Text Talk

I have all ways been a fan of read alouds in classrooms, not by students but by the teachers. After having Dr. Stacy’s class, I grew to love them even more. She would begin each class with a read aloud which seemed to put us all in a better mood. However, I cannot sit and listen to just anyone read aloud. I enjoy an enthusiastic read, like you Dr. B. This now brings me to the article. It is obvious that language development stems from being exposed. I think it is very important for teachers to use read alouds in their classroom but not only read but allow for that discussion time. In the article, it mentioned about when teachers asked questions about the story, they would say something that was not even in the story, which would lead to a completely different discussion. This is a good thing. It is allowing the students to make a personal connection to the story and that means that they are listening. It will help them to better comprehend the story if they can have a text to self connection.  This does bring a question to mind though… When is it too far off topic? Should we allow them to go on or stop?

With young children, I truly feel that more exposure to vocabulary will only help the student. We need to read to students and we need to allow them time to think about what is being read. We need to give them time to reflect on it and occasionally, if they are unable to reflect by writing, then allow them to speak out about. They need that share time.