Let's have a discussion about the benefits of doing a read aloud to your class. 1. Is it worth it in say 4th grade and up? 2. How long do you spend doing it each day? 3. Is it research based to improve students reading or comprehension? 4. Do you tie it directly to your reading activity/lesson for the day? 5. Do students go right into independent reading after it? 6. Do you always model a skill or concept the students aare going to use that day in another activity? 7. Is there a best practice for how to use, structure..etc a read aloud? 8. Is a read aloud only for the listening enjoyment of the students? Let's have a conversation about a teaching practice?
I do read-alouds for a variety of different purposes. I teach third graders, although my class looks more like a fifth grade class. I think it's definitely worth doing at all levels. I'd say even a college English Lit class would benefit from a read-aloud at times. Generally, I do it during our snack time, which is right after recess. I generally read for about 15 minutes, although I'll sometimes go longer (I like stopping at cliffhangers... I find my kids remember what they hear best if I stop at a cliffhanger). My purpose for reading changes. Right now, I'm reading "The Castle in the Attic," to look at genre characteristics. The last book I read was "The Green Book," which I used pretty heavily for several things. But at the beginning of the year, when I read "The World According to Humphrey," I was reading mostly for entertainment (and because I think those books are good choices for most of the kids in my room... and predictably, they all started checking them out from the library or asking mom and dad to buy the series for them!) I don't think read alouds are only for enjoyment, although I think it helps. Hearing a reader read fluently serves as a good model for students, and it's a good chance to model a comprehension strategy. I find, in particular, that read alouds are the best way to get kids to understand determining the meaning of a word through context clues.
All of the above. Plus, I found cliffhangers gave sixth graders a reason to want to come to school the next day. Sounds silly, but it happened often. Also, I loved hearing students debate what they thought would happen next in the story.
Do you try to strategically use the read aloud time and looking at genre characteristics to front load for genre characteristics activity at another reading time in the day or is the read aloud time just a separate opportunity for genre characteristics completely isolated from other reading activities for the day?
Snack time is immediately before Language Arts, so I generally try to make a connection between the two. Right now, we're specifically studying characteristics of folktales and fables, but talking about elements of historical, fantasy, and realistic fiction gets them into the mindset I want them in.
And by cliffhangers, I mean stopping at a cliffhanger. Whenever I go to close a book and my kids go, "No, please keep reading!" I know I've found a good place to stop for the day.
Not a teacher yet, but read alouds are some of my best memories of 4th grade. Actually, I had a conversation today with one of my tutoring students (4th grade) about a read aloud he was really enjoying. Unfortunately I don't remember what it was called.
Yep, I remember read alouds in 4th grade too, however we were allowed to draw the entire time or just listen to the story. There was never any instruction or real student interaction with the story.
That's a waste of time if there isn't some interaction with the story. I expect my kids to be sitting on the rug (and eating their snack), and even on a purely "entertaining reading" day, I still give them focus questions to think about and discuss.
Yeah, that is what I am thinking as well. Trying to get some ideas for how to implement an effective read aloud "program".
Try to alternate between "girl books" and "boy books." I find that with a book like "The Castle in the Attic," which none of my girls would have even looked twice at, is pulling in my girls at least as much as it is my boys. Always be intentional with the books you choose. I generally pick novels because I can use them for multiple purposes, and it doesn't require as much planning. It's a lot easier on me to use 10-15 novels in a year than 180 picture books. I like novels too, because a lot of times it gets kids interested in a particular author. I use Patricia Polacco books and Eric Henkes books throughout the year also, but my kids never feel the need to seek out more of those books though. I'm five chapters into "The Castle in the Attic," and I already have kids pestering our librarian to get more books by Elizabeth Winthrop. For me, I like doing it during snack time because it makes it a little less stressful on the kids. It feels like a break time to them, but it still lets me introduce topics and strategies. I generally don't have to deal with "but can I read at my seat?" type comments because... well, they're too busy eating a snack! Read-alouds are also a good way to get them information on topics that would normally not be interesting to them. My kids couldn't possibly care less about Christopher Newport, but present it to them as a read aloud, and I have 28 kids staring intently waiting for the next page.
