Using Read Aloud as a Teaching Tool
Not only did the characters come alive, but reluctant readers had access to details they might have missed while reading the text alone.
Using read aloud as a teaching tool is NOT limited to only teachers reading aloud. I found, when I used novels with extensive dialogue, I could engage my students by assigning readers to specific characters. Some readers would only have one or two lines to read, while others loved reading the longer parts. Some stronger readers enjoyed reading the rest of the non-dialogue text (I often called them the narrators).
Not all would read aloud, but it was a way to engage the class in the story. It also helped them pay attention and read along so they wouldn’t miss their parts. I sometimes would let them find their parts first, look over them, so they were familiar with the text when it was time for them to read aloud.
In all cases, reading aloud with assigned parts helped engage my reluctant readers. Not only did the characters come alive, but reluctant readers had access to details they might have missed while reading the text alone.
Even if it may not be realistic to read an entire novel aloud, the process, at minimum, gives the reluctant reader an opportunity to engage, with the hope that they are interested enough to read other sections on their own.
I think my series, The Way I See It, can be used to encourage the students to read parts aloud, since so much of it is dialogue. And the dialogue matches every day speech, making the process less threatening.
It can be fun as well as effective! https://www.lbtillit.com/the-way-i-see-it-series/
My Easy Read Books creates books that offer timeless stories, where “reading levels” fall to the background as the characters and plots effortlessly engage the readers. https://www.myeasyreadbooks.com/
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