The Power of a Read Aloud
I can vividly remember my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Lemaire. She had short brown hair, wore glasses, and carried herself in a very business-like way — she reminded me more of a secretary than a teacher. The year was 1966.
Every Friday afternoon, fifteen minutes before dismissal, Mrs. Lemaire would read aloud to our class. To say we ALL looked forward to those read-alouds would be an understatement. She read one chapter a week — at least, that's what I remember, though I'm still not sure how we managed to follow the storyline from one week to the next. The chapter always ended on a cliffhanger. The bell would ring, we'd pour out of the classroom, and just like that, the weekend had begun.
On the bus ride home, I remember chatting the entire way with my brother and a friend, dissecting every last detail of whatever had just happened in Mrs. Lemaire's book. Looking back, those Friday read-alouds were the very best part of third grade. Isn't it something that, all these years later, I still carry the memory of how powerful a read-aloud can be?
Fast forward to the present. My husband and I recently retired and have settled into a peaceful lake house in a small Mississippi town. Life here is tranquil and unhurried — a place to breathe, decompress, and let the troubles of the world fade away. Living on the water has a way of doing that, and so does gazing up at a vast, star-filled night sky.
Not long ago, I got around to unpacking my books and arranging them on my beautiful new bookcase. Two shelves are devoted to professional literature — resources that have served me well throughout my career and continue to support my work with Responsive Classroom®. But it's the bottom shelf that holds my most treasured collection: my beloved children's books. Each one I placed there carried with it a cherished memory of reading to children.
Read-alouds were once the beating heart of a literacy program. Through them, a teacher could model strong reading behaviors, skills, and strategies, while young children became swept up in the magic of the written word. A teacher picks up a book and begins to tell a tale — and with emotion in their voice and care in their delivery, they watch students become utterly captivated as the story comes alive. What a gift that is to give a child.
They sit. They listen. They giggle and chime in with comments that sometimes send you happily off-track. They react with excitement, concern, confusion, and laughter, depending on what's unfolding for the characters. Afterward, they discuss, share perspectives, make connections, and retell their favorite parts again and again. They write. They imitate. They use these stories as springboards to author their own.
Placing Thank You, Mr. Falker on the shelf brought back such memories — I always cry at the last page. I'll Love You Forever is another one that has me tearing up at the end. (Try reading that one on Muffins for Mom Day with all your students' mothers in the room. We were all in tears!) And Each Kindness — I love that book deeply. The ending is profound and unexpected. There is no tidy happy ending, and you should see the looks on children's faces, and hear the conversations that follow. I've read it to six-, seven-, and eight-year-olds, and also to ten-, eleven-, and twelve-year-olds. Their reaction is the same every time.
I could go on and on about that shelf full of favorites. Each book holds a specific memory — a particular time of year, a writing assignment, a classroom discussion, or one student's unforgettable reaction. My deepest hope is that someday, my former students will think of me the way I still think of Mrs. Lemaire and those Friday afternoon read-alouds that always left us hanging and hungry for more.
What are some of your favorite books to read aloud? What memories do they carry for you? And what possibilities open up for your students when you read aloud to them?
Previously posted March 6, 2018
