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Read Alouds
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:47:35 -0400
I'm going to weigh in on a couple of points from the POV of a fourth grade classroom teacher. That is, I'm not seeing kids weekly in a library setting or adults in a college course. Those circumstances are very different from mine.
As I wrote before, I read aloud all day long in various ways. I suppose perhaps I'm old?shioned in this, but I expect (no EXPECT:) my students to sit still and listen. They are not allow to draw, braid hair, or play facemaking games with a friend while listening to me read. I tell them that I cannot make them listen and that, if they don't like the story, they can always daydream. I think there is more than just listening to a book being read aloud happening here. Kids are learning to sit still and be with themselves and the story for a bit. Without anything else to distract or engage them. Similar to what I was trying to get at last month when I wrote about the need for solitude and reflection. My read aloud time is for that.
Another thing is that I feel that I'm building a special community when I read aloud to my class. If I suggest once in a while to keep the lights on during our read aloud time because I have illustrations to show them, they refuse. They love the quiet, the dark, the pillows, the predicable nature of it, and the whole gestalt of it. My voice is a piece of it. Anyone else's voice is jarring for them and they complain to me whenever anyone else reads. My kids and I become a tight group this way. I suppose it is something of the same sort of comfort bedtime story reading is for children and parents.
So reading aloud is much more than just story or just books for my students and me. It is a key part of my teaching in so many ways!
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Thu 26 Aug 2004 02:47:35 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:47:35 -0400
I'm going to weigh in on a couple of points from the POV of a fourth grade classroom teacher. That is, I'm not seeing kids weekly in a library setting or adults in a college course. Those circumstances are very different from mine.
As I wrote before, I read aloud all day long in various ways. I suppose perhaps I'm old?shioned in this, but I expect (no EXPECT:) my students to sit still and listen. They are not allow to draw, braid hair, or play facemaking games with a friend while listening to me read. I tell them that I cannot make them listen and that, if they don't like the story, they can always daydream. I think there is more than just listening to a book being read aloud happening here. Kids are learning to sit still and be with themselves and the story for a bit. Without anything else to distract or engage them. Similar to what I was trying to get at last month when I wrote about the need for solitude and reflection. My read aloud time is for that.
Another thing is that I feel that I'm building a special community when I read aloud to my class. If I suggest once in a while to keep the lights on during our read aloud time because I have illustrations to show them, they refuse. They love the quiet, the dark, the pillows, the predicable nature of it, and the whole gestalt of it. My voice is a piece of it. Anyone else's voice is jarring for them and they complain to me whenever anyone else reads. My kids and I become a tight group this way. I suppose it is something of the same sort of comfort bedtime story reading is for children and parents.
So reading aloud is much more than just story or just books for my students and me. It is a key part of my teaching in so many ways!
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Thu 26 Aug 2004 02:47:35 PM CDT