I always try to leave my 3rd graders off at a "cliffhanger" (doesn't even have to be that intense, sometimes in the middle of a conversation between two characters.) They go nuts. We usually read before lunch and they'll scream and beg to go to lunch later cause they want to hear more. I just love their enthusiasm about reading and I believe reading aloud to them is what has created this feeling in the classroom. For most students I have also seen it transfer into their independent reading. One student (who never had much of an interest in reading or school) doesn't use his ipad for games anymore- his mother told me he goes home and "researches" topics in some of the historical fiction books we've read.
Pashtun, Very good questions. I really feel there are a lot of benefits to reading out loud, and there is not one right way to do it. 1. Yes, it can be worth it for grades 4th and 5th. 6th and up? I am not so sure. 2. I read for 15 minutes after lunch each day. Sometimes I read for 10 minutes when I know we might need a long discussion about the story. I am very choosy about the books I use. Personally, I want certain things from my read alouds. They include the following: 1. They need to be high interest. Reading aloud boring books to students isn't necessary with so many good books out there. 2. They need to teach them something. This could be as simple as the theme of friendship in Charlotte's Web, Sacrificing for a Cause such as Shiloh etc. 3. I choose a time of the day which helps calm students down and get them back into focus. They come in and want to know what happens next in the story each day. 4. I want accountability. I do give some quizzes on read alouds as they are not worth the time if students can just ignore my reading. I want them to see that they are listening and understanding the theme. These are short and sweet, but they really help to make sure they pay attention. I usually have 1 quiz each week. This is my preference and I know many teachers wouldn't want to do this. PM me and I'd be happy to send you a list of great 4th grade novels that you might want to use.
Read aloud are fantastic and beneficial. I read aloud every day. It is always interactive, and I read for about 15 minutes. It ties into our big idea (which are designed around social studies and science themes, right now on gardens), and I include our reading strategy and skill at that time. Vocabulary increases through read alouds, as well as introducing students to new ideas, perspectives, and experiences. Take a look here: http://www.learner.org/workshops/tml/workshop7/teaching2.html There is an argument for read alouds in the older grades, even research to back that up.
I use read alouds every day in second grade. Sometimes it is picture books that go with our theme or weekly story but most of the time, it is a chapter book. At the moment, I am trying to read a variety of easy chap. books to expose them to other grade appropriate series..this helps them see that there are different chapter books (and not just Magic Tree House or Junie B. Jones!) I also use the time to expose them to different literature that is perhaps out of their comfort zone...so for examply, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wind in the Willow... As far as formal lessons, no I don't do any aligned to the book (except Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where we compare and contrast the movie with the book) but we do talk about "cliffhangers" and how authors use them to make you WANT to keep reading, analyze formal vs. informal language (CC standard!), character, setting, problem, solution, making predictions, drawing conclusions, making up their own endings, etc. I love read alouds for kids. Really love them.
My sense is that there are so many things crammed into the schoolday that I'd probably assign reading to be done outside class time if they can and are actually going to do it. Taking up time during class to read is probably not as efficient. I have not seen any research supporting it, though I do think "modeling" in general is a research-based intervention. The question is what would you be modeling that they would not already know how to do? If, for example, you were concerned with reading prosody with most students in your class, you might model appropriate prosody and followed by independent practice. So, I think "whether it's research-based" is probably more tied to what you're using it for.
I teach first grade and it's really not an option. I remember when I was in 5th grade and I loved when my teacher read to us. It just needs to be a good book that everyone is interested in.
Going back to the site I refrenced earlier, these are some benefits of read alouds: Read-alouds enable teachers to offer texts with more challenging concepts and/or language than students can read independently. The read-aloud strategy helps English-language learners develop new vocabulary and syntactic awareness. Reading aloud builds good reading habits. It stimulates imaginations and emotions; models good reading processes; exposes students to a range of literature; enriches vocabularies and rhetorical sensitivity; elucidates difficult texts; helps to distinguish different genres; supports independent reading; and encourages a lifelong enjoyment of reading. Read-alouds show students how to question, visualize, and make predictions while they read.
