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[CCBC-Net] READING ALOUD
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From: Sharron L. McElmeel <mcelmeels>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:20:46 -0600
Thanks Lee for your continued passion and dedication to creating life-long readers both through YOUR wonderful writings and through your advocacy for READING in general.
I could echo Lee's sentiments but he expressed it much more emphatically than I could -- and rightly so. I've spoken to groups of teachers for two or more decades now and there were always those who read to their students and those who did not. Regardless of the excuse there always was one. Our principal won't let us deviate from the reading basal, we have too much curriculum to get in - we don't have time, I don't have time to find good read alouds, my students don't want to listen, and now "the no child left behind act." Those who keep making excuses will not ever get to read aloud to their students - -but it is probably the single most important activity that a teacher can do each day.
The current research thinking is that teachers should read aloud to their classroom of students at least 6 times a day: A continuing read (a chapter book read a portion at a time each day) A poem A picture book A news article (or other contemporary piece from a newspaper, magazine etc.) A informational piece related to a subject of interest Another poem or short story.
These read alouds need not stand alone they can be planned to relate to curricular areas, introduce new units, etc. What fun to read Shel Silverstein's Science Test before giving the science test -
-works for any age; introduce the Civil War with Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco. Or just for fun declare a "Poetry Break" or "Story Break" to rejuvenate their brains and relax your students before moving on to a new topic.
AND it works for all ages. I once had a HS math teachers in my reading motivation class that met on 2 Saturdays. The first Saturday he seemed disinterested and of course, was there because he "needed the credit." I sent them away with an assignment to try out one of the motivational techniques we had discussed on the first Saturday. He came back the second Saturday (a month later) with a new interest in the topic. He had decided to "read aloud" to his math class. He found biographies of math inventors, math poems, CSI type stories that included math calculations that helped solve the case, magazine articles, and short stories -- all with a math reference. He reported that he started the read-aloud at the "bell" and after a few days EVERY student was in his/her seat ON TIME so as not to miss the story / poem-- no more tardy students or stragglers just beating the tardy bell. The benefits: students were on time, they had a building respect for the discipline of math, and the librarian came to him and said, "What are you doing up here?" It seemed his students were flocking to the library to get the books he had been reading selections from -- poetry, biography, history of mathematics, magazines, everything he touched seemed to have turned to gold. More than five years later, he is still reading aloud to each of his HS math classes EVERY day. He reports that he has not sacrificed one moment of "math time" and has managed to have attentive and interested students. His language arts colleagues and the school's librarian feed him suggestions for his read alouds; and his success has brought a PE teacher and a science teacher into the fold, so to speak. The PE teacher doesn't read every day but very very often.
So stop with the excuses already -- and get to reading aloud -- and you too will have some golden moments.
Sharron
At 10:28 AM -0500 02/27/08, Lbhcove at aol.com wrote:
>I don't give a damn for any excuse about NOT reading aloud to children. The
>NO-CHILD...act is preposterous. It has destroyed so many reading/literature
>programs -- let alone the destruction of millions of children's love for
>reading.
>
>Get this: Read aloud THE SNOWY DAY by Keats; follow it up with "Cynthia in
>the Snow"
>where snow is "Still white as milk or shirts./So beautiful it hurts." in
>Gwendolyn Brooks'
>BRONZEVILLE BOYS AND GIRLS.
>
>In minutes ... MINUTES ... children are exposed to a Caldecott Award winning
>gem and
>the work of a Pulitzer Prize Poet.
>
>Richer than a Big Whopper. Richer than "How long was the mouse's tail in
>...DESPERAUX?" or "What do you think the poet really meant when he/she wrote
>that?"
>
>News for those who write these insane, inane questions: I don't even know
>what
>I really mean sometimes!
>
>Young teachers: Get with it. There is a lot to learn.
>
>And with every book you read aloud, find a poem to go with it.
>
>I believe we spend too much time TEACHING children to READ -- and NOT enough
>time TEACHING them to LOVE to read.
>
>GET the difference.
>
>Lee Bennett Hopkins
>
>AMERICA AT WAR (McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)
>_www.simonsays.com_ (http://www.simonsays.com/)
>
>
>
>**************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
>(http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/
>2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
>_______________________________________________
>CCBC-Net mailing list
>CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:20:46 -0600
Thanks Lee for your continued passion and dedication to creating life-long readers both through YOUR wonderful writings and through your advocacy for READING in general.
I could echo Lee's sentiments but he expressed it much more emphatically than I could -- and rightly so. I've spoken to groups of teachers for two or more decades now and there were always those who read to their students and those who did not. Regardless of the excuse there always was one. Our principal won't let us deviate from the reading basal, we have too much curriculum to get in - we don't have time, I don't have time to find good read alouds, my students don't want to listen, and now "the no child left behind act." Those who keep making excuses will not ever get to read aloud to their students - -but it is probably the single most important activity that a teacher can do each day.
