I love to read aloud.
I find it to be one of the great joys of teaching.
Done in a certain way, it’s also an effective classroom management strategy.
Because it encourages a more respectful, peaceful room environment. It calms, soothes, and inspires.
It generates interest in the things of school and learning.
Through wonder, laughter, tears, and adventure, it sets imaginations afire.
Sadly, in recent years, much of the joy of read-aloud has been sucked out and driven away by over-instruction.
“What’s the topic sentence?”
“What can you infer from the setting?”
“What evidence supports your conclusion?”
“Can you predict what’s going to happen next?”
“What questions do you have for the main character?”
“What do you think they’re thinking and why?
“Write down your connections and annotations on a sticky note.”
“Turn and tell a partner what you would do in a similar situation.”
All the while we butcher up the heart and soul of great stories. We undermine their drama, their excitement and tension, their humor, sadness, uncertainty, and raw emotion.
We turn works of art into just another academic exercise, destroying the very qualities that draw students into a love of reading.
The truth is, if we just focus on being good stewards and deliverers of the material as it was meant to be consumed, then all the skills we try to force upon our students happen naturally.
And far more effectively.
At the same time, we make our classroom a place that embraces the pure joy of reading—which is far and away the most important point. We cause our students to want to listen and know and be curious about the world.
That look on their faces when they’re completely consumed, goners, lost in the story? It bleeds into every other academic subject and area of classroom management. Why would we ever interfere with that?
What follows are four ways to ensure that your read-aloud is a force for all things good and holy rather than the drudgery it has become.
1. Don’t stop.
Once you begin a read-aloud, don’t stop until you run out of time. Don’t stop to analyze the text, explain vocabulary, ask questions, or take breaks for students to discuss.
Instead, allow them to get lured in by the story itself. Let them picture the mood, scene, setting, and characters through their own fresh imagination.
Let them transport down into another world as you paint the picture.
2. Don’t teach.
If teaching how good readers naturally think is something you’re required to do, then keep these lessons separate from read-aloud.
Break down a paragraph from an unrelated excerpt, short story, or non-fiction text and leave the great books and poems alone—at least until after you’ve finished them.
Honor the story and author and read them from start to finish and as they were intended. Let the narrative progress and grow in the minds of your students pure and untainted.
3. Don’t make them sit.
Although read-aloud can improve everything from writing to listening to behavior to class unity, the core purpose is to instill a love of reading (and school).
To further deepen this purpose, instead of asking students to sit at their desks or cross-legged on individual squares, allow them to sit or lay about however or wherever they choose.
As long as you can see them, let them listen, dream, and imagine in whatever way that suits them.
4. Don’t make them share.
Although there is nothing wrong with allowing students to share their thoughts if they wish after each day’s reading, make it unprompted, voluntary, and informal.
Give them a break from the pair-shares, writing responses, and the like. And for gosh sakes, don’t put any of the text up on your SMART board and start marking it up.
Just let the twists and turns, the drama and revelations linger in their minds as they go about their day.
5. Don’t skip.
Being able to read aloud and share your own love of books is one of the best things about teaching. So embrace it. Become each character. Use voices, inflection, and movement to add depth and richness to the story.
But do stick to the story. In fact, read every word of it. The author spent many months, even years, choosing the perfect dialogue, descriptions, and rhythm in order to make the greatest impact.
So let the book live and breathe and deliver its unique mystery and magic all on its own.
For The Love of It
Sadly, read-aloud is disappearing from our schools and classrooms. It’s being squeezed out and forgotten in favor of busyness and less effective but more direct instruction.
But reading aloud to your class has the power to instill a love of reading like no other earthly strategy. It’s your one guaranteed academic success connection with every student, no matter how much they may be struggling.
Furthermore, when they want to read because of the joyful example you set, they progress at a much faster rate than if reading is treated as a series of banal skills they have to apply every time they open a book.
So bring the joy back.
Find time for read-aloud every day. Defend it as your one sacred non-negotiable. Unburden your students from having to do something and just allow them to savor the story.
Let it tingle down into their pores.
Your goofy, toothy BFG impression, your down-home narration of Charlotte’s web, your determined Atticus Finch closing argument . . .
This is what they’ll remember. This is what will alter their view of learning and school and inspire them to become good and voracious readers.
For the rest of their lives.
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I am an avid reader, but I have a question. Will read-alouds soothe the savage liddle-high school beastie !? I love reading aloud and getting into the particular voice of characters!
Suzanna
I have done read aloud with my 8th graders and I have had quarters where we did not do them on the quarters that we did not do a read aloud there was a big behavior difference. It is crazy but this article is right, I let them sit anywhere they wanted some of the students just listened some read along and on days and they just enjoyed the moment. Yet when I don’t have a read aloud they say the hate reading and such.
