Interactive read aloud overview
What Is Interactive Read Aloud?
Interactive Read Aloud is a time when the teacher reads aloud a piece of quality, complex text and stops at planned points to elicit student response. Students learn to think deeply about text, to listen to others, and to grow their own ideas. The discussions that students participate in during Interactive Read Aloud help them master many of the Common Core Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening, reading comprehension, and literary interpretation.
Interactive Read Aloud is a time when the teacher reads aloud a piece of quality, complex text and stops at planned points to elicit student response. Students learn to think deeply about text, to listen to others, and to grow their own ideas. The discussions that students participate in during Interactive Read Aloud help them master many of the Common Core Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening, reading comprehension, and literary interpretation.
What Is Essential About Interactive Read Aloud?
QUALITY LITERATURE
The teacher reads high-quality, complex text representing a wide range of genres that evokes emotion, reaction, and discussion. In a highly-scaffolded environment, students learn to analyze texts, think deeply about themes and central ideas, and engage in literary discourse with peers.
FLUENT READING WITH EXPRESSION
The teacher reads the text with expression to make the read aloud engaging for the students.
PURPOSEFUL TEACHING
The teacher knows the text and pre-selects a few stopping points that are likely to elicit thoughtful responses from students.
EXPLICIT MODELING OF THINKING AND TALKING
The teacher explicitly models how to think deeply about text and communicate ideas so that students develop these skills for independent use. Students learn to analyze texts, infer theme and central ideas, assess point of view and author’s purpose, cite evidence from the text to back up their thinking, listen carefully, and communicate their ideas clearly and respectfully in a group setting.
CONVERSATIONAL TALK
Discussions before, during, and after reading are conversational in nature; this is not a "Question and Answer" session. Students learn to express their own ideas, as well as evaluate and build on the ideas of others, both of which are essential components of the CCSS Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening.
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Students are active and engaged participants throughout the read aloud. They are accountable to the
text and to one another.
What Are the Goals of Interactive Read Aloud?
QUALITY LITERATURE
The teacher reads high-quality, complex text representing a wide range of genres that evokes emotion, reaction, and discussion. In a highly-scaffolded environment, students learn to analyze texts, think deeply about themes and central ideas, and engage in literary discourse with peers.
FLUENT READING WITH EXPRESSION
The teacher reads the text with expression to make the read aloud engaging for the students.
PURPOSEFUL TEACHING
The teacher knows the text and pre-selects a few stopping points that are likely to elicit thoughtful responses from students.
EXPLICIT MODELING OF THINKING AND TALKING
The teacher explicitly models how to think deeply about text and communicate ideas so that students develop these skills for independent use. Students learn to analyze texts, infer theme and central ideas, assess point of view and author’s purpose, cite evidence from the text to back up their thinking, listen carefully, and communicate their ideas clearly and respectfully in a group setting.
CONVERSATIONAL TALK
Discussions before, during, and after reading are conversational in nature; this is not a "Question and Answer" session. Students learn to express their own ideas, as well as evaluate and build on the ideas of others, both of which are essential components of the CCSS Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening.
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Students are active and engaged participants throughout the read aloud. They are accountable to the
text and to one another.
What Are the Goals of Interactive Read Aloud?
- Students recognize, appreciate, and become passionate readers of quality literature.
- Students think deeply about what they read.
- Students communicate their deep thinking through oral and written language.
- Students listen carefully to other people's ideas and feelings and respond to what other people say.
- Students see themselves as members of a community of readers who read and respond to one another.
