Why is reading aloud so important? Lane and Allen's article discusses creating a classroom that fosters an environment of proper word use. The article discusses modeling sophisticated vocabulary use. One way to do this in the classroom is when reading aloud to students. As a teacher, the students look up to you and want to model what you do. Therefore, if you use sophisticated vocabulary and display the proper ways to read a text, students will pick up on this and want to model your behavior.
The picture above shows "whisper phones" made out of PVC pipes. This would be a terrific activity for a center so that students can practice reading aloud while also working alone. This individual activity may be more comfortable for the more shy students while also allowing everyone a time to practice using their reading voices.
Is vocabulary important in the success of students' literacy? Yes, by enhancing a student's vocabulary, the student's reading ability is positively effected.
In Blachowitz's article, the author discusses ways to teach vocabulary. One simple way is to increase the number of books available in the classroom by providing a wide variety. With this variety, students will be able to learn new words through the incorporation of unique texts into their daily reading.
I want to know what my blog readers think...
1. With the structured curriculum teachers are required to follow, how can we incorporate reading aloud into our daily schedules?
2. Are vocabulary quizzes the best way to assess student's understanding of vocabulary?
1. I have seen my mentor teacher integrate read alouds when she wI as teaching other topics. She read aloud two books and then they discussed how to compare and contrast. You could also do this with science and social studies. I think it is pretty easy to incorporate read aloud time as long as the teach is willing to have the literacy resources.
ReplyDelete2. No, I do not think they are the best way to asses vocabulary. However, I feel that many teachers use them because they are either required to or it is easy. I think we do need a way to asses so we can have data but often times children learn the words for the test and that is all.
I think that vocabulary quizzes can be beneficial, if the words that they are being quizzed on are used frequently by the children so that they are not just memorizing the definition. There were so many times in elementary school where we would have vocabulary quizzes, I would memorize the definition, and then I would never see that word again unless I read it in a book. Thankfully, I read all the time so this wasn't really an issue for me. However, for children struggling with reading, vocabulary quizzes are not ideal.
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