I teach 6th grade and the first 10-15 minutes of each period is devoted to reading our current novel. I will admit that I use audible book recordings to do the read aloud, with 4 classes back to back my voice wouldn’t last. But the students love it and they are so engrossed that you could hear a pin drop. They get upset when something interrupts our reading.
Agreed! When we read our novel aloud in class, it is silent and even my behavior problem kids are stil! They hate to stop at the end of the chapter! It’s a beautiful thing!
I teach 10th and 11th grade, and YES, read aloud is amazing. The kids LOVE it and it helps with retention (especially in inclusion classes).
In fact, I am getting some criticism from my department head because he believes that high school students should be reading independently and doing all of the things that this article outlines. I am going to keep this article handy.
You can also get the students themselves involved in it by having them do dramatic monologues or take on parts in a play.
I taught for 36 years, and I always read to my high school students. If you are a good reader, read aloud to them. If you are not, find someone who is. As a reader, find the voice of each character. Become each character as you read. The voices create the mood, make the characters real. If you can do that, you can bring students to tears when George has to shoot Lennie. You can make them slap their desks in anger when Tom Robinson is killed. Be the reader who hangs the truth of story in the air around them, and you will have no discipline issues with high school students.
What do you answer the administrator who demsnds, “what is your expectation for students during resd aloud?”
Spot on! Thanks.
I read out loud to my students everyday! The last couple of years I’ve been teaching second grade. This last semester we have read Wonder and now am reading out of My Mind! Students love the books and really get into the stories!
I love their reactions to what happens in the book. The ooh and aaahs are wonderful. They’ve had tears of joy, frustration, and the joy of hearing stories that they might not read themselves.
They sit wherever they want as long as they are quiet listeners. They can doodle, color, draw, or just listen.
Thanks for the good articles every week.
I have a question about this week’s topic.
I teach ESL and my students are not native English speakers. For this reason, when I read to them, I often do pause to explain words that appear in the text. Should I NOT be stopping, even if the students are likely not to understand?
Thank you for any advice.
Hi Susan,
I think it’s okay to stop and explain a bit if you feel you need to. Your students will likely get more out of it that way and enjoy the story more as well.
Another thing you can do is select and briefly pre-teach essential vocabulary before you start reading. You can then leave it on the board along with a picture, synonym or definition for students to refer back to. You don’t want to over-do it, just a few of the most important or useful words. By combining these two strategies, I think you can ensure greater comprehension and enjoyment for your class.
Happy reading!
Thank you for this! That is what I have thought instinctively, but often if the principal comes in during my read aloud time, I feel like I need to stop and ask questions and analyze the story to death. Also I sometimes have let students lie down during read aloud but have hoped the principal won’t come in then. When I am reading my own books for pleasure at home I never sit up straight at a desk. Why do we do this to kids and expect them to be able to relax and let their imagination soar? Your post has made my day! I’m going to print it off and keep it. Betsy, a 2nd grade teacher
Betsy, I agree with every single point you made. Why must we always be fearful of being observed doing what is best for our students?
I absolutely love reading aloud to my students. I think I’m good at it! But I’ve gotten into a habit of stopping to ask questions meant to help students analyze what I’ve read, and, to be honest, to see if they are listening or daydreaming. I will try this out and pay attention to the response. Thank you for the good idea.
I agree with you 100%. It’s also one of my favorite parts of teaching and was one of my favorite parts of being a student when I was a child. I can still remember every book my grade 4 teacher read to our class. Thank you again for these articles. They are extremely helpful!
Thank you! I have recently retired from teaching and this kind of read aloud is what I miss most as it was disappearing from schools when I left. I LOVE books and great read aloud is how kids learn to love books
I always loved to read to my students just for th love of the story.
I’m so happy to see this practice reinforced and valued here.
So inspiring.
Thank you.
Great article!
Less is more.
Struggles with learners that talk too much! Loved the article of reading aloud.Thanks
I agree! I remember that we always had a story read to us each day in school and it was my favorite time of day. When chapter books were what was read, we had a chapter a day. You were allowed to sit at your desk or to sit on the floor. Now we have rugs to make the floor more comfortable. I try to get kids to sit on the floor next to the book so they can see the pictures better and if someone is just too naughty, they have to sit on a chair away from the group. Sitting at a desk means you will spend even more time away from the book because there is always something IN the desk to fool with. The children often ask me to read a story again in my “funny voice” which is usually just how I imagine the character to sound. The drama that can be built is soooooo fun and the kids are gripped.
I was wondering if teachers could post their top 5 (or 10!) favorite read aloud books?
