THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY READING INSTRUCTION
I taught third grade in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time the “teach to the test” trend hadn’t infiltrated America’s public school classrooms. We gave a standardized test, but it didn’t determine who went to fourth grade, didn’t enter into my evaluation, and didn’t have anything to do with how much money the school got. In fact, “teaching to the test” was considered bad pedagogy and limiting to the scope of the everyday classroom experience. We were, therefore, pressured NOT to “teach to the test.”
At that time in my teaching career, I considered my daily read aloud the most important part of my reading instruction.
If we had a fire drill, assembly, tornado drill, or any other interruption to the day, the only thing that I made sure I finished for that day was the daily read-aloud. I would do as much of the rest of the curriculum as I could, of course, but read aloud was sacrosanct. It was the one part of the day that I made a conscious effort never to miss. What are the benefits of reading aloud that make it so important? In his classic, Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease lists these five reasons for reading aloud…
- it builds vocabulary
- it conditions the child’s brain to associate reading with pleasure
- it creates background knowledge
- it provides a reading role model
- it plants the desire to read
I was convinced then, and I still believe, that children who are read to, feel good about reading. Children who feel good about reading are motivated to read to CONTINUE READING: Beverly Cleary, Age 104 | Live Long and Prosper