Interactive read-aloud requires highly intentional teaching. As
you are choosing books for your read-aloud, above all, be sure that the story,
language, and illustrations are highly engaging to children. In using
interactive read-aloud as a teaching approach, you and your students will have
productive conversations about books if you follow these steps.
Try them in your next read-aloud.
1. Plan opening remarks: engage students’ active thinking
2. Stop to invite quick comments during reading: promote student
thinking within, beyond, and about the text.
3. Discuss the text after reading: attend to students overall
meaning, implications for learning, and attention to writer’s craft.
4. Plan an engaging, inquiry-based activity following reading
(art, writing, drawing, etc.).
Interactive read-aloud grows shared literary knowledge. The
read-aloud levels the playing field, ensuring that readers in the classroom
experience rich, interesting texts that are age and grade appropriate,
regardless of their independent and instructional reading levels. All students
can think and talk about the text even if they can’t read it for themselves.
Excerpted with adaptations from Literacy Beginnings and Teaching
for Comprehending and Fluency
