Sabtu, 05 Juli 2014
Tips and Variations for Read-Alouds
There are many ways to read aloud. Generally,
teachers read and students listen without following along in the text. Some
teachers simply read an ongoing fictional or nonfiction text at a set time each
day, without explicitly connecting it to the curriculum or asking the students
to answer questions about it. This kind of read-aloud underscores the pure
pleasure of literary experience. But teachers can also read aloud to catalyze
class discussions or small-group activities. In addition, read-alouds can
stimulate writing, art, or drama activities.
In an "interactive"
read-aloud, the teacher reads aloud but stops periodically to ask a question or
give a prompt; the students can jot down a response, turn and talk to a partner
or small group, or share thoughts with the whole class. Alvarez demonstrates
this when she asks the students to stop her when she reads Internet
information. The teacher can also prompt the students with traditional language
arts questions ("What do you predict will happen next?") or more
whimsical questions ("If you were the illustrator, what illustration might
you draw for this part of the text?" or "What do you think María
Isabel's mother is feeling right now? Write her internal monologue.")
The teacher should consider how a
read-aloud selection will support a particular unit or enhance the students'
independent reading. For example, if the class is studying character, the
teacher might choose a book in which strong characters change significantly
over the course of the book. The teacher might also choose texts that are generally
more difficult than those the students could read on their own.
Teachers should also choose texts that
reflect the culture and/or language of students or that facilitate a
cross-cultural experience. When Alma Flor Ada, the author of My Name Is María
Isabel, visits the class, she speaks in both Spanish and English, translating
from one language to the other. Teachers might invite family or community
members to read literature from their cultures.
Teachers
should read aloud from various genres: fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
informational text, and children's books. This shows the students how different
genres sound. The class might also enjoy fiction and nonfiction texts on the
same topic.
- Teachers can let the students choose read-aloud selections.
- Read-aloud sessions should be kept to 20 minutes or less.
- The listening environment should be as comfortable as possible.
- Many teachers mark their texts to remind themselves where they will pause and think aloud, or where they will prompt students to interact with the text.
- When reading texts that contain unfamiliar names or words, readers should research and note their pronunciation.
Benefits of Read-Alouds
- Read-alouds enable teachers to offer texts with more challenging concepts and/or language than students can read independently.
- The read-aloud strategy helps English-language learners develop new vocabulary and syntactic awareness.
- Reading aloud builds good reading habits. It stimulates imaginations and emotions; models good reading processes; exposes students to a range of literature; enriches vocabularies and rhetorical sensitivity; elucidates difficult texts; helps to distinguish different genres; supports independent reading; and encourages a lifelong enjoyment of reading.
- Read-alouds show students how to question, visualize, and make predictions while they read.
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