1. The Case for Reading
Aloud to Students
Brian Ferguson
Teacher Librarian
South Davis Junior High
2. Why do we encourage parents to read aloud to
their children?
• Help children acquire early language skills
• The one-on-one attention is nurturing for children
• Help children develop positive associations with books and reading
• Build a strong foundation for school success
3. How does early reading at home help with
school success?
• Children are exposed to characters and stories beyond their immediate
experience
• Children learn the relationship between print and knowledge
• Children hear new words and ideas
• Children get practice in listening
4. Socio-economic status dramatically effects
language development by Age 3
• The average welfare child hears 616 words per hour
• The average working-class child hears 1251 words per hour
• The average professional class child hears 2153 words per hour
“The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3”
Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley
5. Vocabulary correlates highly with intelligence
• You can’t “think” about something you don’t have words for
• Conscious thinking is word based
• Your vocabulary is the basis of your background knowledge
• Critical reading and writing skills are tied to your vocabulary
6. The number one predictor for school success is
reading ability
• Knowledge is word-based
• The cumulative knowledge of mankind is stored as text.
• Knowledge is acquired most efficiently through reading.
• Mastery of knowledge is usually demonstrated through writing.
• Children who don’t read proficiently by 4th grade are four times more likely
to not graduate from high school.
7. The number one predictor for school success is
reading ability
• Knowledge is word-based
• The cumulative knowledge of mankind is stored as text.
• Knowledge is acquired most efficiently through reading.
• Mastery of knowledge is usually demonstrated through writing.
• Children who don’t read proficiently by 4th grade are four times more likely
to not graduate from high school.
8. Who are these non-readers?
• Not listening to the teacher
• Lack of focus on assignment
• Noisy, disturbing others
• Wasting class time
• Instead of “Active Engagement” with the lesson, they actually have well-
developed “Active Avoidance” skills
9. Who are these non-readers?
• Not listening to the teacher
• Lack of focus on assignment
• Noisy, disturbing others
• Wasting class time
• Instead of “Active Engagement” with the lesson, they actually have well-
developed “Active Avoidance” skills
10. Non-readers are those who haven’t been read
to enough
• Their vocabularies are smaller so grade-level texts are frustrating
• They never made the childhood connection between reading and comfort
• They lack exposure to interesting stories and ideas
• People around them do not read
• Books represent boredom to them, not curiosity
11. Listening Precedes Reading
• Until about 8th grade, students’ “listening level” exceeds their “reading level.”
• Reading to students allows them to engage with texts they cannot yet read on
their own.
• Listening to a good reader teaches reading skills such as pacing, phrasing,
inflection, and pronunciation.
14. One cannot learn
to read a word one
cannot say.
And one cannot
say a word one has
never heard.
15. Antediluvian
• Pronunciation: ˌan(t)ēdəˈlo͞ovēən
• Definition: Very old-fashioned
• Usage: “His antediluvian ideas are preposterous!”
• Derivation: Latin ante meaning “before” and diluvium meaning “flood”
16. Epistemic
• Pronunciation: epəˈstemik, epəˈstēmik
• Definition: Cognitive, relating to learning, or involving knowledge;
• Usage: “The monk’s epistemic dissertation was an engaging study of New
Testament beliefs.”
• Derivation: The ancient Greek epistēmē meaning “scientific knowledge”
17. Laconic
• Pronunciation: ləˈkänik
• Definition: using few words
• Usage: “Jerry’s laconic sense of humor endeared him to the crowd.”
• Derivation: After Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta,
whose inhabitants had a reputation for verbal austerity and were famous for
their blunt and often pithy remarks.
18. Reading aloud is beneficial at all levels
• Preschool and Lower Elementary
• Upper Elementary
• Junior High / Middle School
• High School
• College
• Post Graduate
19. All teachers in all grades and all subject areas
should read aloud to their students
• They should be reading aloud regularly
• They should read both fiction and non-fiction
• Reading aloud is a way to present information orally but in a “voice”
different from the teacher lecturing
• Reading aloud is especially good for introducing new units of study and for
broadening students’ background knowledge of a subject
24. “I have more important things to teach than
just reading to my students”
• The basic concepts and vocabulary of your subject area?
• The history and background of your subject area?
• The processes and procedures of your subject area?
• The important people in your subject area?
Like what exactly?
25. You can read on any topic you can lecture
• It will be more engaging
• It will be more authentic
• It will promote further reading
26. Benefits
• Raises test scores
• Introduces readers to new titles, authors, illustrators,
genres, and text structures
• Builds a sense of community
• Provides opportunities for extended discussions
• It is pleasurable
Frank Serafini & Cyndi Giorgis, 2003
27. Benefits
• Connects readers with content area subjects
• Demonstrates response strategies
• Increases reader’s interest in independent reading
• Provides access to books that readers may not be able to experience on their
own
• Provides demonstrations of oral reading and fluency
28. Benefits
• Helps readers understand the connection between reading in school and
reading in life
• Provides demonstrations of quality writing
• Supports reader’s development
29. Students can also read aloud in your classroom
• The textbook
• Books brought in by the teacher
• Their own writing
30. Sources
• The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease http://www.trelease-on-
reading.com/rah-intro.html
• Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer by Annie Murphy
http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/03/why-we-should-read-literature/print/
• Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy by Julianne Chiaet
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/novel-finding-reading-literary-
fiction-improves-empathy/
31. Sources
• Great Kids web site interview with Jim Trelease.
http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/read-aloud-to-children/
• The Importance of Reading Aloud http://www.reachoutandread.org/why-we-
work/importance-of-reading-aloud/
• “The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3” by Betty Hart
and Todd R. Risley, American Educator, Spring 2003.
32. Organizations
Parents Reading to Kids
• Read Aloud 15 Minutes Campaign http://www.readaloud.org
• Reach Out and Read Coalition http://www.reachoutandread.org
Reading Your Own Writing Aloud
• Writing Center - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/reading-aloud/