Read Alouds - Why do it?

Thursday, July 19, 2018

In my short teaching career, I've heard some negative comments on reading aloud to my students. It's personally something I feel strongly in favor of, so it puzzled me why someone wouldn't want to do it. In doing some research, it overwhelmingly shows the positive effects of reading aloud to students each day. In an article from edusource.org, Dominic Massaro discusses the advantages of doing it.

"Reading aloud is the best way to help children develop word mastery and grammatical understanding, which form the basis for learning how to read, said Massaro, who studies language acquisition and literacy. He found that picture books are two to three times as likely as parent-child conversations to include a word that isn’t among the 5,000 most common English words."

In my classroom, I set aside 15-20 minutes of read aloud time each day. I turn off the lights (I have twinkle lights all over my room) and I don't allow students to do anything else but listen. They can't color, work on homework, or read another book (yes, it's been asked!). I simply want them to listen and be transported by the book to a new place. At the beginning of the year, they wiggle and twitch as they sit listening. But about two weeks into school, they're hooked. They want more read aloud time, they want to talk about the book, make predictions, and connect with the book. It's like magic. Students are so focused on listening that they are so much more aware of the book! They're catching figurative language and hearing fluent reading and passing it onto their writing.

I feel like in a world where we are pummeled with technology, taking the time to go no-tech is incredibly important to their development. So while some teachers don't see the value of a read aloud, I will stubbornly squeeze in as much time to read aloud as I can.

Resources
Frey, S. (n.d.). Study says reading aloud to children, more than talking, builds literacy. Retrieved from https://edsource.org/2015/study-says-reading-aloud-to-children-more-than-talking-builds-literacy/82045

14 comments

PhilomenaJuly 20, 2018 at 5:55 AM
Amber,

I completely agree! Some of the best memories I have as a child were my teachers that read-aloud to us before lunch or at some designated time. I am so glad to hear you do this! I, too, as a media specialist hear criticism about read-aloud. In my heart, I believe that students "hearing the language", using auditory senses, concentrating on one thing, and going somewhere in a book is an amazing gift! Sometimes, I wish I was a core classroom teacher, so that I could throw in books and read-aloud however I wanted to! I would even read-aloud to high school students. Sure, they would make fun of me (LOL) but they are typically pretty patient with our quirks, as long as we are fair. And we all know they make fun of us anyway....I have a thick skin so I don't care. Plus, I am a media specialist...so of course I'm a little goofy. :)

You are so awesome to read to those babies! You go girl! All of us media specialists will love and commend you for it! Great post!

Philomena :)
Rachael WalkerJuly 20, 2018 at 8:59 AM
This is something that has been debated between the ELA teachers at my school. Some see the value in it and others (since we work in a middle school) believe that the students are old enough to read on their own. While this is true, many of them still need the auditory model so that they can hear how the words are supposed to sound.

At my previous school we had a final period of the day dedicated to reading. The last ten minutes of every day, I would read a book outloud to them. They loved it and I was reading to 14 year olds. Although I do not do this now (I might rethink this looking at your post), I do make sure to give time in class to read outloud something like a short story, an article, a poem, etc. I have students take turns reading and I read as well. This helps especially understanding the words that are higher level and with overall pacing when reading. Giving speeches and presentations is part of the standards, so reading outloud is simple practice that connects with this as well.

Do you have a few favorite read alouds that you do in your classroom?
UnknownJuly 20, 2018 at 10:35 AM
Hi Amber,
I was wondering if the research you came across was specific to any age groups? I typically read aloud to my students but was wondering if that was the best for Middle School.
UnknownJuly 22, 2018 at 7:23 AM
Before our elementary school became a Pre-K to 3rd grade building, it was Pre-K to 6th grade. I loved it when my 5th and 6th grade students would ask me to read to them-this request happened weekly! One is never too old to be read to!
BreanneCJuly 24, 2018 at 7:43 PM
In a previous school I was at, I was banned from reading aloud to my students. I had been doing that when admin did a walk through. They said it was a waste of time. I was limited to reading just when there was an awkward period of time before recess, etc. I disagree. I think it has a whole range of benefits to students. I love how excited students get when listening to the story. 5 or less mins of read aloud is simply not enough.
Maria GreenwoodJuly 25, 2018 at 10:29 AM
I love to read aloud science articles with my English language learners. Sometimes we each take turns reading a paragraph aloud. I think it's important to model proper pronunciation and inflection while reading especially while learning a language. This goes for native English speakers as well since our students vocabulary is always expanding.