Read Aloud Styles

In the article, Effects of Teachers' Reading-Aloud Styles on Vocabulary Acquisition and Comprehension of Students in the Early Elementary Grades, pre-service teachers administered three different read-aloud styles in various early elementary grades including, just reading, performance reading, and interactional reading. In order to determine the effect that read-aloud styles had on the students' ability to learn vocabulary and comprehend, the article defined, observed, and administered all three of the read-aloud styles in the classroom.The interaction reading, which allowed for discussion before, during, and after the read-aloud, very much engaged the students in the narrative stories that were read. It was stated that students were able to learn more vocabulary words through this type of read-aloud style than any other. This was not surprising to me whatsoever, given that the students are most encouraged to engage in the reading than any other read-aloud style. The performance style read-aloud style engages the students into a discussion about the story before and after the read-aloud, but not during. This may allow the students to better appreciate the story as a whole, rather than be engaged in discussion each detail throughout the read-aloud. Lastly, the just reading read-aloud style, which called for students to listen and not to pose questions before, during, or after reading, was the least effective in teaching student's vocabulary.

The statistics concerning the amount of time teachers spent administering read-alouds to their students each day and week were of particular interest to me. I find it so appalling that less than half of all teachers 40 years ago conducted read-alouds in their classrooms. Even before learning about the many advantages that read-alouds provide to students, I already felt that there were multiple benefits of conducting read-alouds. While it is a relief to hear that most all teachers use read-alouds today, it is concerning that most feel the need for doing so to be for entertainment and enjoyment purposes only. It is absolutely baffling that only 11%-28% of teachers read to their students in order tot build their vocabulary and reading comprehension. After reading the article, I learned that teachers can choose a type of reading style to use during a read aloud that will target very specific instructional needs that students posses. When deciding on which type of reading style to use, teacher ought to consider the students' learning types, age group, grade, and ability level. However, while the students ability to learn vocabulary appeared to be most effected by the type of read-aloud styles used, it was interesting to me that comprehension was mainly effected by the grade level of the student, rather than the reading style.

Furthermore, why would teachers only correlate discussions, writing activities, and drama along with oral reading activities less than 25% of the time? These types of activities all greatly contribute to the students' vocabulary and reading comprehension levels and ought to be utilized in every single literacy lesson possible.  I believe that we have most certainly come a long ways in developing better ways that we may teach students vocabulary and comprehension through the use of read-alouds over the past 40 years. However, it cannot be disputed that there is much more to be explored, discovered, and analyzed in regards to teaching students instructional content by having them listen, discuss, and retell stories read aloud. Personally, I would like to begin practicing conducting these various types of read-aloud styles in the classroom while I am still a pre-service teacher. This article has enlightened me so much about the various types of benefits that read-alouds have to offer, but most importantly, the article reminds teachers of the importance of knowing how and when each should be used to teach a specific instructional skill to students in early elementary grades.

Teacher Read Alouds

Reading aloud to students, even those in the later grades, give teachers the opportunity to motivate students, introduce material, model fluency, enhance comprehension and scaffold the reading process for students who may be struggling. I found it very interesting that studies mentioned in the Tapping the potential for teacher read-alouds in middle school article found in a study that they conducted that 85% of the teachers who participated in the survey read aloud to their students. While I am not surprised that the special education and language arts educators were most likely to read aloud to their class, I am surprised that some teachers in math and science class stated that reading aloud was not appropriate or the subject area that they taught. I completly disagree with this response considering read alouds encourage students to improve their vocabulary, interest, general knowledge, critical thinking skills, enjoyment, and over all understanding or comprehension of content described in all content area classroom textbooks.

In order to reinforce or introduce content to students, teachers should conduct read alouds. I be live that there are many more teachers reading aloud in primary grade classrooms than there are middle schools classes. This is ridiculous considering that the same advantages of conducting read alouds to younger students applies to older students as well. In order to scaffold reading material for students to eventually read independently, teachers should model the process of comprehending text to students that they may have otherwise not been able to decode and understand. It was said by one teacher that reading aloud was simply not allowed due to the lack of time given to teach the class. In response to this I would like yo say that read alouds do not always have to be lengthy or explained in order to be motivational and effective in the classroom. It only takes a few moments of reading aloud to students to spray student's interest and increase their listening skills.

For example, in a social studies classroom, a teacher start by reading short texts such as magazine or news articles. Doing this will offer students a real world reason for reading and allow them to make personal connections between text and their everyday lives. In doing so, students will find reading to be purposeful and meaningful in their lives regardless of their ability level. Students should be given opportunities to participate in a read aloud regardless of the subject area being taught. Teachers must remember to engage students in discussing the text either before, during, or after, the read aloud. Students should be given the opportunity to share their individual thoughts, questions, and responses with the class in order to partake in an effective read aloud. While teachers should always practice reading the passage before actually doing so during the lesson, they must also identify potential situations such as define vocabulary that students may find difficult and pausing frequently for students to ask questions or formulate a thought about the text. In conclusion, students benefit immensely from read alouds. Therefore, teachers should make engaging students in read alouds a weekly, if not daily occurrence in their classrooms.

Writing To Learn Cirriculum

                It is my opinion that effective teachers ought to utilize literature in all subject areas, so as to encourage students to improve upon their literacy skills and deepen their level of understanding the concepts taught in all subjects. It is no doubt that writing is a part of our everyday lives, whether professionally or educationally. Writing is often done with the intention of communicating, but it is obvious to experienced teachers and on lookers alike that students will think more creatively and be able to identify easier with topics that they chose to write about. There are many “writing to learn” strategies that I was introduced to in my reading comprehension course, which I found to be extremely beneficial in supporting students learning the steps and sequences included in the reading, writing, and reflecting processes. While reading comprehension is extremely important to a student’s achievement, being able to then write in their own words what they have learned is equally as important.

                Undeniably, there are many brilliant strategies that can be used to scaffold students’ learning the writing process. There was a reading comprehension strategy that I actually had the pleasure of utilizing with a student once. The story pyramid was the strategy that I chose to introduce to the student and it was somewhat of a pre-made story frame that guided his thinking about the story he was reading. The student was able to successfully formulate questions, recall main ideas, and clarify parts of the story using the pyramid. After completing the pyramid, the student wrote a summary using the key words that he had chosen by means of following the sequence of the lesson. I chose this exercise to guide the student step by step through the reading thought process, which begins before reading ever occurs and continues on afterwards. The reason that I mention this strategy is because I feel it taught the student how to enhance their thoughts through the use of writing, as well as taught them how to properly, sequentially, and creatively put their ideas into writing. These types of lessons help students discover their role as a reader and thinker, which ultimately improves their metacognition.  

                This supports my feelings about providing rubrics and checklist to students to use as a guide when writing. Checklists also assist the teacher in honing in on each individual student’s progress and assessing their level of comprehension. Writing is one of the main ways that students can prepare themselves to study, clarify, and recall information about a topic. A single writing activity may possibly be used to target many of a student’s needs, including the need to activate prior knowledge and make new connections with material, compare and contrast ideas, highlight main ideas, and take notes to study using spaced repetition. This being said, teachers should use technology, poetry, and other incentives that will continually maintain the interest of their students, especially those that may be struggling. The many ways that students may draw on writing in order to learn is never-ending. Teachers should evaluate assigned writings so as to facilitate assessments that will be evidence of the student’s level of understanding. Above all, writing is advantageous to both students and teachers alike and should be employed in all subject areas as the multifaceted and precious gateway tool that it is.