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.