The Case for Reading Aloud to Students
- 1. The Case for Reading Aloud to Students Brian Ferguson Teacher Librarian South Davis Junior High
- 2. Why do we encourage parents to read aloud to their children? • Help children acquire early language skills • The one-on-one attention is nurturing for children • Help children develop positive associations with books and reading • Build a strong foundation for school success
- 3. How does early reading at home help with school success? • Children are exposed to characters and stories beyond their immediate experience • Children learn the relationship between print and knowledge • Children hear new words and ideas • Children get practice in listening
- 4. Socio-economic status dramatically effects language development by Age 3 • The average welfare child hears 616 words per hour • The average working-class child hears 1251 words per hour • The average professional class child hears 2153 words per hour “The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3” Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley
- 5. Vocabulary correlates highly with intelligence • You can’t “think” about something you don’t have words for • Conscious thinking is word based • Your vocabulary is the basis of your background knowledge • Critical reading and writing skills are tied to your vocabulary
- 6. The number one predictor for school success is reading ability • Knowledge is word-based • The cumulative knowledge of mankind is stored as text. • Knowledge is acquired most efficiently through reading. • Mastery of knowledge is usually demonstrated through writing. • Children who don’t read proficiently by 4th grade are four times more likely to not graduate from high school.
- 7. The number one predictor for school success is reading ability • Knowledge is word-based • The cumulative knowledge of mankind is stored as text. • Knowledge is acquired most efficiently through reading. • Mastery of knowledge is usually demonstrated through writing. • Children who don’t read proficiently by 4th grade are four times more likely to not graduate from high school.
- 8. Who are these non-readers? • Not listening to the teacher • Lack of focus on assignment • Noisy, disturbing others • Wasting class time • Instead of “Active Engagement” with the lesson, they actually have well- developed “Active Avoidance” skills
- 9. Who are these non-readers? • Not listening to the teacher • Lack of focus on assignment • Noisy, disturbing others • Wasting class time • Instead of “Active Engagement” with the lesson, they actually have well- developed “Active Avoidance” skills
- 10. Non-readers are those who haven’t been read to enough • Their vocabularies are smaller so grade-level texts are frustrating • They never made the childhood connection between reading and comfort • They lack exposure to interesting stories and ideas • People around them do not read • Books represent boredom to them, not curiosity
- 11. Listening Precedes Reading • Until about 8th grade, students’ “listening level” exceeds their “reading level.” • Reading to students allows them to engage with texts they cannot yet read on their own. • Listening to a good reader teaches reading skills such as pacing, phrasing, inflection, and pronunciation.
- 12. A person’s vocabulary develops in a very particular order
- 13. Vocabulary skills flow from Listening to Speaking to Reading to Writing
- 14. One cannot learn to read a word one cannot say. And one cannot say a word one has never heard.
- 15. Antediluvian • Pronunciation: ˌan(t)ēdəˈlo͞ovēən • Definition: Very old-fashioned • Usage: “His antediluvian ideas are preposterous!” • Derivation: Latin ante meaning “before” and diluvium meaning “flood”
- 16. Epistemic • Pronunciation: epəˈstemik, epəˈstēmik • Definition: Cognitive, relating to learning, or involving knowledge; • Usage: “The monk’s epistemic dissertation was an engaging study of New Testament beliefs.” • Derivation: The ancient Greek epistēmē meaning “scientific knowledge”
- 17. Laconic • Pronunciation: ləˈkänik • Definition: using few words • Usage: “Jerry’s laconic sense of humor endeared him to the crowd.” • Derivation: After Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta, whose inhabitants had a reputation for verbal austerity and were famous for their blunt and often pithy remarks.
- 18. Reading aloud is beneficial at all levels • Preschool and Lower Elementary • Upper Elementary • Junior High / Middle School • High School • College • Post Graduate
- 19. All teachers in all grades and all subject areas should read aloud to their students • They should be reading aloud regularly • They should read both fiction and non-fiction • Reading aloud is a way to present information orally but in a “voice” different from the teacher lecturing • Reading aloud is especially good for introducing new units of study and for broadening students’ background knowledge of a subject
- 20. Reading Fiction • Improves reading comprehension • Increases vocabulary • Develops the imagination • Demonstrates story structure • Improves empathy
- 21. Fiction formats • Story (Prose) • Poetry and Lyrics • Drama
- 22. Reading Non-fiction • Improves Reading Comprehension • Increases Vocabulary • Develops background knowledge • Teaches facts about a topic • Models good informative writing
- 23. Non-fiction Formats • Article • Essay • Pamphlet • Letter • Biography • Memoir • Travelogue
- 24. “I have more important things to teach than just reading to my students” • The basic concepts and vocabulary of your subject area? • The history and background of your subject area? • The processes and procedures of your subject area? • The important people in your subject area? Like what exactly?
- 25. You can read on any topic you can lecture • It will be more engaging • It will be more authentic • It will promote further reading
- 26. Benefits • Raises test scores • Introduces readers to new titles, authors, illustrators, genres, and text structures • Builds a sense of community • Provides opportunities for extended discussions • It is pleasurable Frank Serafini & Cyndi Giorgis, 2003
- 27. Benefits • Connects readers with content area subjects • Demonstrates response strategies • Increases reader’s interest in independent reading • Provides access to books that readers may not be able to experience on their own • Provides demonstrations of oral reading and fluency
- 28. Benefits • Helps readers understand the connection between reading in school and reading in life • Provides demonstrations of quality writing • Supports reader’s development
- 29. Students can also read aloud in your classroom • The textbook • Books brought in by the teacher • Their own writing
- 30. Sources • The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease http://www.trelease-on- reading.com/rah-intro.html • Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer by Annie Murphy http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/03/why-we-should-read-literature/print/ • Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy by Julianne Chiaet http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/novel-finding-reading-literary- fiction-improves-empathy/
- 31. Sources • Great Kids web site interview with Jim Trelease. http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/read-aloud-to-children/ • The Importance of Reading Aloud http://www.reachoutandread.org/why-we- work/importance-of-reading-aloud/ • “The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3” by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley, American Educator, Spring 2003.
- 32. Organizations Parents Reading to Kids • Read Aloud 15 Minutes Campaign http://www.readaloud.org • Reach Out and Read Coalition http://www.reachoutandread.org Reading Your Own Writing Aloud • Writing Center - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/reading-aloud/