Read Aloud

The first post was to familiarize the components of Balanced Literacy. Each post will give information concerning the components. The first is Read Aloud.

In a "Read Aloud" someone reads a story, book of fiction, news article, picture book, essay, poem, or trade book to another person. Usually this is a practice of parents who want to develop the enjoyment of reading in their young children who want to develop the vocabulary knowledge, focused listening skills, or critical thinking skills of children. Since children usually ask questions about the Read Aloud selection. These questions lead to explanations, making connections and questions by the reader, informal discussion skills are indirectly developed through Read Aloud activities.

In Interactive Read Aloud teachers verbally interact with students before, during and after reading to help them understand and make a variety of connections with the read-aloud selection. The selection can be a non-fiction or fiction narrative, a poem or picture book.

During an interactive read-aloud the teacher engages in a series of activities, including: pre-viewing the book; asking students to make predictions and connections to prior knowledge; stopping at purposeful moments to emphasize story elements, ask guiding questions or focus questions; and using oral or written responses to bring closure to the selection.

I welcome comments, questions, concerns and discussions.

What is Balanced Literacy?

According to Dorthy Strickland (2007), Balanced Literacy is a framework designed to help all students learn to read and write effectively. The program stands firmly on the premise all students can learn to read and write. This balance between reading and writing allows students to receive the teaching needed in order to reach grade level status, while allowing students to work at a level that is not frustrating for them. There are several models currently used in schools today.

In Balanced Literacy, there is a nice balance of six major components:
1. Read Alouds
2. Shared Reading
3. Guided Reading
4. Independent Reading
5. Interactive Writing
6. Independent Writing

Balanced Literacy blends the best of "whole language" and "phonics" instruction. Neither is completely effective without the other and the results are amazing.

For the purpose of the blog, I plan on describing each component of Balanced Literacy. I encourage comments and welcome discussions.