that comes so naturally to you. My students did not have a natural tendency to imagine, question, and think beyond trying to read. In my career I worked mainly with struggling readers and if you are struggling to read something that is where your brain power if going. You don’t have enough power left to naturally think beyond what you are reading. This is where Think Marks come in. They are great physical reminders to think while you read. I do have a post-it love so I use post-its to help with my Think Marks. This allows the students to put their thoughts right in the book and recall them later when they need them.

In a past post I covered Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World. This is actually one way to demonstrate thinking under the Think Mark of Connection. I will not go into much detail because it is covered here.

The other Think Marks are Funny Part, Confusing Part, Favorite Part, Prediction, Inferred, Visualize, Important Part, Exciting Part, and New Information.

The Think Marks that are the most self-explanatory are Funny Part, Confusing Part, Favorite Part, Important Part, and Exciting Part. These marks are used to demonstrate what the students think or feel about a particular part. This is totally dependent on the student. I enjoy using these think marks because it gives me a glimpse into their personality.

Funny Part helps to show me the student’s sense of humor. This also allows us to laugh. By laughing together we are able to have a connection.

Confusing Part is very helpful because it allows the students to show vulnerability in a constructive way. This allows them to admit that they didn’t know something or that something doesn’t make sense. Creating a culture of questioning and being safe to ask questions is so important.

Favorite Part helps students have buy-in with what they are reading. As they are able to show parts that they like allows them to share with others what they are reading in a personal way. By picking one favorite part they are able to analyze the text to determine what is most meaningful to them.

Important Part Think Mark is so important (J) because this allows students to analyze, which parts are important to the story and determine the way that stories flow. My favorite genre is Mystery. I love this genre because it lends itself to finding the important parts. Using a mystery is a great way to help students learn about this Think Mark. By recognizing important parts while reading students are able to prepare for higher level thinking and questioning about the text.

Exciting Part is a helpful Think Mark because it can be used to have students connect with each other over text. I like to have students explain to each other why they feel that a certain part is exciting. By knowing exciting parts it can lend itself to story mapping, and story recall. I like to have students summarize stories using their Think Marks.

Prediction Think Marks are helpful because students can mark what they used to predict with. For example on the story of Goldilocks students can put a Prediction Think Mark on the page where Goldilocks breaks the chair and predict that Baby Bear will cry. This provides a more organic discussion of predictions.

Very closely linked to prediction is inference or Inferred Think Marks. My basic rule of thumb or what I use to teach students is inference is reading between the lines. Figuring out what the author did not say, but wanted us to think anyway. If we make a prediction and it didn’t happen it then becomes an inference.

New Information Think Mark is where students can mark information they have learned, but also maybe information that has been newly introduced by the author that can have an affect on the outcome of a story. This is a great Think Mark to use with a KWL chart (Know, Want to Know, Learned).

Visualize Think Marks are my favorite. I naturally visualize when I read and this came so naturally I found it so hard to teach my students. By doing visualization think marks students can draw or describe what they are thinking. This has been a great way for me to share visualizing with students.

Here’s also a sample of the post-its I have created at my TPT store. I enjoy having premade post-its because I can quickly hand them to students and I have uniformity. I may have a little OCD, but it works in my life.

Think Marks have really helped me in teaching bring better thoughts to the reading process. This works great when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. I hope you enjoy this strategy. I would love to hear stories of how you incorporate these in your classroom.

Information and Inspiration found in the book Strategies That Work. I don't get any compensation from them I just talk about things I like.

Happy Teaching!