The current research thinking is that teachers should read aloud to their classroom of students at least 6 times a day: A continuing read (a chapter book read a portion at a time each day) A poem A picture book A news article (or other contemporary piece from a newspaper, magazine etc.) A informational piece related to a subject of interest Another poem or short story.
These read alouds need not stand alone they can be planned to relate to curricular areas, introduce new units, etc. What fun to read Shel Silverstein's Science Test before giving the science test -
-works for any age; introduce the Civil War with Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco. Or just for fun declare a "Poetry Break" or "Story Break" to rejuvenate their brains and relax your students before moving on to a new topic.
AND it works for all ages. I once had a HS math teachers in my reading motivation class that met on 2 Saturdays. The first Saturday he seemed disinterested and of course, was there because he "needed the credit." I sent them away with an assignment to try out one of the motivational techniques we had discussed on the first Saturday. He came back the second Saturday (a month later) with a new interest in the topic. He had decided to "read aloud" to his math class. He found biographies of math inventors, math poems, CSI type stories that included math calculations that helped solve the case, magazine articles, and short stories -- all with a math reference. He reported that he started the read-aloud at the "bell" and after a few days EVERY student was in his/her seat ON TIME so as not to miss the story / poem-- no more tardy students or stragglers just beating the tardy bell. The benefits: students were on time, they had a building respect for the discipline of math, and the librarian came to him and said, "What are you doing up here?" It seemed his students were flocking to the library to get the books he had been reading selections from -- poetry, biography, history of mathematics, magazines, everything he touched seemed to have turned to gold. More than five years later, he is still reading aloud to each of his HS math classes EVERY day. He reports that he has not sacrificed one moment of "math time" and has managed to have attentive and interested students. His language arts colleagues and the school's librarian feed him suggestions for his read alouds; and his success has brought a PE teacher and a science teacher into the fold, so to speak. The PE teacher doesn't read every day but very very often.
So stop with the excuses already -- and get to reading aloud -- and you too will have some golden moments.
Sharron
At 10:28 AM -0500 02/27/08, Lbhcove at aol.com wrote:
>I don't give a damn for any excuse about NOT reading aloud to children. The
>NO-CHILD...act is preposterous. It has destroyed so many reading/literature
>programs -- let alone the destruction of millions of children's love for
>reading.
>
>Get this: Read aloud THE SNOWY DAY by Keats; follow it up with "Cynthia in
>the Snow"
>where snow is "Still white as milk or shirts./So beautiful it hurts." in
>Gwendolyn Brooks'
>BRONZEVILLE BOYS AND GIRLS.
>
>In minutes ... MINUTES ... children are exposed to a Caldecott Award winning
>gem and
>the work of a Pulitzer Prize Poet.
>
>Richer than a Big Whopper. Richer than "How long was the mouse's tail in
>...DESPERAUX?" or "What do you think the poet really meant when he/she wrote
>that?"
>
>News for those who write these insane, inane questions: I don't even know
>what
>I really mean sometimes!
>
>Young teachers: Get with it. There is a lot to learn.
>
>And with every book you read aloud, find a poem to go with it.
>
>I believe we spend too much time TEACHING children to READ -- and NOT enough
>time TEACHING them to LOVE to read.
>
>GET the difference.
>
>Lee Bennett Hopkins
>
>AMERICA AT WAR (McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)
>_www.simonsays.com_ (http://www.simonsays.com/)
>
>
>
>**************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
>(http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/
>2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
>_______________________________________________
>CCBC-Net mailing list
>CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
-- =================================== Sharron L. McElmeel University of Wisconsin - Stout Wisconsin's Polytechnic University Children's Literature in the Reading Program http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/childrenslit/ Young Adult Literature in the Reading Program http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/yalit/ 3000 N Center Point Rd Cedar Rapids, IA 52411-9548 ph. (319) 393-2562 mcelmeel at mcelmeel.com http://www.mcelmeel.com Author of Authors in the Pantry: Recipes, Stories, and More (Libraries Unlimited, 2007) Authors in the Kitchen: Recipes, Stories, and More (Libraries Unlimited, 2005), Best Teen Reads: 2005 (Hi Willow), Children's Authors and Illustrators Too Good to Miss (Libraries Unlimited); 100 Most Popular Children's Authors (Libraries Unlimited), 100 Most Popular Picture Book Authors and Illustrators (Libraries Unlimited), Character Education: A Book Guide for Teachers, Librarians, and Parents (Libraries Unlimited) and other titles (http://www.mcelmeel.com/writing). =================Received on Wed 27 Feb 2008 10:20:46 AM CST
