Teaching Reading Skills through Read Alouds

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Have you ever done a read aloud in your class and felt the boredom ooze from your students? I honestly wondered what is the benefit of me doing a read aloud when my students are bored out of their minds. Couldn’t I be using this time to teach my ELLs some important reading skills?

I would often do read alouds and my students just weren’t into them like I hoped. I knew that there were tons of benefits of students hearing a fluent reader reading a text with expression. It just seemed at the moment that my students weren’t connecting to my read aloud. I was reading aloud and teaching important reading skills in isolation to my ELLs. I was stuck on how I can combine these two important aspects of teaching. 

The summer before my second year of teaching I immersed myself in conferences and Pinterest. 

I attended one conference at the Lausanne School that completely changed how I do read alouds for my ELLs. The teacher presenting pulled out a simple anchor chart with key reading skills such as visualizing, making connections, synthesizing, etc. She then had a picture book with no words. She modeled for us how to make inferences with a think aloud while reading the picture book. Then for the remainder of the picture book, the students, which was us practice this skill.  After I left this class, I immediately ran and got some chart paper to create my anchor chart. When the school year started, I used this strategy in my classroom with great success. 

Here is how you can implement this teaching skills through read alouds in your class. As usual find a text that aligns to the topic that you are teaching your ELLs. I want to encourage you to find an appropriately challenging text for your students. Then decide on which reading skill you are going to model for your ELLs. Read the text before you read it to your ELLs and practice modeling this skill to your ELLs. I like to put sticky notes next to the section of the text where I am going to stop and model a skill. In some cases I will put thinking notes to prompt me to do a think a loud during that section. As you are doing the read aloud, allow your ELLs to practice the skill you modeled. You can do this by stopping and asking your students scaffolding questions. After they practice it as a group, do a second read and have them practice the skill independently. This is a great opportunity for you to do a formative assessment with your ELLs. Check and see if there are any misconceptions or if there is anything that needs to be cleared up. 

Here are your next steps to start teaching reading skills through read alouds. 

1. First, decide on a rigorous text for your ELLs. 
2. Then pick which reading skills you are going to teach through the text.
3. Set aside some time to practice the think aloud of the text. 

What is your favorite reading skill do you like to teach through read alouds?

I want to hear your wins with your ELLs. They can be big or small wins, but a win is a win. Share your celebrations at millie@mydventuresinesl.com.