Laurel Helm
Edok #5
Fall 2012
Dr. Cozens
Samblis, Kelley. (2006). Think-Tac-Toe, a motivating method of increasing
comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 59.7, 691-694.
CENTRAL THEME:
Teachers can use the Think-Tac-Toe method to help motivate their students to do their work and practice comprehension strategies.
MAIN IDEAS:
1. The Think-Tac-Toe square board is a great tool for teachers to use. Students get to pick what activity they want to complete and by doing that they usually are more motivated to do the work. When the students are more motivated to do the work they usually learn better.
2. Teachers can pick what activities go on the board based on the student’s skill level or what they need more practice in. The teacher can also tell the students how many activities they have to complete. If a student is not as advanced they can do only three activities. If they are advanced the teacher might choose for them to do all nine activities. This is also allowing the teacher to differentiate their instruction.
3. The Think-Tac-Toe was made for comprehension but teachers can change it up for any reading skill students need extra practice in.
4. It eliminates the need for a bunch of worksheets in the classroom. Students get bored with having to do worksheets all the time. With the Think-Tac-Toe strategy students can pick different tasks to complete. This way they aren’t doing the same thing all the time.
AUTHOR’S CONCLUSION:
The Think-Tac-Toe work is great for students because it gives them a choice. When students have a choice they are usually more motivated and do better work. In turn they learn more. This activity allows them to work with others and practice certain skills. This also frees up the teacher to help more in the classroom. Although it is time consuming for teachers to come up with all the activities it is time saving in the classroom.
EVALUATION:
I really like the idea of the Think-Tac-Toe method. I think students would enjoy picking what activities to do. It is nice that different students can have different sheets so they may not notice the differentiation as much. I think it would be time consuming to make the activities for different levels of learning in your classroom but as the year goes on it would get easier. The sheets could be used for different subjects as well. I would use them in centers since they are self-explanatory. I like that the tasks weren’t that difficult. Some of them were to list the main characters, explain the setting, draw a picture of a big event that occurred, write down the main events in the story and then cute them out and have a partner put them in order, and create a timeline for the story. These tasks seem like much more fun than just doing a worksheet. I like that some of the tasks involve a partner. I also like the idea of changing the tasks out to focus on another skill like summarizing, paraphrasing, predicting, and concluding. I would be able to do a lot with this in my classroom.
Edok #5
Fall 2012
Dr. Cozens
Samblis, Kelley. (2006). Think-Tac-Toe, a motivating method of increasing
comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 59.7, 691-694.
CENTRAL THEME:
Teachers can use the Think-Tac-Toe method to help motivate their students to do their work and practice comprehension strategies.
MAIN IDEAS:
1. The Think-Tac-Toe square board is a great tool for teachers to use. Students get to pick what activity they want to complete and by doing that they usually are more motivated to do the work. When the students are more motivated to do the work they usually learn better.
2. Teachers can pick what activities go on the board based on the student’s skill level or what they need more practice in. The teacher can also tell the students how many activities they have to complete. If a student is not as advanced they can do only three activities. If they are advanced the teacher might choose for them to do all nine activities. This is also allowing the teacher to differentiate their instruction.
3. The Think-Tac-Toe was made for comprehension but teachers can change it up for any reading skill students need extra practice in.
4. It eliminates the need for a bunch of worksheets in the classroom. Students get bored with having to do worksheets all the time. With the Think-Tac-Toe strategy students can pick different tasks to complete. This way they aren’t doing the same thing all the time.
AUTHOR’S CONCLUSION:
The Think-Tac-Toe work is great for students because it gives them a choice. When students have a choice they are usually more motivated and do better work. In turn they learn more. This activity allows them to work with others and practice certain skills. This also frees up the teacher to help more in the classroom. Although it is time consuming for teachers to come up with all the activities it is time saving in the classroom.
EVALUATION:
I really like the idea of the Think-Tac-Toe method. I think students would enjoy picking what activities to do. It is nice that different students can have different sheets so they may not notice the differentiation as much. I think it would be time consuming to make the activities for different levels of learning in your classroom but as the year goes on it would get easier. The sheets could be used for different subjects as well. I would use them in centers since they are self-explanatory. I like that the tasks weren’t that difficult. Some of them were to list the main characters, explain the setting, draw a picture of a big event that occurred, write down the main events in the story and then cute them out and have a partner put them in order, and create a timeline for the story. These tasks seem like much more fun than just doing a worksheet. I like that some of the tasks involve a partner. I also like the idea of changing the tasks out to focus on another skill like summarizing, paraphrasing, predicting, and concluding. I would be able to do a lot with this in my classroom.