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Middle School Reading Aloud
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From: Connie Rockman <connie.rock>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 18:25:34 -0400
I've been enjoying this discussion with so many warm memories of reading aloud coming up, past and present.
One I wanted to share especially is prompted by Julie's mention of Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady. The retelling by Selina Hastings is especially fine. Some years ago I was asked to tell stories at a group home for girls, ages 16. These girls had all had to leave their family homes for various reasons, and were all in therapy of one sort or another. One of them had been a "latchkey" child at my library, and had requested that I come to tell stories as part of her 18th birthday celebration. I told the story of the Loathly Lady as they huddled on couches, some close together and others guarding their personal space. When Sir Gawain offered his hand to the poor ugly crone and agreed to marry her, one of the girls sighed deeply and said, "God, I wish I could find a guy like that!"
Another story I told that night was Rumer Godden's The Mousewife. On one level it's a simple animal tale, but this story has always had great resonance for me since I first heard it in a graduate school storytelling class. I could only hope the unlikely friendship of the dove and the mousewife would touch these girls the way it had touched me. At the end of the story, there was a long pause, then one of the counselors said in a hushed tone, "That's a story about therapy," and all the girls started talking about what that meant.
Though I was telling the stories rather than reading them that night, I think the effect is similar, and I've never forgotten that particular audience and the magic I felt in their listening. Stories certainly do have the power to enter our psyches and lodge there, giving us gifts long after the first hearing.
My read-aloud experiences with my own children are rich memories that have bonded us together over many years - the Prydain books, the Narnia books, the Dark is Rising series all gave us a rich cast of characters to emulate and/or fear. I remember when my son came home from third grade with a book the teacher had been reading to the class, and he wanted to share it with me. It was Hawkins, by Barbara Brooks Wallace, and it tickled him down to his toes, enough to read the entire book aloud to me. When they were in middle school, we took turns reading to each other as we worked our way through Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, having cogent discussions about human behavior and why people do the things they do.
And I do believe in letting hands be busy while reading is happening .
. . those nights of Huck Finn were accomplished while one washed the dishes, one dried, and the other one read! My daughter and I also created piles of crewel embroidery projects while we took turns reading to each other during those long ago years. Warm memories, indeed.
Connie Rockman
On Friday, August 20, 2004, at 01:14 PM, Julie Corsaro wrote:
Received on Thu 26 Aug 2004 05:25:34 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 18:25:34 -0400
I've been enjoying this discussion with so many warm memories of reading aloud coming up, past and present.
One I wanted to share especially is prompted by Julie's mention of Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady. The retelling by Selina Hastings is especially fine. Some years ago I was asked to tell stories at a group home for girls, ages 16. These girls had all had to leave their family homes for various reasons, and were all in therapy of one sort or another. One of them had been a "latchkey" child at my library, and had requested that I come to tell stories as part of her 18th birthday celebration. I told the story of the Loathly Lady as they huddled on couches, some close together and others guarding their personal space. When Sir Gawain offered his hand to the poor ugly crone and agreed to marry her, one of the girls sighed deeply and said, "God, I wish I could find a guy like that!"
Another story I told that night was Rumer Godden's The Mousewife. On one level it's a simple animal tale, but this story has always had great resonance for me since I first heard it in a graduate school storytelling class. I could only hope the unlikely friendship of the dove and the mousewife would touch these girls the way it had touched me. At the end of the story, there was a long pause, then one of the counselors said in a hushed tone, "That's a story about therapy," and all the girls started talking about what that meant.
Though I was telling the stories rather than reading them that night, I think the effect is similar, and I've never forgotten that particular audience and the magic I felt in their listening. Stories certainly do have the power to enter our psyches and lodge there, giving us gifts long after the first hearing.
My read-aloud experiences with my own children are rich memories that have bonded us together over many years - the Prydain books, the Narnia books, the Dark is Rising series all gave us a rich cast of characters to emulate and/or fear. I remember when my son came home from third grade with a book the teacher had been reading to the class, and he wanted to share it with me. It was Hawkins, by Barbara Brooks Wallace, and it tickled him down to his toes, enough to read the entire book aloud to me. When they were in middle school, we took turns reading to each other as we worked our way through Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, having cogent discussions about human behavior and why people do the things they do.
And I do believe in letting hands be busy while reading is happening .
. . those nights of Huck Finn were accomplished while one washed the dishes, one dried, and the other one read! My daughter and I also created piles of crewel embroidery projects while we took turns reading to each other during those long ago years. Warm memories, indeed.
Connie Rockman
On Friday, August 20, 2004, at 01:14 PM, Julie Corsaro wrote:
Received on Thu 26 Aug 2004 05:25:34 PM CDT
