Read-Aloud Reprise

According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, a reprise is a recurrence, renewal, or resumption of an action. This blog entry is just that, a renewal of my comments about reading aloud to my classes.

You may remember my article about reading aloud from July 25, 2021. I explained that I read aloud because I want my students to fall in love with words. Well, as in many musicals, here is the reprise of that thought with a bit more to it. My initial premise is still true, but there is so much more that my students have taught me about my read-alouds.

I have an interesting mix of English classes this year: two 8th grade Extended (gifted) English, one 7th grade Extended (gifted) English, and two regular 7th grade English. No matter what their academic level or grade level, they all appreciate when I read aloud to them. During the first semester of our school year, I read aloud the following books: The Outsiders, Fahrenheit 451, and A Christmas Carol. I also read aloud at least the beginnings of a number of short stories and poems. While reading the aforementioned works, I regularly asked my classes if they would like me to stop reading to them, so that they might continue on their own.

Here is what my 8th Grade Extended English students said in response to that question while reading Fahrenheit 451.

“You know where to stop and explain things or ask us questions.”

“It makes more sense when you read aloud.”

“I don’t think I would get as much out of it, if I read it to myself.”

“His writing is so complicated. It’s really descriptive.”

“Whoa!” From various students at different times.

“That was all one sentence! By the time I got to the end, I would have forgotten the beginning.”

“I read ahead on my own, and I had no idea what was going on.”

“No, no, no, no, no! Don’t have us read it on our own.”

So, because I am constantly looking for feedback, I asked my two 8th grade classes about this. The discussion that ensued was quite lively. These students fully admitted that they did not love Fahrenheit 451, a novel perfectly suited to or a bit below their suggested Lexile Levels. They would have read it on their own, if I had asked them to do so. That’s just the kind of students they are. However, as I read aloud, they reacted and responded to the story, the characters, and the connections to our world, because we stopped to talk along the way, together. They internalized some of the fear that Ray Bradbury intended as we visualized scenes and situations together. We wondered and predicted together. This would not have been possible if we were all reading on our own, at different places within the text, and in different geographic locations. Because we were together, we had real-time discussion and raw reaction.

We read Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and a few of his short stories: “There Will Come Soft Rains,” “Zero Hour,” and “The Veldt.” After these readings, I asked them to respond to their reading in essay form choosing from a number of prompts. Their take-aways from the stories and book showed me the depth of their understanding. They made me think, “I wish I had written that,” as I read. Here are some excerpts from these essays.

“If society continues down this road of technological development, it will, at first, seem great, as it did to George and Lydia. Until it doesn’t seem so great anymore.” Irene S.

“Mildred Montag is the embodiment of all that is wrong in Bradbury’s world. The addiction, the inattentiveness, the apathy…Clarisse McClellan is the embodiment of how life should be. She is inquisitive, curious, and creative. All that Bradbury’s world is not.” Kaitlyn L.

“Technology advances only as much as humans let it.” Evan S.

“Anger turns into violence, and violence turns into death.” Jack B.

“The lack of attachment to their actual parents causes Peter and Wendy to favor the house, killing the parents to save who they view as their real mother and father.” Kaden K.

“…he was right. He was absolutely right. We’ve walked into a cave that we’ve gotten far too deep in, and it may be nearly impossible to turn around and find our way out.” Nina B.

As you can see, my read-alouds do not dumb down reading. They elevate it from reading words quickly to analyzing text and synthesizing ideas together. The connection to and comparisons with the world of today, as we stopped from time to time to talk, were stunning. I found myself energized at the end of the class, even if I had been reading aloud for most of the period.

My point? My students have asked me to continue reading aloud to them. So, I will do just that. They can read most things on their own. They are more than able. That goes without saying. They read independently, and they do so beautifully. Even though freely chosen independent reading is a crucial part of any student’s reading experience, the community of reading something together brings reading to a much higher level. Reading aloud is reading together. Reading aloud causes a piece of literature to be truly shared.