Read Alouds

What are read alouds and what can they do for instruction? A read aloud is a planned oral reading of a book or print excerpt, usually related to a theme or topic of study. The read aloud can be used to engage the student listener while developing background knowledge, increasing comprehension skills, and fostering critical thinking. A read aloud can be used to model the use of reading strategies that aid in comprehension. Reading aloud good books can become a tradition and favorite activity in the classroom. Benefits of using read alouds One of the most important things adults can do in preparing children for success in school and in reading is to read aloud with them.

Listeners build listening and comprehension skills through discussion during and after reading. Listeners increase their vocabulary foundation by hearing words in context. Listeners improve their memory and language skills as they hear a variety of writing styles and paraphrase their understanding. Listeners gain information about the world around them. Listeners develop individual interests in a broad variety of subjects and they develop imagination and creativity: what better way to build skills which foster inquiry?

Read alouds can be used to

introduce lessons provide an introduction to new concepts and increase science vocabulary lower the abstract nature of science textbooks' explanations invite conversation and generate questions for discussion and investigations model scientific thinking provide content to support hands-on investigations

model different problem-solving approaches to science that may support students in their own scientific investigations examine the colorful illustrations and photographs; they can tell a story beyond the words on the page

Using a read aloud-think aloud

When students are provided with models and explanations of the reasoning involved in reading, they are better able to use the modeled strategies on their own. Typically a science-related read aloud focuses on a science concept, the author's craft or a particular literary feature. Don't do everything with one read aloud; use a variety of opportunities to revisit a particular focus and limit how much you focus on with any one book. Inspire questions and investigations by modeling curiosity and question-posing-- let the students in on the 'secret' of how you, the teacher, construct questions. Explicitly share thinking processes-- thinking aloud is making thinking public. For instance, "When I look at this picture of children playing in the wind, I think of the wind near our school. It always seems strongest to me over near Ms. Foster's room." OR "I wonder what the author means when she says ...." OR "Wait, this seems different than what we read in book X. I wonder how to decide which author to believe."

Improve comprehension of science text by modeling the use of reading strategies that are most helpful for reading a particular type of literature. Use books about scientists and their work to inspire questions about scientific processes or the importance of life events in choosing a career.

Selecting the read aloud

Young children have difficulty separating fact from fiction, so carefully select books with the most accurate information. Select an appropriate book based on a specific reading purpose: concept background, exploring author's craft, introduction of key vocabulary, looking at science process or the life of scientists, or some other clearly defined purpose.

Choose a book or section of a book that lends itself to being read aloud that supports your goal or purpose.
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Does the text flow? Is the topic engaging? Are there opportunities for stopping points to wonder aloud? Does the text inspire questions?

Locate relevant artifacts, illustrations or other hands-on materials that might support the text and foster student questions.

Planning the read aloud

Think about the focus for your read aloud. Identify any key words or concepts to discuss in context as you read the text. Mark "talking points" where you want to:
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stop and reflect or ask questions. support the target skill or purpose.

Develop open-ended questions to stimulate students minds and imaginations. Use the questions to keep children involved in the book. Plan related activities to follow or precede the read aloud.

How do I read aloud effectively? Creating the read aloud atmosphere

Allow time for students to settle as you make yourself comfortable. Whether you are sitting in a low chair or on the floor, be sure that each child can see the book. Remember, you are creating a community of learners. If they have to elbow each other to see it will defeat your efforts.
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Some teachers even "dress" for the occasion. Debra Bunn slips into a raincoat to read about sea monster tales. Other teachers create ritualized signals: "Here's the reading puppet" OR "Let's settle in as we pass around the listening stick."

As you read, move the book around (either while reading or after reading each page) so that each student can see the illustrations. Most picture books depend on the illustrations

to tell the story and students are "reading" the pictures while you are reading the words. If there are no (or few) pictures, pause and look at your listeners.

Pace your reading to allow time for the student listeners to think about what they are hearing. Read with expression; create a mood. Modulate your voice to reflect emotions and emphasize key points. Give young students an opportunity to add to the story with appropriate noises. For example, have students use their fingers to drum out the sound of soft or hard rain.

Use motions for emphasis. Do not overdo it, but use natural and comfortable movements.

Reading aloud does not come naturally, but don't despair. Practicing will make it much more comfortable. And the time spent practicing is definitely worthwhile. CAUTION: Do not read a book aloud that you have not read yourself beforehand!

