43 Interactive Read Aloud
Sarah Spindler
Strategy Overview:
- In an interactive read- aloud, the teacher reads a book out loud to the class and pauses periodically to ask questions about what is happening in the story (Richardson, 23).
- The strategy builds and polishes comprehension skills. Interactive Read Alouds also help students make inferences, visualize what they are reading, and decide what is important in the text (Richardson, 23).
- Teachers can use this in the classroom during the Oral Language section of the literacy block, or any time that students are learning new information.
- According to Rick Kleine, an interactive read- aloud is also and excellent way to model fluency and to engage students in the reading. They converse with a partner to make predictions, draw connections, and discuss characters (Kleine, 2014).
Strategy in Action
You need 90 minutes of uninterrupted time for your literacy block, and Oral Language should take up a fair amount of those 90 minutes. You also suspect that some of your students do not read on their own at home, or that some of their grown ups at home are not reading to them at home. You also know that a High Impact Practice involves interacting with complex texts that should increase in difficulty but also be interesting and culturally responsive. Additionally, this is a fantastic way to model fluency, enthusiasm for reading, and social interaction.
Teacher: Good morning, my friends! We are learning about food this week, and we are going to read one of my favorite books today. It is called “Dragons love Tacos”. Look at the cover. What do you see?
Turn to your elbow partner and tell them what you think this book will be about.
Students: turn to a partner and make predictions
Teacher: continues reading, “Friends, turn to a partner and talk about one time you ate your favorite food. What is your favorite food? Tell your partner”. This helps students make a text to self connection.
Students: turn to a partner and discuss a favorite meal
Teacher Tips:
- Write your questions on post its and put them in the book ahead of time. Don’t wing it!
- Practice reading the book ahead of time so you have an idea of pacing and where to build suspense
Student Example:
Here is a video of a first grade read- aloud. I am not in this video and I do not own this video:
Related Resources:
- For tips on holding students accountable during a read- aloud, click here: keeping students accountable during a read- aloud
- For a step-by-step guide on planning an interactive read aloud, click here: how-to-create-interactive-read-aloud
