Abstract of

Teaching Tips
Using Thought-Bubble Pictures to Assess Students' Feelings About Reading

Debby Zambo

We live in a world full of print. Students who enjoy reading are at a definite advantage, while those who dislike it fall further and further behind.

Research shows that identifying how students perceive themselves as readers and how they feel about reading is as important as identifying cognitive skill. Unfortunately, uncovering how students feel is not always easy. In order to understand students' feelings teachers must create situations in which students feel comfortable sharing their inner thoughts. One strategy for doing this is to use thought-bubble drawings. Thought bubbles scaffold expression and make visible what children think and how they feel about reading.

Two thought-bubble pictures are presented along with instructions for their use. Samples of student drawings are also provided, along with a coding system so that teachers can interpret their students' drawings.

Abstract from Zambo, D. (2006, May). Using Thought-Bubble Pictures to Assess Students' Feelings About Reading. The Reading Teacher, 59(8), 798–803. doi: 10.1598/RT.59.8.7