Education Week has a nice article on reading aloud to students. I fear the emphasis on standardized testing has resulted in many teachers cutting back on the time spent reading aloud to them.
Even when I taught 6th grade the highlight of our day was often reading to the students. We read many books throughout the year and students often remarked how much more interesting the books were than the film versions!
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I recently discussed read alouds with some fellow teachers, many of whom have been at it for years. They always “just enjoyed” the books with their kids and it was a new insight to use that time strategically to model comprehension skills, analysis, and higher-level thinking during the read aloud. I imagine they’ve been doing those things, but just had not considered it as instructional time…I can’t imagine a read aloud being worth much if the shared time isn’t thought-filled and discussion-laced like that.