Read To Me

Tonight, I started reading The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo in preparation for my first interactive read-aloud in Grade 4. This post isn’t about the story, which is already stirring up things inside me, but about the act of reading to students.

I’ll briefly go back to 2004 and my very first day of school as a teaching assistant in a 3-year-old classroom. That morning, I sat with all children as we listened to Ms. Aloha, the lead teacher, read A Color of My Own by Leo Leonni. My job was to keep them “contained,” but I barely had to do a thing because they were in awe at how their teacher read the words. I don’t remember ever experiencing such a thing before that day.

Many years later, I can visualize a timeline of how my delivery of “Story Time” evolved since that day. The act of reading to my students went from that comforting and simple moment to more intentional readings. The unique connection students and I experience reading a text together remain the same; the difference lies in the potential I take advantage of, fueled by the strategies I use when I read to them.

I’ve learned to read the books before I read them to students, making decisions along the way. I decide which comprehension strategies I can model for them on certain pages. I also think about ways to use questioning to bring them to this deeper level of understanding of storylines, characters, themes. Where is a good place to model making predictions, and where can I nudge them to try doing it themselves? Where can they infer about a character and their choices?

This sort of planning began my last two years teaching Kindergarten, and it grew into this fascinating practice when I moved up to Grade 3. It’s hard to describe the joy I felt making plans with titles such as Stone Fox, The Absent Author, Because of Winn Dixie, Fox, Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel, and so many others. And tonight, as I start reading this new book, I am eager to grab the post-its, pen, and list of comprehension skills that Christy gifted me to do this thing again.

Grade 4 will be a year of significant learning experiences, and I don’t just mean the students. What I’m looking forward to the most is hearing the deep conversation that I know books will inspire. I love my job.