HIT: Questions during Read-alouds Pt. 3

[Brunell <brunell@avenew.com>]

Dear Colleagues,
I received 2 more messages which I thought I would share with you.
Again, I would like to thank all of those members who so willingly gave
up their time to answer this query so thoroughly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can definitely relate to your post! I'm not sure you
can set an absolute
standard at the beginning of the year and expect them
to abide by it. At
this age they need regular reminders about appropriate
listening skills and
behaviors. And sometimes you want them to participate
in the story!

One important thing is to strive to read things that
will hold their
interest. If the story is good but the illustrations
aren't, tell them that
you want them to imagine it, and don't show them the
pictures.
Interruptions happen often and here are some
suggestions based on my
thirteen years' experience:

1. Read the book ahead of time and look for words,
concepts, or
illustrations that the children probably won't be
familiar with. Think over
what you've found and decide whether or not you should
introduce or discuss
them with your students, or if they'll be able to
figure them out from the
context or illustrations. Sometimes there are words
that sound like words
they know, but aren't (I'm referring to homonyms).

For instance, "reins" was in a story I read recently.
Depending on the age,
they might understand "reigns," will probably
understand "rains," but since
kids today have little contact with real horses and
seldom watch westerns
on television, many of them don't know "reins." I was
a guest reader in a
forth grade class in a school with a high immigrant
population and many
kids did not have a normal level of English
vocabulary. Before I read the
book, I listed about six words on the board and we
discussed them prior to
the story.

2. There may be some words (especially slang
expressions)or concepts that
are unfamiliar to you, or that you will have a hard
time explaining. In my
case, it was red flannel underwear, also known as
"long johns." It took a
while to track down, but I finally found a picture in
the dictionary of a
"union suit." (The dictionary didn't define the other
two terms.) I
enlarged the sketch and showed the children, and
explained the flap in the
back - quite humorous to them of course! - which was
the point because they
would not have understood the humor in the story
without understanding how
the underwear worked. This is also a great way to show
them that the
dictionary (encyclopedia, etc.) can help them.  In one
case, I had to find
a person raised in Texas to explain a specific
humorous slang expression!
(I do wish authors who use such lively terms would put
a glossary in the
back!).

3. Children often have trouble distinguishing between
a question and a
comment. This can be very annoying because they
quickly get into a
long-winded story that has nothing to do with what
you've read (and it's a
waste of the other children's educational time). I
don't mind answering
most quick questions, but I often stop children and
say, "Tom, that isn't a
question, but I'd like to hear the rest later. Please
come and tell me
after the story is finished." Sometimes I will
announce ahead of the story
that there will be no interruptions but that we will
have a sharing time
after the story, and they can come and share with me
then.

4. When a child is so hyper about needing to share and
can hardly contain
themselves, I'll say something (with an expression of
happy excitement on
my face)like "Got a question? Okay, grab it! Have you
got it? Now hang on
to it, and hold 'till later - don't let it get away!"
Then I quickly
proceed with the story. Gets lots of giggles but gets
the point across too!

I once read a poetry story (during April, poetry
month) illustrated with
very modern abstract pictures that I didn't think
would hold their
interest, so I had them close their eyes and try to
imagine the pictures in
their mind (the poetry was about the colors, sounds,
smells, etc. of the
four seasons). After each poem part I had a few share
their ideas and then
showed them the picture. Most of them really enjoyed
this and it helped
them understand that they didn't have to like or agree
with everything in a
book in order to appreciate it. You'll also find that
some children have
had so little quality interaction with caring adults
that they have little
or no imagination (unless it's finding ways of being
mischievous!). Getting
these children to exercise their imaginations is
beneficial to them.

5. Lastly, read slowly enough. I had a teacher who was
kind enough to
explain to me that her class just wasn't as sharp as
most of her prior 2nd
grade classes had been, and that I needed to slow down
for them. Many of
them just could not process the information at a
normal pace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I came in on the end of the  conversation--but
I have a suggestion
which helps me cut down on the "I have to go to the
bathroom"
interruptions.  I have a hand signal that I devised.
When a child wants to
go to the bathroom they raise one hand, and with the
other, rub their
shoulder, like they are scrubbing it.   That way, I
just look and nod
either yes of no, and it  doesn't interrupt the story
flow.  When you first
introduce it, a you'll get a few kids who are just
anxious to try it
out--but then it dies down, and overall,  I think cuts
down on the
interruptions.   By the way, I use it with grades k-5.



--
Laurel Brunell, Media Specialist
Orland Center School
Orland Park, IL
brunell@avenew.com

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