Interactive Read Aloud

       When read-alouds are understood as powerful tools for teaching literary elements, building analytical ability, and addressing the standards, they can bring both joy and accelerated learning into the lives of our students.” Linda Hoyt

Interactive read-aloud consists of expressively reading a book (usually a picture book) aloud to children and stopping at points along the way to engage in dialogue about different aspects of the story/text. This is a three-way conversation between the teacher, students, and text. The teacher models comprehension strategies through think-alouds.   Interactive Read-Aloud provides students with a venue in which to actively engage in instructional conversation about a text (genre, title, author; literary elements such as illustrations, characters, setting, plot, themes, and use of language; building knowledge and understanding of concepts and ideas, nonfiction text features and structures, etc.) and provides students support with academic language by providing sentences frames for discourse.  Interactive read-aloud gives children in the elementary years a chance to practice text analysis with the support of a teacher but without the struggles of decoding. Its positive effects are well-documented for all students and for ELs in particular.

The components of Interactive Read-Aloud are:

• ·        Text Selection: Choose books appropriate to students’ interests and matched to their developmental, emotional, and social levels. You’ll want to be selective. Not all books are appropriate for Interactive Read-Aloud. Ask yourself if the text is going to provide a chance for deep thinking. Are there multiple layers of meaning? Does the author use a complex structure? Is it within the complexity band or Lexile level for your grade?
• ·        Previewed and Practiced: Preview the text and plan the read-aloud ahead of time. Think about the vocabulary and use of language. Consider when you want students to turn and talk with a partner. What sentence frames will they use?
• ·        Clear Purpose Established: Establish a clear purpose of reading for the students.
• ·        Fluent Reading Modeled: Model fluent oral reading when reading the text.
• ·        Animation and Expression: Be animated and use expression.
• ·        Discussing the Text: Stop periodically and question the students to focus them on specifics of the text.
• ·        Independent Reading and Writing: Make explicit connections to independent reading and writing.