Thanks !:-)
My sixth graders get very emotional about Where the Red Fern Grows and Freak the Mighty.
For me and my grade, Jennifer Holmes’ “Full of Beans” and Louis Sachar’s “Wayside School” books.
On the Wings of Heroes–my students were still quoting that one to me a year later. Sarah Plain and Tall
The Magician’s Nephew
Amen! I could not agree with you more, Mr. Linsin. This is my 30th year as an educator, and I have seen NOTHING better than reading aloud for sharing the joy of reading and inspiring non-readers to become readers. Never underestimate the power and magic of reading aloud – particularly if you read with passion and give voices to individual characters. “All the world’s a stage”…and so are great stories.
CORRECTION:
I read stories aloud every day to students from pre-school to eighth grade and they love it! I try to look into the eyes of every student as I read to draw them into the story. I love using hand gestures, unique voices and different languages to bring the stories to life.
Students and teachers enjoy their library time, and often ask for another story!
I was instructed by a staff developer to do a turn and talk and model different reading strategies. such as predicition, character analysis, mood,comparisons, etc.. This staff developer is from a well known university.
Although I agree with what you are saying about read aloud, I am required to do the opposite in our school.
Thank you, thank you!!! I am blessed to be in a school where reading aloud is still encouraged. I loved all of your reasonings and it is our favorite time of day! My first graders know they can borrow the book I just finish reading and it is so fun to hear them working on a book that challenges them because they are inspired to read..
I used to read several times a day to my students-after lunch count & pledge, before lunch, after lunch recess, and before the bus. By request of the students, it might have been the same book, it might have been four different books. How else, I thought, would students master a sophisticated vocabulary? How else would struggling readers enjoy the written/spoken word and learn about story structure? How else would I be able to inspire them to try different genres? I worked in a three room schoolhouse and it was before there was a real curriculum. When I saw “reforms” emerging that would have taken away my read aloud time, I left the classroom. Eventually I became an art teacher and I sorely missed read aloud time. So, I incorporated it into my art program! I read to the Kindergarten students every week and the book choice usually has some connection to the lesson, albeit vague sometimes. But when needed, I will read to the older students as well. I have a book about hieroglyphics planned for my fourth graders next week.
Oh, I meant to reply that my students loved the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander and The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.
Thank you – I agree so much with this. The children (no matter what age) need to be able to listen and enjoy a story without interruption. I do, however, occasionally stop when I come to a word that many of them might not know and ask for ideas about what it means. That seems to be helpful to some of my third graders. But, when I do this, it is super brief. Do you think that’s a problem?
Here, here, Mr. Snodgrass (I mean Linsin)!
After 25 years of teaching (elementary and ESL) I wholeheartedly agree. And I am certain this is why I fondly remember my own elementary school year of third grade more than any other. God bless you for all the timely posts you deliver! This is most definitely one of my favorite.
For a treasure trove of all things read aloud, check out Jim Trelease’s Home Page. Enjoy:
http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/
Your article had me in tears. I used to LOVE read-alouds, it was the best part of my day for me and my students. Instead that time has gotten crammed with so many other objectives and tiny boxes to fill in, so many hoops to jump through – thank you for granting permission to a return to a simpler, more productive use of this wonderful tool.
On the flip side, in high school, I have been having trouble getting students to do just this. They are so preoccupied with things only mattering when grades are attached that the love of discovery and learning for pleasure has gone out the window. Most of this comes from parents obsession with their child’s grade (especially compared to other children).
I agree 100 percent! The perfect way to ruin a story is to analyze it to death! I remember one of my daughters bringing home an assignment which analyzed a Beverly Cleary story – one of our best children’s authors! There is no better way to turn a child off from reading!
Maybe it wasn’t so bad that I read books in grade school INSTEAD of doing assignments. My academic skills were ahead of the other kids even if I wasn’t a perfect student.
Unlike most of your readers, I am not a school teacher – just a mom and grandma. Your tips apply in other settings (like home and teaching children at my church).
Thanks for championing this idea!
Though it’s probably true that reading aloud had been diminishing, over the last three years the #classroombookaday initiative to read aloud a picture book every day of the school year in any grade has been working to bring it back. Along with all of the reasoning in this post, the power of so many shared stories to build classroom community and empathy and many more benefits is beyond compare.
I’m a preschool teacher (5’s) and I read every day. I try to make it exciting by using voices, and sometimes, puppets. Sometimes I have the children tell me what that think will happen, or repeat a refrain. Thy love it! I basically wanted to say that as a reader for pleasure, I don’t analyze and do all the complicated deconstruction that is often so much a part of Reading. I guess I understand them from having been a reader, not from meticulously examining all the aspects of the book.
