Engaging Middle School Students through Read Alouds and a Focus on Process, Craft, and Genre

[Suzanne Porath]

L.23 Sunday, November 22, 2009 8:30:00 AM to 9:45:00 AM
Marriott/Grand Ballroom Salon K, 5th Floor

Presenters

Sarah Mulhern - "Read to Me, Please! Why We Must Share Read-Alouds in the Middle School Classroom"

Laurie Stowell and Erika Daniels - "Reading and Writing: Process, Genre, and Craft"

Suzanne Porath - "Beyond the Role Sheets: New Structures for Literature Discussion Groups"

[Suzanne Porath]

When students lead literature discussion groups, more students participate in the discussion, they are more actively involved in the discussion, and students take more responsibility for reading and understanding the text. Yet, many teachers fear that students will not talk about the important elements of the reading and need more structure for the discussion.

Literature Circles, originated by Harvey Daniels, is a great strategy to introduce students to small group discussion of literature, using role sheets to guide the note taking and discussion. However, as Daniels said himself, “I recommended these sheets as a way of showing kids how smart readers think (connecting, visualizing, inferring, and so forth), as well as to help students capture their reading responses in writing and to supply small-group discussions with plenty of material to talk about. I warned in the book that the role sheets were for temporary use only, but I soon saw them becoming predominant in too many classrooms” (Daniels, 2006, p. 11).

In this session, I will present three ways students can build on the skills they learned during Literature Circle instruction and become more independent with their note taking preparation for literature discussion groups.

Daniels, H. (2006). What's the next big thing with literature circles? Voices From the Middle, 13(4), 10–15.

[patti]

I've used the double entry journal on numerous occasions and I find that it keeps students actively engaged during reading. It is also a great tool for setting or establishing prior knowledge before reading a text. I highly recommed this for all students.

I have not tried the sticky notes in this format; I bet flexible groupings can be formed with the "sticky note" strategy, where each group can have a particular focus as they read. For example, I can have a group that would focus specifically on the characters as we read and another on plot, and so forth. Then at given points, the groups can cross-pollinate throughout the classroom to share or the sharing can be done as a whole group activity/discussion. Neat strategies here; thanks for sharng!

[Sarah Mulhern]

Often in this age of standardized testing, teachers view read-alouds as an “extra”, a waste of time, or even worse- as unnecessary once students reach the middle school years. However, sharing read alouds is just as important in middle school as it is in the primary grades! According to Andrew Biemiller’s article, "Oral Comprehension Sets the Ceiling on Reading Comprehension" (American Educator, Spring 2003), students are able to listen on a higher level than they read until approximately age thirteen. Thus, students can listen to and comprehend stories that are more complicated than anything they could read on their own. In middle school, this is especially important for improving vocabulary and comprehension while modeling reading for pleasure. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, fewer Americans are reading for pleasure each year and I believe that sharing the joy of read-alouds in middle school can help students begin to flourish as independent readers.

In my first few years of teaching I realized that one reason my sixth graders were not reading for pleasure was because they weren’t aware of the vast variety of books available to them. All too often their experience with reading has been one of teacher-chosen texts that they read on their own and then fill in a packet of comprehension questions. During my session, I want to share the ways that I integrate full-novel read-alouds into my reading curriculum. I use our daily read-aloud time to introduce new books, new authors, and new genres to my sixth graders in a non-threatening environment that encourages their thoughts and class discussions. Frequently, this introduction through the read-aloud leads to students reading more from a particular author or genre in their free time. It can be a challenge to make time for read-alouds in middle school- class periods are shorter and English teachers see students for fewer minutes than their elementary school counterparts. It can be tempting to leave read-alouds behind, but I have witnessed the power of a great read-aloud!


During the session I will share my daily routine and how I make time for a read-aloud in my sixth grade language arts classes, including how I choose the novels that I read to my classes. I blog and am an active member of the Kidlitosphere, where I am fortunate to receive many recommendations. By sharing some of my favorite blogs I hope to help other middle school teachers venture into the blogosphere, where they will be able to keep up with new novels being published, favorite authors, and much more. I will also share some read-alouds that have worked particularly well in my classes, particularly my classes’ quest to read the Newbery Medal-winning book each year before the award is announced! By including comments from my students, I hope to inspire more middle-school educators to adapt novel read-alouds to their curriculum. I plan to end the session with the attendees sharing their own favorite read-alouds for middle schoolers, which I will compile into a list and post online after the convention.

[Sarah Mulhern]

One more handout that did not get attached in the first comment.