It's much more complex...

When I first got to Hay elementary, my teacher and I sat down and started to discuss what I felt comfortable doing, what I had done in the past and of course, what my program expectations were. Once we were done with the background check my teacher informed me that the task she wanted me to start taking over from the very beginning was the read aloud. She continued to explain that in her opinion this was one of the hardest things to do correctly and effectively as a teacher and yet, probably the most important.

Throughout the months I have been at Hay I have done almost every single read aloud we have had in our classroom. Through trial and error and a whole lot of feedback I have realized that reading aloud is much more then just reading a story out loud to your students. Reading aloud is a teachers opportunity to show the kids how to be able to comprehend a story and this takes a lot of conscious thinking and work as a teacher.

Routman gives a list of strategies that he believes has a major influence on reading comprehension. These strategies are almost identical to the strategies my teacher has given me in my own attempts at reading out loud to the class. The first strategy I use is making connections.I am constantly making connections throughout the reading, for instance, last week we were reading about an inventor and the week before we had read about a different inventor. Therefore,I stopped and asked the kids what they saw that was similar and different between the two inventors. Another strategy I use is asking the kids what they thought was the most important part of the story. I think this is extremely important because it helps the kids pick out central themes as well as gives them an introduction to summarizing since they have to sum up what they just heard.

Another strategy I have used that I see similar to Routman is visualizing. Sometimes after a page is read I have the kids close their eyes and try to visually imagine what the setting or character might look like. The students love this activity and I think it helps them create a better connection to the story. Finally, one of the main strategies I use is prediction. Getting the students to predict is a great way for the kids to really think critically about what is going on in the story. They turn it into a competition sometimes and absolutely love it when they are right. Making predictions is one of the best ways to get the kids to really think about what is going on in the plot and it helps them feel a personal connection to what they are reading.

Reading out loud to my students has been one of the most rewarding learning experiences for me so far. I have seen myself grow so much as a teacher and have really seen the impact on student learning when I help the students make connections. Reading both Routman and Cooper made me even more sure that reading out loud to your students takes a lot of skill and practice.