Professor Erin O’Connor writes, “I’m a huge believer in reading out loud–and in having students read literature out loud, together, in real time. It creates a kind of shared, immediate experience that makes for remarkable class discussion–and it also helps hone reading skills and oral presentation skills in students who, almost universally, badly need them.”
Love it.
My 8th grade English teacher would read to the class. There we were—13 and 14 years old—and completely enthralled by the narrative, no matter what it was. She required us to read out loud, too, but when she wanted our complete attention, when she wanted the story to soak in, she read to us.
She was such a splendid teacher, and I thought we were the luckiest kids in the world, that she chose to teach in our little town (believing at the time, bigger was better).
I love listening to books on tape. Living in a remote rural area requires that I spend considerable time in the car. Books on tape are much better than the radio. I’ve gotten to where I dislike dramatizations or the addition of background music or sound effects. Just read me the narrative.
My teenage daughters love having my wife read to them. My wife likes reading out loud too. It allows her to make some editorial changes such as cleaning up crude language. Currently she is reading the original Frankenstein to them after completing Fforde’s Well of Lost Plots.
Our seven year old has just advanced from picture books to chapter books. While she is now reading Boxcar Children on her own, I am currently reading The Adventures of Paddington Bear to her. She is getting upset with me, thought, since I tend to bring Clifford the Big Red Dog into every story in the same way King Charles I keeps slipping into Mr. Dick’s Memorial.