Read-Alouds in Middle School

I am a big believer in reading aloud to students.  I am a very hands on learner and I learn best when I am experiencing the topic in a different light other than just reading a textbook.  I do believe however that it is important to scaffold learners into becoming independent learners.  Using supplemental text to encourage students to read specific topics encourages their learning and provides them with a better understanding of the subject. I found it interesting that research shows that read aloud's not only promote interest, but the students actually selected having a teacher read aloud rather them read silently.  To be honest my initial thought is the middle school age would grow out of having teachers read to them, but little did I know that this was not the case.  It makes me think of being a sophomore in college and having a specific teacher read the class a children's book daily.  It seems immature, but we enjoyed it tremendously! Not only were we exposed to ideas for our future classrooms, but I sound myself engaging in the lesson from the beginning of class to the end.  Back to the article, before going any further I want to quote the article.  There is a specific quote that I think sums up the whole article "scaffolds to understanding because the teacher helped to make the text more comprehensible or more interesting to them (students)." As stated earlier I believe that reading aloud benefits students in multiple ways including scaffolding exercises.  As I was reading I came across a statement saying teachers often read to students because it ensured all students were exposed to the information in the text.  I found this really interesting because it is difficult to remember students who may not be exposed to information outside of school and to make sure they are all getting equal exposure is crucial for retaining the information.  I found it very interesting that only 14% of teachers who attempted the survey stated they did not read aloud in the classroom, but out of that 14% none of the teachers chose the option of "I do not think that reading aloud is an important instructional practice."  I find this amazing that not one single teacher disagreed with reading aloud; however there were still teachers who did not read aloud. It is difficult to fathom that teachers are mainly reading text from chapter books or announcements. These teachers who are not taking time to implement supplemental text into their daily classrooms are hindering the learning of students.  Sometimes I think it is just the special educator in me, but I am a big believer in encouraging students to engage in any way possible.