Ready to read

Introduce the text with a short sentence or two that relates the book to the students. Discuss the title, content, author and illustrator for less than three minutes. Set a purpose for listening by sharing the reason you selected the book. Invite students to listen while you read (using the voice modulations and movements you practiced). Interrupt your reading at selected points to emphasize a planned focus point.
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Hint: Mark these points with sticky notes so that you remember to stop and your reason for stopping. Sticky notes can also be used to quickly note student reactions or queries. Stop to do a think aloud, ask a question of yourself or of your students, provide opportunities for students to make personal connections

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Do not overdo the stopping points-- keep in mind your audience, time limits and purpose for the reading and for the stopping. You do want to maintain a sense of story as you read-- too many stopping points will lose that.

At the end of the reading, wait a few moments to provide time to ask questions or make comments. If you ask, "Wasn't that a good story?" students will answer in the affirmative because they want to please you and that will end a major opportunity to generate discussion. Instead, just ask open-ended questions to generate discussion like, "What did you think of that book?" OR "How did the author ...?" Depending on the reading purpose, you may want to comment, "This reminds me of ..." OR "Reading this made me wonder...." After you model a thought, encourage students to share their wonderings and discoveries.

Discuss what students learned. Through discussion students can synthesize and extend their understanding of the reading. They can connect their prior knowledge to the new information presented in the reading. They can make intertextual connections to other literature. This time for reflection is the key to making the reading an instructional activity.

Choral reading
Choral reading is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students. Choral reading helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, and motivation. Because students are reading aloud together, students who may ordinarily feel self-conscious or nervous about reading aloud have built-in support. Why use choral reading?

It can provide less skilled readers the opportunity to practice and receive support before being required to read on their own. It provides a model for fluent reading as students listen. It helps improve the ability to read sight words

Also helps develop fluency in reading.

How to use choral reading? 1. Choose a book or passage that works well for reading aloud as a group:
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patterned or predictable not too long; and is at the independent reading level of most students

2. Provide each student a copy of the text so they may follow along. (Note: You may wish to use an overhead projector or place students at a computer monitor with the text on the screen) 3. Read the passage or story aloud and model fluent reading for the students. 4. Ask the students to use a marker or finger to follow along with the text as they read. 5. Reread the passage and have all students in the group read the story or passage aloud in unison. Differentiated instruction for second language learners, students of varying reading skill, and for younger learners

Choral Reading 1. Unison Everyone reads the poem together 2. Two part arrangement One group speaks alternately with another 3. Soloist and chorus One child reads specific lines, rest join in on other lines 4. Alternate lines

 One pair of children reads lines, and then next pair reads next lines etc. 5. Echo reading One person (or teacher) reads a line and the group echoes back 6. One word at a time Each child in turn reads one word of the selection 7. Closure One person reads the poetry line while others chime in on the last word 8. Increasing/decreasing volume 9. Increasing/decreasing tempo 10. Effects Accompany choral reading with sound effects, music, movement, gesture, and clapping rhythms 11. Divide into groups each group comes up with its own interpretation of the poem each group could also rearrange the order of the lines of the poem 12. Readers theatre read as part of readers theatre with one character or a group chiming in verse at intervals read poem as different characters or voices 13. Combine selections combine 2 poems (or songs) with one group reading a line or lines from one poem and the other group alternating with the second poem 14. Round read in a round with each group starting and ending at different times

Paired Reading
Paired reading is a research-based fluency strategy used with readers who lack fluency. In this strategy, students read aloud to each other. When using partners, more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers, or children who read at the same level can be paired to reread a story they have already read. Paired reading can be used with any book, taking turns reading by sentence, paragraph, page or chapter.

Why use paired reading?

It helps students work together. It encourages cooperation and supports peer-assisted learning. After reading

When to use:Before readingDuring reading How to use: Individually

With small groupsWhole class setting

How to use paired reading How to pair students Pair students either by same reading ability or by high level readers with low level readers. Use the following steps to pair high-level readers with low-level readers:

List the students in order from highest to lowest according to reading ability Divide the list in half Place the top student in the first list with the top student in the second list Continue until all students have been partnered Be sensitive to pairings of students with special needs, including learning or emotional needs. Adjust pairings as necessary

The reader from the first list should read first while the reader from the second list listens and follows along The second reader should pick up where the first reader stops. If additional practice is needed, the second reader can reread what the first reader read Encourage pairs to ask each other about what was read. "What was your page about? What was your favorite part?"

