Today I came across Lester Laminack’s quote “When a teacher reads aloud, it is a bonding between the teacher, the children, the books and the act of reading.” This stopped me in my tracks because it puts perfectly into words how I feel when I do a read-aloud with my students.
I have been teaching for 20 years now, and over the years my read-aloud time with students has become an essential and important time in our day. Kids often ask when will it be time to read, and even on the busiest of days we take time to read together because it is a cherished time in our day.
As I considered this quote, I started to think of the many powerful read-aloud moments I have had with my students over the years . . .
Reading Refugee by Alan Gratz with a group of grade 6s and reading a particularly sad part and struggling to get through it without crying, and then looking up at my 6s who were having the same reaction as me.
Reading the novel No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen to a group of grade 4s and as we finished it, a boy taking a deep breath and saying “Well, that was an emotional rollercoaster!” and other students around his nodding in agreement.
Reading The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart to a group of grade 7s and the kids asking their next block teacher if I could stay and finish reading the book.
Reading the picture book The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt to many different grades (from grades 2-9) and the collective laughs at the absurd fun in this book.
Reading the novel From Ant to Eagle with a group of upper elementary-aged kids and sobbing through the end of it and a student coming up at the end for a hug.
Reading the picture book The Proudest Blue by Ibitaj Muhammad to a grade 6 class and the collective gasp when the young girl faces a racist classmate.
Reading Amal Unbound by Padma Venkatraman to a grade 5 class and a student stopping me mid-sentence to ask if this actually could happen and the class being shocked to hear it could and wanting to find out more about indebted servitude.
Reading Ida, Always by Caron Lewis to many different classes and the sigh of sadness at the end of the story.
Reading Crossover by Kwame Alexander to a class of grade 8s and the collective reaction to the death of an important character.
Reading Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes to a class of grade 8s and students wanting to know more about Emmett Till and race relations in Canada.
I could go on and on, but these are only a few examples to say that reading aloud, no matter what grade you teach, is so important. I recently moved from teaching elementary school to teach junior high (grade 7-9) and still, despite only having a 50-minute block each day, I try to read to them as often as I can. I currently have four different books going with four different Language Arts classes. We have been moved to online learning again here where I live, and reading aloud over Google Meet isn’t the ideal situation, but alas, we persevere.
The power of a great read-aloud is something I can’t put into words (and no, not all books are great for doing a read-aloud with, but that is a conversation for another day). It’s the collective laughs and tears. It’s the big questions that students ask as they mull over what they are hearing. It’s the bonding experience over a book. It’s a student telling me that he is asking for this book for his birthday, even though we have just read it. It’s kids asking for more books by the same author. It’s kids making connections to their own lives. It’s kids asking if I can read “just a few more pages”.
I would love to hear about your powerful read-aloud moments, and suggestions for great read-aloud books. Please share them in the comments below.
Happy Reading!
Jill
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