I have been reading your articles for a while. I am a newer teacher and I understand that I will have to work a few years before I consistently have the classroom I want, but your articles have been helping. I have been in the classroom for two years and each year, I’m trying to take one aspect from this blog and work on it until it just becomes part of my style. I feel like that is a reasonable way to work on my skills while still learning how to successfully navigate a curriculum. One step at a time 🙂
I am a middle school music/choir teacher and often we do activities as a group. It makes it difficult for me to discreetly go over to a misbehaving student when we are performing en masse without drawing attention to them. However, when we do individual projects, I try to be consistent when giving consequences but to do it discreetly.
When I need to give consequences in masse, what I have been doing is calmly walking over to my consequence system clipboard while the students are still singing/playing instruments or when I am giving instruction and give them a “check.” They usually know what I’m doing and check their behavior accordingly. After mass instruction, I walk up to them during the transition to the next activity and calmly explain that I gave them a check during rehearsal time because they did ____________ and were not respectful. I really like the idea of making consequences impersonal and just matter of fact, so that’s what I try to do.
Is this a good way to handle behaviors in situations where we’re all singing together?
Brings back many good memories, I’m getting back into reading out loud again to the1st and 2nd graders after Spring Break.
Thank-you,
Liz
Michele,
My favorites would include:
Many titles by Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein
Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little by E.B. White
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
Selections from Hey! Listen to This: Stories to Read Aloud by Jim Trelease (just enough to “whet their appetites”)
And I think it is important for students to have contact with authors. The Yellow Book Road, a bookstore formerly in La Mesa, California, used to have children’s authors come and talk, sign books, etc. My favorites were Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (hilarious)! A large collection of authors even signed and illustrated the walls which sadly, are gone. If you can find a good venue or host an author as a guest speaker, DO IT!
Yes, yes, yes! Over the years, I’ve read aloud to fifth through eighth graders. I still read aloud in the car to my husband and adult children, when we go on road trips. No one is too old to enjoy it!
Thank you for this article. It gave me renewed determination. Read aloud time is my favorite time of day…my students’, too. We connect with each other as we experience these great books. We recently finished Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli, a particular read-aloud favorite.
I love your suggestions, especially about seating. What I dislike is feeling like I’m breaking “the rules” by taking time for read aloud, instead of trying to cram in a little more district-approved curricula. But, I’m renegade enough to keep setting aside time to read aloud because I see its tremendous value.
Question, Mr. Linsin: What do you think about students each having a copy of the book, as I read aloud? I’ve done it both ways.
Just for fun, I wanted to share a poem I wrote about my experience, reading aloud to my middle school students in 2010:
A Teacher Who Dared
I strike a resolute stance, feet firm
on the worn long-wearing carpet topped by thirty-two minimalistic desks.
Sixty-four juvenile eyes stare,
some rolling,
some vacant,
some dubious.
At various speeds,
they had finished Avi’s Nothing But the Truth
protagonist Philip:
who feared the truth,
who evaded the truth,
who ignored the truth.
For perspective,
I open Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s The Boy Who Dared
protagonist Helmuth:
who sought the truth,
who shared the truth,
who died for the truth.
Do I dare read aloud in middle school?
They’ll think it’s childish.
They’ll think it’s boring.
They’ll think it’s tiresome.
Decisive, determined, I leap—mine, the solitary voice:
“It’s morning. Soft gray light slips over the tall redbrick wall…”
Weeks later I spy Jack, a self-proclaimed bibliophobiac,
Crouched in the hallway
During lunch
Reading.
Love your poem!
Thanks, Wendy! I really enjoyed your comment and suggestions. We teachers can learn so much from and strengthen each other!
I have been told not to read aloud to my first-grade students. I’m only supposed to read one short book (5-10 minutes long), which we then pick apart over the course of a week. I have rebelled since day one at this school, and my principal isn’t happy whenever she sees this. “When you read aloud, you take away time that they have to practice reading on their own in small groups.” My arguments include that students don’t see a reason to learn to read in those small groups if they don’t see that reading is enjoyable, that they need to hear how fluent readers read, and that the books at their level don’t expose them to the rich vocabulary that I want them to learn. To no avail. I still read every day, but I’ll admit that I don’t read nearly as much as I’d like, and I read less novels, though there are, of course, a ton of great shorter books, too.
I do start every year reading either James and the Giant Peach or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It gets the students eager to pay attention, and it’s a great break at various times during the day when they’re still learning to handle being in a classroom and having rules to follow. I also love reading several books by the same author, such as Kevin Henkes or Mo Willems, to get them excited about checking those books out of the library to read themselves. They are always excited to find a new one by an author they recognize.