Don’t Judge a Boy by His Face: Creating Space for Empathy, Engagement, and Skill Building through Interactive Read Alouds
Date
2019-01
Authors
Lopez, Minda M.
Friedman, Hannah T.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts
Abstract
In the past few decades, research has shown interactive read alouds to have enormous benefits for developing readers and should be included as an important component of reading instruction. Yet many teachers do not utilize interactive read alouds in their literacy instruction. This is due in part to various curricular constraints and the pressures of high stakes tests. In this case study of an urban, Title I second grade class of Black and Latina/o students, we found a teacher led interactive read aloud of the book Wonder fostered a sense of community and empathy, increased engagement and motivation to read, and also helped students develop deeper comprehension skills. The inclusion of all students in the read aloud ritual helped to develop a strong community of readers and identities in the students as competent literate beings, regardless of their reading levels.
Description
Keywords
early childhood, literacy instruction, interactive read alouds, children's literature, urban education
Citation
López, M. M., & Friedman, H. T. (2019). Don’t judge a boy by his face: Creating space for empathy, engagement, and skill building through interactive read alouds. English in Texas, 49(1), pp. 32–38.