Teacher Commentary

This is another opportunity to practice a Think-Aloud in front of students. Here is an example of what a Think-Aloud might sound like for the first paragraph:

“When I read this the first time, I noticed that it described their lives as “hard” and “back-breaking”. It also says that they worked from dawn–when the sun comes up– to dusk–when the sun goes down. So, one claim I can make is that serfs were busy working hard all day long. That’s what I’m going to write as my claim. Then, I need a citation, so I can prove that I found this information from a reliable source and didn’t just make it up. So I’m going to add Text C, page 3 paragraph 1, in the middle column, and note my evidence from the text over here in the “Possible Evidence” column. What I wonder now is, “What did the children do?” I’m going to write that here in the right column.