4 Best Practices for Executing a Successful Read Aloud Experience

Listen to the full episode to hear how to execute a successful read aloud:

My main goal in all that I do is to help teachers build ways to support and enhance their students’ literacy skills. While a lot of our discussions revolve around what students can do, with your guidance and support, this particular activity requires more from you as the teacher that ultimately supports your students, which are read alouds. I’m kicking off a new series that starts with today’s episode about the 4 best practices for executing a successful read aloud experience. 

Reading aloud is a powerful way to engage students in the literacy process, and is crucial to incorporate during your instructional time throughout the day. Whether you are new to adding read alouds to your classroom or a teacher who does them every day, it’s important to know the benefits and reasons why you make it a priority during your day. Some of those include increasing student vocabulary development, reading comprehension growth, and an increased motivation and willingness to read. However, there’s so much more, which I outline during the episode.

Once importance is established, it’s time to begin executing a successful read aloud experience. This experience combines 4 critical elements that work together to create an effective reading experience for your students. With each element, I share examples on how to implement and the ways each element benefits the literacy skills of your students. My 4 best practices are:

1. Plan enough time
2. Preview and introduce the text
3. Watch and know your audience
4. Allow for discussion and response 

While these are not the only practices in being effective, thinking through your planning and method of execution combine for the most successful read aloud experience. After listening to this episode, evaluate your own read aloud practice and see which element you could dive further into in order to maximize your time and effectiveness. I guarantee your students will be engaged and increase their literacy skills through read alouds in your classroom!

In this episode about how to have a successful read aloud, I share:

• Why read alouds are effective and beneficial to your students
• A simple reading strategy to do when introducing the book, which is called mapping the title
• How to support your students who don’t have experience with read alouds or need to more engagement and structure
• Sample questions to ask students at the end of the text to facilitate class discussion
• A preview of next week’s episode in the read aloud series

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Seasonal Literacy Activities Bundle
• Fiction and Nonfiction Reading Comprehension Questions
• Higher Order Thinking Question Cards

Connect with Megan:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

About The Literacy Dive Podcast:

Do you find yourself seeking new ideas when it comes to literacy instruction in elementary classrooms? The Literacy Dive Podcast was created to offer actionable steps and to share information for teachers, like you, who are always looking to improve their craft! ELA is our jam and we are excited to dive into all things reading and writing with you!

Your host, Megan Polk, is the creator and owner behind The Literacy Dive and loves to support students and their teachers with curriculum, literacy instruction, best practices, and engaging literacy activities.

Dive in with us every Monday for a new episode from Megan! She, and her guests, will chat about various literacy topics and will bring you tips and tricks that can easily be implemented in your classrooms. You can tune in wherever you get your podcasts! Listen to The Literacy Dive Podcast on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, and more! If you find value from listening to this podcast, please rate this show, leave a review, and follow!