What does Mr. E think?

We've been doing a lot of learning about ratios and equivalent ratios for the past week. Stronger classes seem to be doing pretty well, but students that are below-level have had a harder time with proportional reasoning and concepts. I have recently started doing a "What does Mr. E think?" so groups can get a glimpse into how I would solve the exact same problem and how I would show my work. It is also happens to be entertaining and fun for the kids.

I will have students work on an example problem:

As the students are working on the problem, so am I on the dry erase pad. After about 2-3 minutes of students working I have the students share. If the students get it, great, we will proceed as normal by discussing how they arrived at their answer. If not, I turn my dry erase board around and think aloud as well as explain my answer and my work.

Modeling my thinking has been somewhat useful for some of the struggling students, and students can also question my work, thinking and discuss their errors with their groups. As a rookie it's still a challenge (and unknown) to me to bring below grade level students to grade level or above.