All Posts Tagged Tag: ‘Think-Aloud’

As an introduction, I would like to verbalize my inner monologue while writing this post:

“Why do you constantly reference Austin Powers in your posts? Are you secretly longing to be a ‘man of mystery?’ You better hope that people know you aren’t sexist like Mike Myer’s character. Furthermore, who is your Dr. Evil?” -Willy’s Inner Monologue

Done. I feel better.

The inner monologue, believed to be the conversational form of each person’s thoughts, is outrageously and inappropriately displayed in an exchange between Austin Powers and Vanessa Kennsington immediately after the International Man of Mystery is unfrozen. Austin, brandishing no political correctness, verbalizes a series of sexually laden comments directed at Vanessa (standing ten feet away, obviously hearing the words). He concludes by saying, “How do I tell them that, because of the unfreezing process, I have no inner monologue? I hope that I did not just say that out loud just now.” Classic cinematic ridiculousness, and introductory fodder for something that has been on mind: liveblogging.

Liveblogging popped onto my radar a number of times throughout the past few weeks. I watched (or is it read) The Unofficial Apple Weblog’s text-based, real-time coverage of Steve Job’s keynote at the WWDC. And, just yesterday, I spent a few minutes following David Warlick’s live updates on a presentation given at the NECC conference. As I watched/read what David wrote using CoverIt Live, my mind drifted to some defining characteristics of a liveblogging experience…

• Liveblogging is live (duh) and seems to be a lot like Twitter and other microblogging applications.
• Liveblogging is generally delivered by a single person.
• Liveblogging often comes across as descriptive accounts of what’s happening at an event or a place. Relatively flat, but useful if the audience watching the liveblogging experience can’t attend.
• OCCASIONALLY Liveblogging offers glimpses into the writer’s thoughts, connections, and ideas. You might say that liveblogging can potentially be an inner monologue (as was the case with some of David Warlick’s entries).

While I drifted from David’s streaming words, I began to think about my classroom, education, and my students. An idea A connection to the reflective elements in a liveblogging experience (what David did when he interjected his thoughts and ideas) and reading literacy appeared: Could a liveblog be an entry point to understanding the thinking processes that a “expert” goes through while listening or participating to an event? Liveblogging reflective commentary would almost be like a “think-aloud” for listening and processing spoken words. Think-aloud methodology, as it applies to reading and comprehension, is when a teacher “reads a passage aloud and talks through the processes used to make sense of what is being read, thereby modeling the thought processes and application of background knowledge necessary to understand the text” (Kinzer & Leu, 248). Liveblogging a “think-aloud” for an event could be a relatively unobtrusive way to model thinking processes (an inner monologue) for other people in attendance, especially students.

References:

Kinzer, Charles K., and Donald J. Leu. Effective Literacy Instruction, K-8 (4th Edition). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall, 1998.

That Other Paper. “City of Austin Power Plant.” Flickr. 15 Apr. 2007. 29 June 2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/austins_only_paper/461176598/.