Engaging Read Aloud Tip

I have found that my students really like reading plays. They like taking on parts and becoming their character for the class period.

When we do these, almost every student is engaged and following along.

When it was time to read a novel, however, I could tell after about 20 minutes some students started to get restless.

Despite using my best character voice and enthusiasm, I thought their restlessness could be due to hearing only my voice, so I decided to try something new.

I asked if there were any students who wanted to read aloud.

For the students who raised their hands, I assigned them a character.

Any time it came to their character’s dialogue, they would read it out loud. I continued to read the narration.

We are reading The Hunger Games right now, so here is what it looks like. 

Not only are there different voices, but students start to understand the pattern of dialogue.

When I first started doing this, I was surprised at how many students did not understand when to stop reading. They would read right into another character’s lines.

By assigning roles, I have found they are not only more engaged, but they are also learning the flow of conversation. In turn, their comprehension is increasing because they understand who is saying what.

The more we do this, the more students want to volunteer. A lot of times I do not have enough characters for the number of students who want to read aloud.

Even in my inclusion classes!

Tips to Make it Work:

• Ask for volunteers. At first, you might only have one or two. As you keep doing this, more students will have to volunteer. If you do have a lot, have students write their name on a slip of paper and do a drawing for reading parts. 

• Let students know that you will be the only one making corrections. If a student does not know a word or gets off track, you will be the one who helps them out instead of 8 students trying to talk to the reader at once.

• Tell the students to read in their best “I Love Language Arts” voice.  Take a moment to teach them about projection and reading so everyone in the class can hear them.

Try it out and let me know what you think! 

If you are an ELA Unlimited member, I do have novel guides for Chasing Lincoln’s Killer,Elijah of Buxton, The President has Been Shot!, and A Break with Charity. I did just add The Hunger Games, but it is only available as a PDF version at this moment. These are all available in the Novel Guides section of ELA Unlimited.