Read-alouds

Overview

Reading aloud to adolescents models Reading Fluency as texts become more complex and disciplinary in nature and therefore, more difficult to understand. In middle and high school, teachers can stop and model their thinking while reading, illustrating their Metacognition processes to provide a model for students as they engage with a difficult text.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch how this middle school teacher reads aloud to help her English Learners make meaning from their texts. By pausing during the reading to ask questions, she models questioning and also provides Vocabulary support. With these prompts, students are able to practice these strategies and build as a community of readers.

Read-aloud prompts prior to introducing new material and embedded during and after lesson activities provide an integrated, rich reading experience that lead to more active engagement, stronger Attention, and contextualized Vocabulary development. Read-alouds can be especially powerful for older readers who are developing Disciplinary Literacy by exposure to content specific texts spanning multiple genres.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

Learn how Read&Write from TextHelp allows learners to follow along in written text by highlighting the words as they are being read. Having the audio pronunciation simultaneously with a visual highlight cue helps learners develop their Reading Fluency.

Audiobooks and human-voice text-to-speech software across a variety of content areas can provide more opportunities for students to hear fluent readers. Developers can also provide visuals to support read-alouds that illustrate new Vocabulary or discipline-specific conventions to further support comprehension and to bring visual Working Memory into action.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Examples

Hints on How to Read Aloud

Reading Rockets tips for doing read-alouds with a group of children

Examples

Just Books Read Aloud

A library of children's books with corresponding read-aloud videos

Examples

Modeling Deep Understanding

ReadWriteThink guide with a step-by-step real-aloud process and sample lesson plans

Examples

Reading Aloud in Middle School

Edutopia article on the benefits of reading aloud to adolescents