Implementing the strategy 1. Introduce the students to the Paired Reading strategy. This includes:
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Establishing a routine for students to adopt so that they know the step-by-step requirements for engaging in paired reading (i.e. Will they read out loud, simultaneously? Will they take turns with each person reading a paragraph? a page? Or will one person read while the other person listens?). Teaching students an error-correction procedure to use when supporting each other's reading (i.e. re-reading misread words; signals for difficulty). Modeling the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.

2. Ask students to begin reading in pairs and adjust reading speed if reading simultaneously so they stay together. 3. Have students offer feedback and praise frequently for correct reading. 4. Monitor and support students as they work.

Paired Reading - What are the Advantages?

Children are encouraged to pursue their own interests in reading material. They have more enthusiasm from reading about their own favorite things, and so try harder. Paired Reading gives them as much support as they need to read whatever book they choose.

Children are more in control of what's going on - instead of having reading crammed into them, they make decisions themselves in the light of their own purposes (e.g. about choice of books, going on longer than 10 minutes, and going onto Reading Alone.)

There is no failure - it is impossible not to get a word right within 5 seconds or so. Paired Reading is very flexible - the child decides how much support is necessary according to the current level of interest, mood, degree of tiredness, amount of confidence, difficulty of the books, and so on.

The child gets lots of praise - its much nicer to be told when you're doing well , instead of just being moaned at when you go wrong. There's lots of emphasis of understanding - getting the meaning out of the words - and that's what reading is all about. Its no use being able to read the words out loud mechanically without following the meaning.

Paired Reading gives continuity - it eliminates stopping and starting to "break up" hard words. Doing that often leaves children having forgotten the beginning of the sentence by the time they get to the end. With Paired Reading it is easier for children to make sensible guesses at new words, based on the meaning of the surrounding words.

During Reading Together, a child can learn (by example) to read with expression and the right pacing - e.g. by copying how the adult pauses at punctuation, or gives emphasis to certain words.

Children are given a perfect example of how to pronounce difficult words, instead of being left to work it out themselves and then perhaps thinking their own half-right efforts are actually 100% correct.

When doing Paired Reading, children get a bit of their own their own peaceful, private attention from their parents, which they might not otherwise have had. There is some evidence that just giving children more attention can actually improve their reading.

Paired Reading increases the amount of sheer practice at reading children get. Because children are supported through books, they get through them faster. The number of books read in a week goes up, the number of words children look at in a week goes up, and more words stick in the child's memory.

Paired Reading gives parents a clear, straightforward and enjoyable way of helping their children - so no-one gets confused, worried or bad-tempered about reading.

SO CHILDREN HAVE MORE INTEREST, CONFIDENCE AND UNDERSTANDING

Reciprocal teaching? 'Reciprocal teaching is a scaffold discussion technique that is built on four strategies that good readers use to comprehend text: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing'. (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). What is it? How does it work? Background: Students use a set of four comprehension strategies on a common text, in pairs or small groups. In a related approach, ReQuest, the teacher leads the whole class in reciprocal questioning. Overview: Reciprocal Reading was developed in the mid-1980s by reading researchers Ann Brown and Ann-Marie Palincsar. Also called reciprocal teaching, it is a set of four strategies taught to struggling readers, primarily to develop their comprehension monitoring abilities. In pairs or small groups, participants sharing a common text take turns assuming the roles of teacher and student. After explicit instruction from a knowledgeable teacher, students engage in the following sequence: Questioning A student assumes the role of "teacher" and reads aloud a segment of a passage as group members follow along silently. The group members then pose questions that focus on main ideas.

Summarizing Clarifying

The "teacher" answers and summarizes the content. The group discusses and clarifies remaining difficulties in understanding.

Predicting

The group then makes a prediction about future content. Next, a second student takes on the role of teacher for a subsequent segment of text.

Oczkus (2006) cites MacLaughlin and Allens (2002) example of the broad framework of eight strategies that they feel is essential for teaching students to understand what they are reading:

1. Pre-viewing activiating prior knowledge, predicting and setting a purpose. 2. Self-questioning - generating questions to guide reading. 3. Making connections relating reading to self, text and world. 4. Visualising creating mental pictures. 5. Knowing how words work understanding words through strategic vocabulary development, including the use of graphophonic, syntactic and semantic cueing systems. 6. Monitoring - asking whether text makes sense and clarifying by adapting strategic processes. 7. Summarising synthesizing important ideas. 8. Evaluating making judgements.

