READ ALOUD

1. READ ALOUD Beyond Bedtime Stories

2. From Katherine Paterson’s The Spying Heart • And, of course, the best way to cultivate their [children’s] taste is to read to them, starting at birth and keeping on and on. “Let me hear you read it” is a test. “Let me read it to you” is a gift.

3. Reflection • Think of a person whether it was a teacher, a parent or a relative who read to you, remember the feelings of comfort and the sense of adventure in losing yourself in a good story? Who was this person? What did they read to you?

4. Concepts Today • What are some foundations of read alouds for all age levels? • Considerations for quality pieces of literature and thinking about curricular connections? • What do effective read alouds consider? • How do you read a read aloud?

5. Concepts Today • What do we do after reading a piece of literature? • How do you design opportunities for students to engage in more sophisticated discussions? • Informational Text strategies for read alouds

6. Why Read Aloud? – The single most important literacy event • Provides opportunities for literacy learning • Teaches us about ourselves and the world • Builds community • Promotes gains in confidence • The more they hear – the more they can use in their own writing (settings, endings, vocabulary, character)

7. Why Read Aloud • Let’s students in on the teachers thinking by modeling “think alouds” • Models how good readers read • Stimulates imagination • Enhances listening skills • Offers many new friends since characters can become quite real • Students learn that the language of books is different from spoken language

8. Read Alouds to Older Students • Increases test scores • Introduces new genres and text structures • Provides opportunities for extended discussions • Facilitates language growth for ELL students • Teachers demonstrate that content topics have connections to pleasure reading • Demonstrates that teachers want to share personal interests with students

9. Read Alouds to Older Students • Allows teachers to move beyond the secondary resources of textbooks to original or primary resources • Helps students build and use vocabulary in their responses • Helps make content come alive • Use expands a different way to lecture to students

10. Effective Read Alouds • Have established rituals, designated times and places • Occur numerous times during the day • Include high quality literature • Establish connections with other works and curriculum • Promotes discussions before during and after

11. Effective Read Alouds • Supports a variety of student responses • Facilitated by knowledgeable teachers • Revisits past favorites and classics • Takes advantage of the teachable moments

12. Selecting Literature to Read Aloud • Have you read the book? • Did you enjoy the story and can share your passion? • Does it tell a good story? • Does it represent high literary and artistic quality?

13. Selecting Read Alouds • Will it encourage further reading and inquiry? • Is the book not more than one or two grade levels above their present grade? (listening level is up to two years beyond reading level – also age appropriate materials stay in scope) • Do your choices over time reflect a variety of cultures both in content and illustration?

14. John Dewey: “The experiences we have today should build upon the ones we had yesterday and lead to the ones we have tomorrow” • Are the characters well developed and delineated? • Is the content of the book appropriate for the audience? • Will you be a successful as a storyteller in reading?

15. Humorous Serious Fanciful Realistic Fables Folktales Myths Books by same author or illustrator Different version of the same story or topic Poetry Content area/information text or storybook Magazine articles Teachers own writing Picture books 50% fiction 50% non fiction What to Read

16. EARLY GRADES What they might know Gradually add a few new Gradually add more complicated texts OLDER STUDENTS Engaging Read above the independent reading level Vocabulary that is new and interesting Pieces of interest to you that you share Getting Started

17. When to Read Aloud • FREQUENTLY each day • A consistent time for more extended read alouds or chapter books • When introducing a class project • Part of content subjects – mini lessons • First of the day – build tone for the day/character traits • After lunch or recess to re establish class routines

18. When to Read Aloud • At the end of the day (re creates the atmosphere of a bedtime story – good for primary kinder and 1st grade or a calm dismissal • Spontaneous times to provide rich literacy learning – transitions, before specialists, settling down, celebrations

19. How to Read Aloud or “performing” • Ad Lib vs. straight text • Creating voices • Use your eyes – widen, narrow, think, shock • Make the author or illustrator part of the read aloud • Use your minds eye to read the details • End the store akin to living happily ever after • Anticipating the story vs. interrupting the story

20. Reggie Routman • “Reading aloud is a powerful technique for promoting story enjoyment and literature appreciation and for noting what authors do in the writing process so that students can make similar choices for themselves.”

21. Teacher as Docent • Re reading same books to young students • When to stop along the way • Introducing the book

22. Where to Read Aloud • Criteria to have students be able to hear the story/information • Place where kids can see the pictures or use of technology to enhance the visual • Have a place for the consistent/formal times you have chosen to establish ritual • Symbolic acts to focus attention

23. Response Experiences • Activities vs. experiences or response strategies • Relevance • Connections to curriculum and events in the class • Share a purpose to allow all students to understand the lesson • Support multiple viewpoints

24. Strategies to Assist Thinking • Questions • Compare and Contrast • Conversation Creation • Stories from headlines • Time Line Mapping • Sketch journals or fine arts

25. Discussion Strategies for Older Students • Chapter chat • Discussion perspective – positive, pessimist, emotional responder, creative • Literature circles *might have to have a few extra copies of the book for the groups

26. Questions • Provide range of answers • Make connections to self and experiences • Promote further discussion • Asked in response to student’s ideas

27. More Considerations for Questions • 20 questions – use as a parlor game only • Questions should have integrity • Questions should help students explain or justify their ideas • Help students notice things in the text and in their lives that they wouldn’t notice on their own • Make statements instead of questions – share reactions

28. Selecting Quality Informational Books • Authority of the author • Accuracy of the information • Appropriateness for scientific terms • Artistry vs endless facts • Appearance of text, graphs, boxed facts

29. Reading Informational Books • Might not be appropriate to read the whole book • Enhance the topic by reading several informational books • Read several selections by the same author to see how they present information in the books • Read books of distinction: NCTE Orbis Pictus Award, ALA Sibert Informational

30. Informational Read Alouds • Take time to build content understanding • Requires stamina so build on read aloud strategies that facilitate concentrating on details and concepts • Informational read alouds are excellent for ELL students due to realia • Build vocabulary that is conceptual

31. Informational Text • Responding strategies can include text features that facilitate content text books (bold print, information under pictures, charts and maps) • Strategies to respond to read aloud chunks: I remember, Say Something, pair with music and rhythms to elevate the motivation • Students can re read to music for their own fluency

32. Modes of Responding Engaged/Involved Associative/Intertextual Reflective/Evaluative

33. Where do you go from here? • Increase your knowledge of children’s literature • Read Aloud every day for one month • Share resources with parents • Try some invested discussion ideas • Try thinking aloud • Rethink the notion of “Main Idea” • Understand the complex nature of the reading process

34. Walk Aways – Be thinking about • Intentional plan for read alouds • Frequency of read alouds (when) • Where you do read alouds • Incorporating Informational text material • Responses to read alouds

35. - • “You may have tangible wealth untold; Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be- I had a mother who read to me.” • -Strickland Gillian from The Reading Mother