Teachers - Is reading aloud to students considered instructional?

Yes, especially for struggling readers. It is important to model good reading.

I have a master's in Reading Education and I once had a principal tell me allowing class time for reading a book was unacceptable...in a READING class.

I am not surprised.

It's all in the context of the lesson ... teaching is expressing in a such manner that no matter what their preferred method of learning - listening, looking, touching ... the student will understand any given bit of information. It's the difference between color, black/white or grayscale ...

Reading to children is wonderful - and they learn - but depending on circumstances, droning in a sing-song isn't going to leave a lasting impression on anyone. Perhaps, dramatizing literature is a good thing ... math not so much (maybe that's my thought because math is tougher for "moi." )

Whaddya think?

On 9/8/2014 flickerbulb said:

Yes, especially for struggling readers. It is important to model good reading.

I have a master's in Reading Education and I once had a principal tell me allowing class time for reading a book was unacceptable...in a READING class.

I am not surprised.

Methinks your principal missed the proverbial boat

This is anecdotal, of course, but from my own personal experience in being the third child, I can tell you that my mother didn't read to me and as such I have horrible oral comprehension. I can'd to audio books at all. I am constantly rewinding. I have to write everything down when I am in meetings at work (even if it's just me and my boss having a conversation and something comes up while we're talking).

People laugh at me and my little book I carry around with me at work.

Of course it's instructional! Like others on this thread, I hold a Master's Degree in Literacy as well.

Read Alouds (as we call them in school):

Provide children with a model of expression and fluency.

Can be used to help children make text to text and text to self connections.

Allow children to predict outcomes.

Give children the opportunity to retell a story, sequence events, and so much more.

Reading aloud to children is also wonderful in helping them to build comprehension skills.

I'm sorry the principal you spoke to feels that way. What a disservice to the students!

I, too, have a Masters in Reading and retired as a Title I Reading Specialist. When I was a classroom teacher, I always had a novel going. Each day, we would take a break for snack and reading. Sometimes the kids would select the books. Other times the books were of my choosing. I didn't just read but I read with excitement, enthusiasm, and expression all of which serve to model good reading. Also, I would asked the children to make predictions, inferences, and draw conclusions. We would discuss the characters and their motivations as well as any changes in the characters. So, while reading aloud to my students was a pleasurable experience for all of us, it was also used as an informal teaching tool. Unfortunately, I have witnessed some teachers drone in a manner that put me to sleep. As director of our reading department, I was able to make suggestions and model good oral reading. I even modeled monotone reading. Some of the teachers got it and tried to change but others didn't have a clue, couldn't care less, and just used oral reading as an opportunity not to teach. Shame! What was amazing to me was that the monotone readers would complain, "Those kids can't even sit still while listening to a story!" It's no wonder as I couldn't sit still listening to those bores. So, is oral reading to students considered 'learning,' I say, that it absolutely can be as long as it is done in the proper way. Just my opinion and experience. docsgirl

Grade1Teach: I just saw your post. Where on the Island do you teach? I taught in William Floyd and Bayport-Blue Point both in Suffolk County. Hope you have a wonderful school year.

Educators confuse me.

I have a memory of third grade, where our teacher was reading us "Swiss Family Robinson"--the original version with the odd vocabulary (like "tempest" and "pis-aller") and we were transfixed. I couldn't wait to get a copy of my own (eight years old.)

Tell me that reading such a book, way beyond most of our reading levels, wasn't educational? We discussed what the new words meant, what was going on in the book, the struggles, the attitudes of the family. That was a half a century ago and I can remember the classes vividly.

Personally, having worked with some professional educators years ago when I taught some classes in college, I was convinced they make stuff up as they go along and they do it in language (or shall we say, jargon) to obfuscate the meaning and make it seem more advanced than it is. A simple answer would have been "Of course it's educational but it depends on the content and the context and how the material is presented." If these guys knew anything, they'd be teaching kids to read better than they did in our day. But...they're not. I know, I know, discipline in the classroom is down because kids are not obedient anymore but still, after all the psychology we've learned, and all the technology we have, you'd think they could do a much better job than we did.

We moved to Northern California when I was in 6th grade and my new teacher did two things that really impressed me. We didn't have a standard list of spelling words each week; instead, she pulled out an enormous, ancient dictionary and picked out random words -- unusual and amazing words -- for us. It was like a special gift just for her students.

Catarrh.

The year was 1971 and I still remember some of those words -- and how to spell them.

But the greatest thing of all was that she read to us. There was a series of books -- John Christopher's The Tripods -- and at the end of the day she would reward us and read to us.

Flash forward to my university days. My best professors read to the class. Students -- whether they were 17 or 47 -- sat, captivated. The lessons learned from someone telling you a story are invaluable. It's the power of words, the power and beauty of our language.

The educational system today is a travesty.