Step Into My Sessions: Starting Small with Big Thinking: First Steps with Mental State Verbs
Animations give us a place to practice thinking together.
In last week’s Step Into My Sessions, we looked at why mental state verbs matter—and how they shape what students can (and can’t yet) explain. This week, let’s move from the “why” to the “how”. Here’s an activity you can use with many of your students, one that builds both thinking and language in a natural, accessible way. For me, that’s a win-win!
Mental State Verbs - From the "Why" to the "How"
Even a simple animation storyline is full of mental state verbs—you just have to look for them. 👀 Try watching with your list of MSVs in mind, and you’ll start to notice them everywhere. Once you realize that, you’re ready to begin.
Play the animation, turn the sound down, and narrate what is happening as your students watch. Describe what the characters might be thinking, noticing, realizing, or assuming. You’re not asking students to generate the language yet. You’re giving it to them, in context, in real time. Exposing them to this new vocabulary. 🧠⚡ That’s where the learning starts (as it does with neurotypical children).
Here’s an example using a group favorite, Maca & Roni: Turn on the AC, by Kyungmin Woo.
Look at the richness here:
And that’s just part of the animation! 🤩
When you’re working on exposure, narration is all you need to do. Try it with several different animations. You may be surprised by how easily you can generate narration that includes mental state verbs.
Most of the animations I recommend are excellent for this kind of work. If you haven’t already explored my free resources, you can check out my lists of recommendations. Start small, stay consistent, and you’ll notice what begins to shift as students hear this language again and again. And then begin to experiment using this new vocabulary.
Looking for another example? Here is a partial narration for Soar, by Alyce Tzue…
Reflective moment
What do you notice when you focus on narrating the thinking, not just the action?
Loving all these great animations that give our students so much! 😄