Characteristics of good readers, it has been found that there are several strategies to good reading: 1. They use existing knowledge to make sense of new information 2. They ask questions about the text before, during and after reading. 3. They draw inferences from the text. 4. They monitor their comprehension. 5. They use fix up strategies when meaning breaks down. 6. They determine what is important. 7. They synthesize information to create new thinking.

What is Reciprocal Teaching? Reciprocal teaching is a learning technique that focuses on the development of text comprehension. The technique takes place in the form of dialogue between teachers and students in regards to text. The dialogue focuses on a specific structure that is based on four strategies: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The process promotes the exchange of roles between the teacher and the student as a means of better reading comprehension. Each strategy has its own purpose within the process. With group discussion, either with a teacher or without, students learn to focus on their means of understanding the text. For instance, while in discussion, students begin to summarize, where they identify and absorb the most important information in the text. To follow summarization students begin to generate questions about the text, which continues the process of comprehension. The third strategy is clarification, which above all has been found to be one of the most important of the strategies. At this point students are learning to understand and identify comprehension impediments such as unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts. This continuous thinking helps them stay alert and promotes such actions as asking for help and rereading difficult passages. The last of the strategies is predicting. At this time students begin to hypothesize what will come next in the text. These hypothesis come from background knowledge which they already possess, this helps them predict what they think will come next in the text.

JIGSAW READING
What is jigsaw reading?

Doing Jigsaw Reading is like playing with a jigsaw puzzle. Each student in a group is given part of the story to read. He has to read and comprehend it all by himself in order to report to other members of the group. After each member has reported the different parts of the story, the whole group work together re-arranging the parts to recover the original story.

How to work with jigsaw reading texts?

We can use any coherent passage to create a jigsaw reading text. But it is more interesting if we use short stories our students can read independently, i.e. without the help of the teacher or the dictionary. We can divide the story up in between episodes. For example, having divided the story into 4 parts, we make copies so that each student is only allowed to read 1/4 of the story. To make the activity more exciting, we can turn it into a competition: Ask students to form groups of four. Give each group Part 1 to Part 4 of the story. Tell them to read, to take notes it necessary, and to report orally to the group after reading. The group that can reconstruct the story back to its original is the winner. What kind of jigsaw can we do in secondary classes?

In secondary classes, we can break up short stories into meaningful chunks each consisting of several paragraphs. We can put the setting of the story as Part I, the first episode as Part II and so on. For example, in a story by Bill Lowe in TWIST IN THE TALE, we can have Jane searching for asparagus to prepare dinner for Jack as Part I; Jack being away in Manila as Part II, the voice from the telephone saying he will never come back as Part III, and Jane being heartbroken as Part IV. As there is a twist in the tale, we can ask students to supply a surprise ending after they have reconstructed the four parts of the story. It would be interesting to compare the students* versions and that of the author*s : a wrongly connected telephone call for Jane.

What can we achieve in doing jigsaw reading?

We can give students a feeling of satisfaction --- the satisfaction gained at the completion of a task. In the above examples, students read with a purpose : to transfer information to their friends to reconstruct the story. We can also check comprehension by asking a group to re-tell the story to the class. We can then briefly analyse the text, e.g. quote connectives, cohesion markers, or flow of ideas to illustrate why Part II should follow Part I. We can throw in a bit of story grammar : the setting, the theme,

the plot, characters, resolution,etc. By familiarizing students with story grammar, we can help them read more effectively as they have a better schema to rely on.

Jigsaws for reading in the literature One of the problems with assigning outside reading in preparation for a class discussion is that, if everyone does the reading and comes adequately prepared, it's hard to "discuss the reading" during class in an interesting way. The literature is also typically difficult for undergraduates to read, and assigning multiple articles to achieve either breadth or depth might not be desirable.

Jigsaw offers an interesting way around both problems by having teams of students reading different but related articles and achieving depth and breadth in mixed groups. The key involves selecting related articles and helping students prepare adequately. Telling students to "do the reading and come prepared to teach it" is typically not very successful. Having students prepare written answers to guiding questions or create concept sketches of key figures can help students prepare well for class.

During peer teaching, having students role play the researchers ("My colleagues and I....") sounds silly but is remarkably effective for changing the tone in mixed groups from classroom to quasi-professional.

