19 Mar The Joy of Reading Aloud
What’s it all about a story that pulls us? We socialize in a world of stories, starting from when we are small: infants tell them , even if they can not speak and may only come to you for comfort as they shout (while keeping their favorite toy which broke), and this just continues; because we grow, stories are a fundamental part of the way we know our experience.
By the time children reach elementary age, they’re well-rehearsed in being able to speak about things that happen to them. They head to college and begin the formal process of learning how to read and write and create meaning from symbols that are written on a page. However, if they are lucky, they get blessed with a teacher who takes some time to read aloud to them, too.
Time at college often includes lots of extras like music, art, physical exercise, and being involved in drama, science experiments and club activities, also. But in its most basic level, we send our kids to school to learn how to do mathematics, the way to read, the way to think, and how to pronounce those ideas into words through writing.
And sure, we need our children to learn to read independently, but as teachers and parents, we miss out on a special chance to interact and connect with the kids in our lives and in our houses if we do not read them. Why?
Rebecca Bellingham Aatempted to provide some answers to this question in her TED talk on the importance of studying. As a teacher, she thinks, strongly, at the worth of reading, but specifically at the value of reading aloud.
She points out that, for some kids, reading comes easily. For other kids, however, so much effort is put into trying to understand the symbols on a page which merge together to form words (she refers to the as figuring out the code), that they are not really able to understand the narrative they read after all of the hard work of decoding. Forget the story; they are just proud of figuring out how a whole string of hard-earned person words.
However, when we perform the scanning for them, it frees them up from the intense focus of code function. They are given the opportunity to follow the story, the opportunity to imagine and think about what’s happening; they can simply absorb and revel in the experience.
Another incentive that she points outside? Books tell many different stories. A few of those stories may be personalities or situations we can relate to, but the reverse is also correct. Throughout literature, we could let our kids experience, vicariously, life by means of a character’s point of view. It can help them see the world from the view, enlarging their comprehension and empathy. Or, they might read about a personality that they identify with, one that reminds them of themselves. In both situations, this can be a rich, meaningful, fulfilling experience for our children, broadening their education beyond simply learning letters make words.
And, a final notice concerning the value of studying? Rebecca talks about how reading collectively, aloud, supports all people (adults and children alike) to look up from our screens. Now’s day and age is flooded with displays: phones, tablet computers, iPads, computers. . .you name it. However, as soon as we pull a book and begin to read, we combine in something which brings everybody together, sharing in the same activity. This easy exercise makes us to engage, to talk with one another, to spend time linking face to face. And, she points out, this can be a fantastic thing when our children are elderly and might no longer open up to us anymore. Reading could be a catalyst for viewing inside of these when they have a tendency to be a bit more closed off to people.
Since we’ve got the advantage of helping schools in transporting children for field trips, sports matches, competitions, and also the daily pick up and fall off, we get a front row seat to watch today’s kids and their teachers. We love the opportunities we are given to be involved with schooling. If we could assist your school with any of your transportation needs, we would be pleased to provide our charter bus Rental Texas. And, in the meantime, here’s a shout out to all teachers who devote their time to teaching our kids, and who go the excess mile by helping them discover the joy of reading.
(To see the TED talk That provided the information for this particular post, go here:
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Why-we-should-all-be-reading-al)