Blog #5: Interactive Read Aloud in Middle School

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Reading Aloud in Middle School 


Is reading aloud to middle school students an effective strategy to engage struggling readers? Reading a story aloud is often a common practice both in school and at home throughout elementary school. However, as students get older it is often common for students to engage in much more independent reading than shared reading. Research has indicated that the practice of reading aloud is beneficial for both younger and older readers. Ivey (2003) noted, “The bottom line is that when teachers read to students, they enhance students’ understanding and their inclination to read independently” (p. 812). 

There are also many additional benefits to reading aloud including: 

  1. Building Community: When all the students in a classroom listen to a shared book it allows the students to build a sense of community through the shared experience of listening to a particular story. 
  2. Mentor Text: Using read aloud also provides teachers with the opportunity to revisit part of the text as a “mentor text” to study the way an author structured the text or practice a reading strategy with a familiar text. 
  3. Modeling Opportunity: Reading a text aloud also provides teachers with the opportunity to model effective reading strategies and behaviors. Teachers can model a variety of effective strategies to enhance comprehension. For example, a teacher may model asking and answer questions while reading a text. The opportunity to model positive reading behaviors and thinking strategies
  4. Exposure to new books: During a read-aloud, a teacher can expose students to a new genre, author, or book which can motivate students to engage in independent reading. It is also an opportunity to expose students to text that may be above their instructional reading level. Many struggling readers may read well-below grade-level standards. By incorporating opportunities for read-aloud it exposes all students to grade-level text and vocabulary. 

Fountas and Pinnell explain interactive read aloud, “Promotes the joy of reading, expands children’s vocabulary and increases their ability to think, talk, and write about texts that fully engage their interest”. 


References: 
Ivey, G. (2003). "The teacher makes it more explainable" and other reasons to read aloud in the intermediate grades. The Reading Teacher, 56(8), 812-814. 

Interactive Read-Aloud. (2019). Retrieved July 24, 2019, from https://www.fountasandpinnell.com/fpc/interactivereadaloud

Comments

  1. Daniel PecegoJuly 27, 2019 at 11:03 AM

    Hi Chelsea,

    When I read the title of your blog post, "Interactive Read Aloud in Middle School", my attention was immediately grabbed. I'm not sure if I stated this previously somewhere, but I have worked in that educational segment for the past 17+ years, being an English Language and Literature teacher from grades 6 to 9. During most of that period, generally speaking, my projects related to works of fiction have involved the individual reading of assigned chapters at home prior to my lessons. However, over the past few years, I have intermittently made an effort to (re)introduce moments for read alouds. I intentionally used the prefix, in parentheses, "re" because until the end of grade 5 read alouds are commonplace. Nevertheless, for some reason which I cannot fully fathom, they frequently disappear in Middle School. Perhaps the underlying belief is that they have become too old for that sort of thing, or that it is a "waste" of teaching time? Personally, I disagree. To the contrary, my experience to date has been quite positive bearing in mind precisely those key areas that you identified, i.e. building a sense of community, introducing mentor texts, modelling reading comprehension strategies and providing opportunities of exposure to new written genres (books or otherwise). Thus, based on your great summary, I would have to agree with Fountas and Pinnell (2003) when they affirm that, as you quoted, any well-planned interactive read aloud “Promotes the joy of reading, expands children’s vocabulary and increases their ability to think, talk, and write about texts that fully engage their interest”.

    Thanks for sharing an article that bolsters what, until now, had merely been a highly subjective impression of mine. As soon as I can, I shall read it!

    Best,

    Daniel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chelsea HorsburghJuly 27, 2019 at 1:18 PM

      Hi Daniel,
      Thank you for responding to my post. It is great to hear that you have found reading aloud to be effective in your classroom. I think it is interesting that sometimes we inadvertently assign an age group to a particular strategy. I have enjoyed writing this blog as it has allowed me to dig back into research for best practices for middle school readers.
      Thanks,
      Chelsea

      Delete
  2. Nawal DamajJuly 27, 2019 at 6:46 PM

    Hi Chelsea

    I visited your blog for the first time today and was really intrigued by your last 2 posts.

    The first thought that crossed my mind as I read the title of your post was : Are read alouds to childish for middle school students? I also stopped myself from continuing that thought because I have noticed in my K-12 school that a lot of strategies we use in elementary school still work in middle school, things as simple as stickers as rewards.

    The points you presented as benefits for read alouds were very convincing. The thing I also noticed is that it helps those weaker,shy readers and takes the spotlight off of them during reading. The modeling that you listed is especially useful to these students. Imagine the difference of a student reading with his peers vs. putting them on the spot to read to the class or the teacher. I also really agree with the chance to read other genres students may not usually choose for themselves. I think as teachers, it would be important to choose books that may appeal to our students.

    I wonder though about the other end of the spectrum. Are read-alouds  boring to our more advanced students? Maybe not, but just a thought.

    Thank you and good luck with your blog !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chelsea HorsburghJuly 28, 2019 at 10:52 AM

      Hi Nawal,
      Thank you for reading my blog. I completely agree that there are many strategies that apply to students in middle school. I think sometimes it comes down to the fact that good research based teaching strategies apply to many grade levels.

      I think you bring up an important point about ensuring that reading aloud to students will be engaging to all students. I think this highlights the importance of creating a balanced approach to literacy in the classroom. For reading instruction, it is important to provide opportunities for different types of reading in order for students to target a specific focus and help to appropriately challenge each reader. Balanced literacy also includes writing and word study.

      I am currently working at a school which using many resources from Fountas and Pinnell to create a balanced literacy program. Here is a closer look at the different types of reading lessons that occur:

      WHOLE-GROUP TEACHING

      1. Interactive Read-Aloud
      2. Reading Minilessons
      3. Shared Reading
      4. Phonics/Spelling/Word Study Lessons

      SMALL-GROUP TEACHING

      5. Guided Reading
      6. Book Clubs/Literature Discussion

      INDEPENDENT LEARNING

      7. Independent Reading

      For more information you can visit: https://www.fountasandpinnell.com/fpc/

      Thanks for your comment,

      Chelsea

      Delete

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