ECHO READING.
Echo reading is a form of modelling oral reading where the teacher reads a line of a story and then the student echoes her model by reading the same line imitating her intonation and phrasing. For example, a text around 200 words, like a short paragraph of a text. The teacher reads the first line of the text accentuating appropriate phrasing and intonation. Later, immediately, the student reads the same line modelling the teachers example. Then the teacher and the student read in echo fashion for the entire passage increasing the amount of text when the student can imitate the model.

Intensive Reading
Intensive Reading (IR) occurs when the learner is focused on the language rather than the text. For example, the learner may be answering comprehension questions, learning new vocabulary, studying the grammar and expressions in the text, translating the passage (sometimes called 'careful reading'), or other tasks that involve the student in looking intensively (inside) the text. Most often all the students read the same short text that the teacher decided. Intensive reading is a kind of reading in which readers besides linguistic knowledge should understand semantic details and pay close attention to the text, because, the aim is to obtain certain information. It provides a basis for explaining difficulties of structure and for extending knowledge of vocabulary and idioms. In this type of reading complicated materials are generally used, and the rate of reading seems to be much lower than any other type of readings. Intensive reading is for a high degree of comprehension and retention over a long period of time. The aim is to arrive at an understanding, not only of what the text means, but of how the meaning is produced. (Nuttall, 1998)

Guided Reading
What is Guided Reading? Guided reading is a strategy that helps students become good readers. The teacher provides support for small groups of readers as they learn to use various reading strategies (context clues, letter and sound relationships, word structure, and so forth). Although guided reading has been traditionally associated with primary grades it can be modified and used successfully in all grade levels. For example, older students may need to learn new strategies to understand how to read an information book in a way that is going to give them access to the information they are seeking.

What is its purpose? When the proper books are selected, students are able to read with approximately 90% accuracy. This enables the students to enjoy the story because there is not an overwhelming amount of "road blocks" that interfere with comprehension. Students focus on the meaning of the story and application of various reading strategies to problem solve when they do hit a road block in their knowledge or reading ability. By providing small groups of students the opportunity to learn various reading strategies with guidance from the teacher, they will possess the skills and knowledge required to read increasingly more difficult texts on their own. Independent reading is the GOAL - guided reading provides the framework to ensure that students are able to apply strategies to make meaning from print. How do I do it? Although the approach to guided reading is going to depend somewhat on your class size and grade level, the following suggestions can be used to provide an initial framework. 1. Students should be divided into small groups (4-6 students). The younger the students the smaller the groups. 2. Guided reading lessons are to be about 15-20 minutes in duration. 3. Appropriately leveled reading materials must be selected for the group and each child should have his/her own copy of the literature. 4. Pre-Reading: The teacher establishes a purpose for reading through prediction making, vocabulary introduction, or discussing ideas that will provide the readers with the background knowledge required for the text. 5. Reading: The teacher observes the students as they read the text softly or silently to themselves. The teacher provides guidance and coaching to individuals based on her/his observations by providing prompts, asking questions, and encouraging attempts at reading strategy application. 6. Post Reading: The teacher asks questions to ensure that the text has been comprehended by the readers and praises their efforts. Further, the teacher may observe gaps in strategy application and address these gaps following the reading in a mini-lesson format.

7. What do all the other students do during the guided reading lesson? When you teach

guided reading you are busy observing and instructing a small group of students. The other students in your class must be kept engage in a literacy activity while you are with your GR group. To ensure success of guided reading, be prepared to invest time upfront teaching your students the procedures you would like them to follow while you are busy with the GR groups. Once you are certain that the students can follow the procedures THEN focus on actually teaching guided reading.
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View a list of possible literacy centers you can use to engage your "other" students in while you spend your time with a GR group.

How can I adapt it? There are many ways to adapt guided reading to meet the needs of specific learners. Leveled reading materials, personalized spelling lists, multilevel literacy centers, and opportunities for independent projects all contribute to making the program fairly adaptable.

Tips for adapting:

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select one grade-level text and one easier than grade level to read each week so that your weaker students have the opportunity to read with greater ease & confidence consider alternative grouping (interest, social, ability) encourage rereading of selections to increase fluency each time selection is read use reading partners, parent volunteers, and care partners to support the struggling readers and challenge the strong readers encourage reading time to provide more practice time establish a parent volunteer reading program (study buddy)

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