When my oldest daughter was in pre-school we bought her an easel to do art on, but what actually happened was she began to “write” on it. When I asked her what her picture was of, she commented that it wasn’t a picture but a list of all the names of her stuffed animals. My husband rolled his eyes and commented something about her turning into her mother (me). This is because I constantly make lists and at that time was constantly telling my husband to “put it on the list”. I then realized that this is what my daughter was doing; making her lists and that this was the beginning of her literacy construction.
This was discussed in the article by Teals and Sulzby on how “the link of literacy with experiences and the active use of language is stressed” (p. 6). I fully agree with this statement because you can’t sit a child down and teach them how to read and write without them having the understanding of how it is used in every day life.
My husband and I set up our home with books readily available to our children as they grew up. We felt it important that they know how books, and reading, are. That by reading a book to oneself can take you on a fabulous adventure or that you can learn something new such as a fact that was unknown to you before.
Reading books aloud are also important to us because it shows a child how a book is suppose to be read and enjoyed. In kindergarten my daughter’s teacher read, Caps for Sale daily to the class. When we purchased the book for our daughter she asked my husband to read it, who, according to her, did it all wrong because he forgot to use “voices” when reading and he didn’t stand up and stomp his feet like her teacher did when acting out the story. This is yet another sign of an emergent reader who is, according to Teals and Sulzby, building listening and comprehension skills, building vocabulary, improving memory, and many more skills. Or as Ivey has written, “Engaging students with you as you read to them not only helps them think about the text but also tips them off to how they can read more thoughtfully on their own” (813).
Jump forward seven years to where my daughter is now in the 7th grade and her teacher is reading a loud to them Huckleberry Finn. A controversial book? You bet! The Council on Interracial Books for Children writes that children are exposed to certain attitudes regarding race and sexism that distorts perceptions to where we have stereotypes and sexism. They continue to explain how to look for stereotypes in books. Huckleberry Finn could be considered a stereotype but it is also a book that is so full of history that it has done amazing things to our daughter. It was introduced to her as a book that is on the list of books to be banned because of the stereotypes that is in it. Her teacher reads it to the class to make sense of the content and to allow discussions that may not happen otherwise. As Ivey writes, “reading to students helps them to experience a sophisticated text the way the teacher experiences it” (813). This holds true for our daughter for she now is able to finally understand the stereotypes of race and why certain words are not to be used in today’s society, or should never have been used in the past. But most of all this book led her to want to read more books that have been “banned” so that she can make the informed decisions on what is right vs. wrong and this has led to some great conversations in our home.
Overall, I agree with all articles on the benefits of a read-a-loud and its benefits it has from the emergent reader stage all the way through the middle school years. I have seen this first hand within my own children and am excited to continue with my own classroom.
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