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Why Reading Aloud Works                                                                              Go to Top of Page

The Power of Story
Reading Aloud works because it uses the age-old power of narrative. From the dawn of time, certainly before the advent of writing, man has entertained himself w/ stories. The power of Homeric story-telling is no less w/ us, just because we live in an age of film and video. They, too, rely on story-telling. But only reading can create the mental pyrotechnics that grow synaptic connections, enlarge our children’s verbal capacity, and use story and narrative for entertainment and educational benefit.

Context and Exposure
If I told you I had a trick that could
      a) boost your child’s reading level, indeed their ease in virtually all matters scholastic;
      b) that it required no work and was nothing but fun, fun, fun; and
      c) that your child learned w/out knowing anything educational was going one,
          w/out practice or conscious iteration, seemingly by accident, would you use it?

That trick is reading aloud. All of the verbal gains - vocabulary, understanding of grammatical agreement, the whole lot - come from context and exposure. You don’t need to give a child a vocabulary test after reading a book to see if they noticed or retained or wrote down or looked up or memorized or learned the ten (or a hundred) “new” words in the story. But if you test ‘em 6 months letter, after a steady diet of chapter books (say, one a month), they’ll be sure to have a larger vocabulary and a greater facility w/ a larger number of complex or difficult words. By accident. W/out even trying. All from mere context and exposure. That’s how reading aloud works.

Read to Listening Level
This may be tricky to understand, but there is a difference between a student’s reading level and their listening level. Jim Trelease likes to point out that students in first grade have heard the Cat in the Hat 100 times already. It is an insult (he says) to read it to them again. They may not be able to read a hundred page book, w/ only ten pictures, to themselves yet. But they can surely listen to one. Reading aloud should be pegged at a child’s listening level, usually somewhere 2-3 grade levels above their own respective reading level. To maximize the verbal and other gains that reading aloud makes possible, children must be challenged, exposed to more sophisticated verbal material.This means, if they’re listening to picture books, they need to move from books w/ a ratio of one sentence a picture, to books w/ a paragraph (w/ perhaps five complete, grammatically rich sentences) per picture. And if they’re beginning to read on their own, then they’re ready for chapter books. Happily, this means adult readers will be challenged and more stimulated as well. That’s what sophisticated stories do.

Active vs. Passive
Reading aloud also works because it stimulates the mind. The listener is required to actively conjure the images and characterization necessary to inform and interpet a story. Television, on the other hand, is a passive activity, which supplies its own images. The brain goes to sleep. Reading Aloud “works” because it stimulates a child’s brain to be active (even though the child thinks he/she is merely being entertained).

Why Reading Aloud is Beneficial                                                                   Go to Top of Page

Emotion
Reading Aloud is an incomparable way for parents and children to spend - and share - time together; to develop and grow an emotional bond. Studies have even shown that information and knowledge are retained better when accompanied by an emotional attachment. What a bounty: Reading Aloud brings you stories and love and educational merit.

Morality
Reading Aloud is an age-old, time-tested way to impart moral lessons and ethical examles to our children. For centuries, the Bible (and other religious literature) have been specially crafted and used for moral instruction. From today’s storybooks, the lessons are less didactic - but no less valuable. Children can learn resourcefulness, fortitude, and perseverance from Robinson Crusoe stories like Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins or Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet. But they also naturally identify w/ the protagonists - and the full range of ethical decisions they face, from the petty to the grand - in stories as old as C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia to those as fresh and new as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter.

Literature
Reading Aloud is a way to bring literature to our children. And if literature does anything - it expands our minds. It exposes children to new and different perspectives, cultures, points, of view, contexts, situations, phenomena... It teaches children -w/out their knowing it - to be less provincial, more open-minded; less parochial, more versatile; less hide-bound, more curious. If literature can do all that, shouldn’t we be offering them all they can handle?

Education
Reading Aloud to children creates better readers, enabling students to better - and more easily - succeed at all the tasks in school that require verbal acuity. It does this by increasing students’ attention spans, vocabulary, facility w/ grammar and syntax, sentence structure and paragraph composition, and famiiiarizes them w/ more complex character and plot composition. Best of all, none of these skills require worksheets or drill. Reading aloud yields better readers and better students, making school easier for those blessed w/ its educational benefits. If practiced universally, it will surely raise SOL scores.

Why to Read Above Grade Level                                                                    Go to Top of Page

One of the purposes of reading aloud is to create better readers. This means both preparing pre-schoolers to be able to read; and for children already reading, improving their facility w/ words so they can read better.

To do this, children must be exposed to verbal material which grows and stretches their mind, material which exposes them to the rich panoply of vocabulary and description, familiarizes them w/ complex sentence and paragraph structure, gives them the time and exeprience to contemplate chartacters and plot structure.

If all of this is going to happen - if we are to insure that children are exposed to all the verbal pyrotechnics that books contain: grammar and syntax, the whole kit and caboodle - then we must make sure they are read challenging material, material which contains new stuff, stuff they didn’t know they’d like, but which expands their repertoire. - (All - I can’t say this enough times - w/out their knowing it.)

For younger children, this means stepping up the quality of picture book you read your child. At some point, you move beyond the over-simple sentences of Clifford and Bob the Builder (books which are probably tiresome for parents to read repetetively anyway), and introduce the more complex sentences (and illustrations) of William Steig and Chris Van Allsburg.

Pay attention to the ratio of sentences to pages or pictures. At some point, you want to move from a ratio of one sentence per picture (or page), to a ratio of one full paragraph (w/ perhaps five sentences) per picture or page.

