During Intermediate Block, I had the wonderful
privilege of learning about various strategies that can improve reading
comprehension of both narrative and expository texts. One of the primary
focuses was how read-alouds can be used to model the reading thought process as
well as how to read fluently among other benefits.
Whereas I completed Dr. Boyce’s exploration of
reading strategies and realized a read-aloud was much more than merely reading
a book aloud, it did not surprise me when Jade told me her teacher just opens a
book and starts reading. Prior to the semester, I was searching for ways to
help my daughter, Jade, improve her reading comprehension because she had
trouble comprehending everything she read. Despite my best efforts of reading
to her throughout the years, I learned read-alouds are ineffective unless they
model the fourteen fundamentals of comprehension. However, I realized habits
are hard to break. For example, I had the habit of grabbing a book off the
shelf, reading the title, followed by reading the first page to her and so on.
When I incorporated the 4Ps and other fundamentals into the read-alouds, her
ability to comprehend the texts significantly improved. The more I modeled how
we should interact with texts, the more she started using the same strategies
when she read independently.
Read-alouds, when done properly, have countless
benefits, many of which I have been able to see first-hand with Jade. She went
from complaining about reading to begging me to buy her more books from the
monthly Scholastic papers. We have also
gone from reading the traditional 32-page narrative texts to more expository
texts and chapter books because her interests have been expanded. As Jade
became more confident in her own ability to read, we shifted roles and she
read-aloud to me, which was a remarkable accomplishment because she had always
been hesitant to read-aloud at home and at school.
Although read-alouds are much more prevalent in the
early grades, I firmly believe we are never too old to enjoy and benefit from
listening to someone read-aloud to us. As a college student, listening to my
various professors like Dr. Stacy Reeves read-aloud different texts continues
to be one of the most-rewarding and enjoyable college experiences I have had.
However, I am easily distracted, making it difficult to fully benefit from a
read-aloud if there is noise or movement in the classroom. If I cannot hear
every word, I get frustrated and feel like there is a gap in my comprehension,
preventing me from enjoying the read-aloud. For this reason, I think it is
extremely important to ensure read-alouds are productive versus frustrating for
students.
Whether in the third grade, tenth grade, or a
college course, read-alouds should be a part of every classroom. Although I
know teachers never have enough time to accomplish everything they need to in a
given day, read-alouds are not intended to be conducted in isolation of the
objectives. They can and should be related to the content to be learned. For
example, Dr. Bishop read a book about the different marsupials. We, as
students, could have learned the same information by taking notes from a
PowerPoint and listening to a traditional lecture. However, by using a
read-aloud, I actually enjoyed learning about something that has never really
interested me beforehand. My future students can also enjoy learning about new
things in the same manner in addition to the many other benefits of
read-alouds. Simply, taking a few
minutes each day to read-aloud to our students is one more way we can set them
up for success!
Questions:
1) How
much more beneficial are read-alouds in the various grades when they are
conducted by individuals other than the teachers (i.e. volunteers, parents, members
of the community)?
2) Considering
I become frustrated when I encounter a gap in my comprehension during a
read-aloud, what are the benefits of integrating a read-aloud with a shared
reading (providing copies of the texts to students who prefer to follow along
and not others)?
I wrote you a beautiful comment that I deeply thought about and blogger decided to delete it. So I will summarize what I wrote the first time. I agree with what you said in your post and I like how you referred back to Dr. Stacy's class. It is true that everyone can benefit from a read aloud, no matter the age. Although I do wonder, at the high school level, if specific subject areas would help the students succeed more if a read aloud was included daily?!
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