READ-ALOUDS A POWERFUL TOOL

As teachers, we remind the parents of our elementary students to read to their children. We tell them how important it is and that it is also an enjoyable time to spend together. We need to heed our advice and utilize that strategy in our classrooms. Besides being pleasant, modeling reading through teacher read-alouds benefits students by observing how good readers stop, ask questions and reread when they do not understand something.

Elementary students love to hear a good book more than once. On the first day, a teacher should read it aloud. After the first day, we can allow several good readers to read sections of the book to the class. This is not round-robin reading. This should be an intentional choice: choose a student who can handle modeling what good readers do (even if it is a student borrowed from an upper grade). It is very beneficial for poor readers to see other students modeling good reading, in addition to the teacher.

Reading aloud to the class is important for elementary students for sure, but older students love it too. It doesn’t take long, either. Taking 5-7 minutes to read aloud to your class every day, or at least three days a week, is a valuable practice right up through high school and can be utilized in any content area. An ELA teacher read-aloud is easily accomplished, but it is possible for subject teachers to find engaging books related to their fields: history teachers can implement a few minutes of read-alouds through historical fiction; science and math teachers can find biographies on mathematicians and scientists. Utilizing the school librarian to help find the most entertaining books within a specific field can save the classroom teacher time. The strategy of read-alouds is a powerful tool in a teacher’s wheelhouse.