👋 Hey there!

It might be the summer holidays in the UK, but if you're still in planning mode (or just storing up ideas for September), this one’s for you.

In this edition of ⚗️DistillED, we explore how Thinking Aloud—making expert thinking visible—can help students develop metacognitive habits, regulate their learning, and build confidence.

What is thinking aloud?

Thinking Aloud is a modelling strategy where teachers verbalise their thought processes while tackling a task. It's more than explaining—it's narrating your inner dialogue so students can hear how expert learners think. For example, a teacher might say: “I see a minus sign here… that usually means I’ll need to subtract something—but what exactly?”

This helps students build their own internal dialogue over time so that they can self-monitor their learning, asking questions like “What is the task asking of me?” or “What strategy have I used before that might work here?” Check out the visual example below.

The main components of effective think aloud are:

• Clarifying the Task

• Linking to Prior Knowledge

• Planning and Predicting

• Verbalising Reasoning

• Monitoring and Adjusting

• Inviting Participation

• Reflecting and Evaluating

So, why bother narrating your thoughts out loud in front of a room full of students? What makes this so effective?

Why is thinking aloud effective?

According to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), modelling expert thinking by thinking aloud helps develop pupils’ metacognitive skills by supporting them to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning.

This is particularly effective for novice learners, who benefit from having typically hidden thought processes made explicit. As students listen to and engage with a teacher’s internal dialogue, they begin to internalise this voice, gradually learning how to talk themselves through challenges independently. Over time, this not only improves their learning strategies but also strengthens their motivation, resilience, and confidence.

Here’s an overview of the benefits of externalising your thinking:

• Builds metacognitive awareness: Helps students understand how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own thinking during a task.

• Supports novice learners: Makes expert thinking visible, providing a model students can imitate and eventually internalise.

• Promotes independence and confidence: Encourages self-regulation by helping students develop an inner voice to guide problem-solving.

• Reduces cognitive load: Helps to break down information allowing students to process information gradually.

Thinking Aloud transforms modelling from a demonstration into a dialogue. It helps students hear how success sounds—and eventually, how to talk themselves through it too.

So, how do we help students become comfortable with the messiness of thinking?
How do we make metacognitive talk a natural, visible, and valued part of our classroom culture?

Let’s find out.

How do I implement think alouds effectively?

The seven-step process below offers a helpful starting point for making Thinking Aloud a deliberate part of your modelling. Of course, the structure isn’t fixed—it’s a flexible framework you can adapt to suit the task, subject, and learners in front of you.

The Invite Participation phase doesn’t need to be standalone—it can and should run through every step. This is what makes explicit instruction truly interactive: by encouraging student contributions and eliciting frequent responses, you continuously check for understanding and keep learners actively engaged.

Until next time—keep modelling, keep reflecting.

Jamie

Where can I find out more?

Thinking Aloud Scripting
To support your planning, I’ve put together a simple planning document to help you think carefully and script your think aloud during live modelling.

Mega Bundle: Guide, Checklist, Sentence Stems and Slideshow!

This week’s ⚗️DistillED+ resources include a Teacher Checklist, a bank of Sentence Stems, and a CPD PowerPoint Slideshow—all designed to help you embed Thinking Aloud into your modelling with clarity and confidence.

Subscribe to find the WHAT, WHY, and HOW of this powerful strategy, plus practical tools to get started straight away.

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