For older children - meaning children who already can read (or are beginning to read) - it’s time to read chapter books together. You certainly don’t have to start w/ imposing behemoths like Harry Potter. There are lots of good introductory chapter books - shorter books, w/ shorter chapters, some w/ 2 or 3 illustrations per chapter - to start w/. If you’re sly, it will be a seamless transition and your child won’t even realize that you’ve made the transition to chapter books. Such books will not only challenge and enrich your child in greater ways, but will also offer more stimulating fare for you - the parent reader.

Jim Trelease talks about the difference between Reading Level and Listening Level. Your first grader can probably read the Cat in the Hat. If so, he goes so far as to say, although it may be fun, it is an insult to the child’s listening level to read him/her Dr. Seuss. Is there anything wrong w/ that? Of course not. What older brother or sister hasn’t come around to re-listen when baby brother is being read Horton Hears a Who for the first time. It is an insult, he says, because their first grade brains are capable of so much more. If we want to accrue all the verbal gains that reading makes possible, then we have to use and stretch and develop their listening spans. We talk all the time about the potential each child has as a learner. Here is a clear case where they remain ready and waiting - and the power resides in us, the parent, to wake them up and turn them on. (And it’s fun!)

One expected trick to ease the transition to chapter books is to read comic books. If some of you haven’t been in a comic bookstore lately, it’s not your father’s Oldsmobile. Comics not only have more complex words and sentences and plots than you might imagine, they also contain a ratio of words to pictures that is second only to full-fledged chapter books. And there are a raft of comics available today that can not only entertain families, but that are even wholesome. Best of all, comics can ease the transition to chapter books both for your student reader AND your listen aloud children.

Ten Tips for Reading Aloud                                                        Go to Top of Page

How to Choose a Book
Make sure you marry the right reading style w/ each book: Roddy Doyle’s the Giggler Treatment (about dog poop) asks for a wry, arch, playful syle - lots of enthusiasm; Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins suggests a quieter, deadpan style - it’s a story about Nature, so let the prose do the work.

How to Make the Time
- If reading aloud is important, you must Prioritize: Sometimes this means doing something else (say, the dishes) later; sometimes it means not doing something else (Monday Night Football isn’t that good this week); and sometimes it means making something boring - say, waiting at the doctor’s office - interesting.

Punch Vocabulary
- Make the language in a story more interesting to both you and your listener by choosing the most interesting word in each sentence, and doing something more w/ it: emphasize it, italicize it, underline it, enunciate it, whisper it, elongate it - bring it out to some (subtle) place of prominence and enliven the prose.

Pause
One of three tips that help Re-set your child’s attention span and can be used to heighten drama or suspense or emotional impact; in this case, pay special attention to every mark of punctuation: every comma and period, hyphen and parentheses - one word sentences are written that way for a reason.

Slow Down
Also Re-sets attention span; and heightens drama, suspense, and emotion; but not the same as pausing; slowing down means the pace of a sentence; or a paragraph; your listener will notice immediately.

Whisper
Everyone knows the whisper effect, when you want to make someone pay even closer attention; so this one also Re-sets the attention span; heightens drama and suspense and - especially - can make the most malevolent characters even more malevolent. - Taken together, I’d even go so far as to say these three represent the heart of effective reading aloud.

Accents and Voices
Borrow indiscriminately and shamelessly from everywhere to mimic different voices; you kids don’t care how perfect they are, only that the voices in a dialogue are different and distinct, bringing the characters alive; Also: give each character who talks a lot some idenifyng trait or mannerism to make it easier for you to trigger the voice (e.g. Draco Malfoy lords it over everyone - perhaps he drawls; Hermione Granger is a goody-goody - perhaps her voice is a little prissy.)

Ask Questions
Use the opportunity and pace reading a book give you to ask questions before, during, and after a reading; to serve multiple purposes: rehearse or remember characters or plot developments; explore moral or ethical questions; make associations w/ other books and media - film and otherwise.

Give ‘em a Quiz.
Not to to make reading like school, but as a memory cue; kids love showing off their knowledge, having a reason to pay even closer attention, owning a book or story thoroughly and in detail - pretty soon, they’ll be asking you questions.

Permit an auxiliary activity.
Kids will get distracted - for a good reason: because they’ve made an association and are pursuing it; when pausing and whispering and slowing down aren’t enough, it’s OK to let ‘em color or draw or doodle - or braid their hair or wash the dishes - to let their restless minds re-focus on your story.

Tips For Classroom Reading                                             Go to Top of Page

Skim the book yourself before you share it with a group of children. This will give you a chance to judge whether you like the book, as well as alert you to any difficulties with language or subject matter.

Make your listeners comfortable. It's easier for them to pay attention if they're facing away from bright windows and lots of other activity.

Find the best time for reading each day. Children will listen better after recess or lunch than they will before.

Start small. If your children haven't been read to much, your first sessions may need to be short. For first and second graders, ten or fifteen minutes may be enough. Older more experienced listeners may enjoy half-hour sessions.

Pay attention to your listeners. Look up from the book from time to time to make eye contact with the group. This way you'll know whether they're still spellbound or ready for a break.

Don't stop! Middle school students are not too old for reading aloud. In fact, some of the best books for reading aloud are most enjoyed by this age group.

Have fun. Don't try to read books you don't enjoy yourself - your lack of enthusiasm will come through. Do allow this to be fun for you and the children.

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