Who would have believed that it would come to this?
Education Week is having a webinar on new approaches to reading aloud in K-2nd grade (New Strategies for Reading Aloud to K-2 Students, Thurs. June 18, 2-3 p.m ET). The underwriting for the webinar is through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with Common Core the idea is that you must move away from the “cozy” reading gatherings to “crafting questions that guide children back to the text to build vocabulary, content knowledge, and evidence-based understanding of the text.”
What a complete lack of trust in children! To manipulate this sacrosanct process in honor of Common Core programming is nothing less than heresy!
As a parent and teacher I am here to tell you the most important thing anyone can do with a young child (and even an older one) is read aloud to them. It’s so simple—so pure in its intent and approach! Teachers, parents and librarians have been thrilling children for years by simply reading aloud. Questions flow naturally. It needs no fine tuning!
To make educators and parents feel like they must subscribe to constructing questions, and emphasizing vocabulary and content knowledge as they read, is harmful. To imply you require evidence the child obtained knowledge from the book destroys the sheer beauty of reading for pleasure.
There is a time and place for analyzing text—especially as children get older—but not during story hour. No way!
I would add that even older students, and students with reading disabilities, appreciate being read to with no strings attached. To listen to the words and the stories for enjoyment creates its own special learning. I think it is especially important for students who see reading as boring or difficult, to hear words that stimulate them to seek out books on their own.
To manipulate this process means you are not looking at reading through a child’s eyes. They will ask their own questions. If the adult takes over completely, the child never feels in control. They never learn their thoughts and ideas are worth anything.
The best thing an adult can do while reading aloud to children, is to learn how to use their voice while reading to make the words come alive. It is the best time to be an actor! Raise your voice when there is something exciting or lower it to whisper when the character is in danger. Practice reading with inflection, before reading the book out loud, and children will love you for it.
I used to drive out of my way to take my daughter to a library story hour with a librarian who had mastered the art of a reading performance. The room was decorated with lively storybook characters. Many parents stayed to listen because they loved the stories too!
Not only did the librarian read she used props—sometimes puppets or music et cetera. If she asked any questions they were “What do you think about that?” or “How does that make you feel?” Afterwards, parents ran to get books because we knew the checkout line would be long. Every child left with bags of picture books!
If you want to make the stories come alive, and many librarians and teachers have done this well for years, rip down those data walls and put up bulletin boards of the characters or scenes you read about. Immerse children in the stories they love. This develops the joy of reading and will make children hunger for more!
And someday they will crossover into tougher books because they will be curious about those too.
Find ways to supplement the stories.
I’ve always been a fan of Story S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-r-s: Activities to Expand Children’s Favorite Books, a series of books with popular fiction and nonfiction, time honored books and matching activities that generate excitement over what is read. But this is much different than quizzing children about the text.
And for young children—there is no better way to help them connect the meaning of vocabulary to pictures than Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever! So exquisitely simple!
To read charming and funny picture books—and I’d add that silly picture books are sometimes the best—drives young children to read. It motivates them to see what’s on the next page and the next….
If you steal that process children will be confused or they will learn to hate reading!
Making reading into a chore because a bunch of controlling adults must micromanage everything for the sake of a program is wrong.
What the Common Core aficionados seem to have forgotten, or what they don’t know, is that reading aloud to children is fun! It’s motivating! That’s all the evidence we need.
Parents, teachers and librarians—how do you motivate students to read for joy?