The Power of Read-Alouds
11/7/2020
“A child who reads will be an adult who thinks.” By 5th and 6th grade, many students have made up their minds about reading. Either they see it as a fun, leisure activity OR they see it as a chore, something adults make them do. There are many reasons as to why students make their choice one way or the other. Do students have access to books? Are they reading the "right" books? Have their parents been reading to them since infancy or never at all? Is reading more difficult for them? Reading is challenging for many kids, whether related to processing or comprehension issues, or a diagnosable learning disorder or something unknown. It’s up to teachers and parents to help support kids with reading as they form their opinions at such a young age. My educational specialization is in English; I love teaching ELA. However, even I didn’t like reading when I was a kid. My parents read aloud to me from ages 0-8. It wasn’t a coincidence that once they stopped reading to me, my interest in reading took a nose dive. As I got older I used the classic, “…but there are so many other things to do…” excuse as to why I wasn’t reading during my free time. I didn’t see them reading in their free time, so why should I? In Middle and High school, we were assigned to read on our own but teachers rarely read to us in class. “The Transforming Power of Reading Aloud”, is an interesting article from the International Literacy Association. My favorite quotation from that article reads, “The most effective way to cultivate a love of reading in children is to read to them.” It seems so simple. Many studies have shown academic benefits to daily read-aloud. In our 5/6 classroom at PNA, we do read-alouds every single day. Our most recent novel was Front Desk by Kelly Yang. It’s a relevant, relatable, powerful book based on true events. The kids rave about it. Here’s how our ELA class is structured: we have ELA after snack time. The kids settle in and a few students summarize the previous chapters to refresh our memories, or in case someone was absent. I turn off the lights and project a set of vocabulary words that are about to be read in today’s chapters. Students volunteer to pronounce, define, and give an example of the context of the word. The wiggling, hand stretching, passion that some students exhibit—wanting to be called on so badly--is incredible. Words are selected based on their definition unfamiliarly but also due to their spelling. Some verbal learners know what words are based on conversational use, but cannot recognize them from their spelling alone. Often kids don’t think they know a word just by looking at it, but they understand the word once we pronounce and define it. Our words are posted on our word wall, in hopes that students will retain the vocabulary they learn throughout the year. Once everyone is comfortable with the daily word list, I read. Some kids doodle, others have their eyes glued to me. They all, however, are listening intently. Sometimes we take breaks during the reading to discuss events or make predictions. I could not have asked for better engagement with this book. Every single day the kids contend with me when I put the bookmark back in the book as we finish. Front Desk is full of cliff-hangers that kept the kids eager for more. After the read-aloud, students get out their writing journals. They write for about 10 minutes about a given prompt inspired from the reading that day. Sometimes it’s an analysis of the text; other times they make personal connections, relating to the characters in the book. Often they apply the “fictional” scenarios in the book to real-life issues they observe in our world. Most prompts are multi-faceted and kids choose which aspect they want to write about. These journal entries are kept between the student and me. I read and assess them at the end of each week, writing personal notes to each student and sometimes we have a conversation back and forth within the confides of their journal. This technique allows for differentiation and helps builds my personal relationship with each student. Our daily read-aloud has been an integral part of our classroom. Front Desk has connected to our social studies and science curriculums. It’s provided us discussion points about current human rights issues as well. As we finished this book, several students' comments made my eyes water. “This book has made me actually want to read.” or “When you read to me, I understand books so much better.” Even though we finished this book, I just informed the kids that I obtained a copy of its sequel! We’ll be switching gears with our ELA period next week, but we’ll find a chunk of the day for a simple read aloud, just for enjoyment. In our next ELA unit, we’ll be using a small-group book club approach. Students will be analyzing themes in realistic fiction novels, with special focuses on social and personal issues, and reading for empathy and advocacy. Students ranked their book choices on Friday and we’ll dive into that next week. A new opportunity for us to continue reading aloud, together.
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Elizabeth FerryMs. Ferry's experiences include teaching with the Peace Corps in Tanzania, teaching high school English in Maine, and this is her second year at PNA. She loves moose, outdoor activities, and being with her students. Archives
April 2021
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