Journeys

“I love the way that each book – any book—is its own journey.  You open it, and off you go.  You are changed in some way, large or small, by having traveled with those characters.”     --Sharon Creech

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the importance of reading aloud to students across grade levels and content areas.  Classroom time is so precious; we must choose our read-alouds wisely, with purpose.

From the thousands of wonderful texts in the world, how do we choose on which read-aloud journeys to embark with our students?  It would seem that we have to be driven by our purpose, by the students' interests, what they need to learn, and their listening levels (their capability of comprehending what they have heard).

What I have noticed as a literacy coach is that without a list of books to which all students will be exposed over time, some wonderful books get skipped while others are victims of what Kelly Gallagher calls “Readicide” (being read/analyzed too many times).

For example, if one teacher reads BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE and another reads CHARLOTTE’S WEB, this cycle could potentially occur again and again over the course of several years of school.  By the same token, teachers in the same school might not read either of these texts in later years because they know that at least some of their students have heard them before.  This result is that students end up missing out on one or both of these great, life-changing books.

Our state has a reading list with “suggested” titles.  Trying to use only this list has proved frustrating beyond measure to many as the newest, timely, and/or most-loved texts don’t appear on the list.

One school in which I work is trying to devise a grade-level, spiraled list of agreed-upon read-alouds.  By no means is this an all-inclusive list; rather, they are thinking about which texts they consider “musts” as read-alouds--read-alouds that a child would have heard over the course of his K-5 career.

They are taking into account what every teacher in the grade level is willing to do, and they are keeping their lists short. Their guiding question is, “What texts should all of our students know by the time they finish their elementary education?”

By no means do I claim to have the answer to such a profound question, but I must say that it has generated insightful conversations worthy of our time.  Questions we've contemplated include:


·        Do we read books that are not award winners?  If so, which ones?  Why?

·        Are we willing to overlook some award-winning texts?  If so, which ones?  Why?  How might we help students in discovering great books that they might read on their own?

·        Do some texts appear (in their entirety) in our core program’s materials?  If so, is it fair to assume that students will be exposed to them?

·        What books are we choosing?  Why?


Something that really leaped off the page when looking over these reading lists is that informational texts clearly have taken (or maybe always have had) a back seat to literary texts during read-aloud time.

When asked about this, some teachers indicated that they embed nonfiction texts specifically during writers’ workshop or content area instruction, so they didn’t think that they needed to intentionally appear on their read-aloud list.  (Question:  do you think your content area textbooks are well-written?)  While I understand this, I can hear the CCSS folks nervously whispering that informational texts encompass at least 50% of reading and writing standards...  and can’t get Linda Hoyt’s thinking out of my mind:

“Remember that informational read-alouds engage and inspire learners by extending content understanding and building enthusiasm for inquiry.  Because language patterns in informational texts are vastly different from those of oral speech—and most certainly different from fiction—read-alouds bring these language patterns to learners in comfortable, nonthreatening ways while providing a window into how a proficient reader engages with content-specific reading.”

Hoyt goes on to say:

“Be picky about the informational resources you present to student.  Entice them with the best of the best by choosing selections with gorgeous visuals, fascinating diagrams, well-labeled illustrations, and beautifully crafted language.  Invite learners to journey with you into the work of Seymour Simon, Nicola Davis, Steve Jenkins, Doreen Rappaport, Robert Burleigh, and the other greats of nonfiction writing.”

Do you think your content area texts would measure up to Hoyt’s definition of “the best of the best”?

Indeed, researchers such as Hoyt, Nell Duke, Richard Allington, Jim Trelease, and Lucy Calkins tell us that informational texts can assist with “leveling the playing field” by helping students gain world knowledge, specialized vocabulary, and providing scaffolding for the texts that they are most likely to encounter as they mature.

So I keep thinking that we must build our students’ body of knowledge about nonfiction/informational texts and topics through intentionally reading aloud the “best of the best.”  Shouldn’t at least some of the characters with whom we travel be those who have actually lived and inspired humankind in some way?  Can’t we be changed, in some large or small way, by journeying through intriguing informational texts?

Georgia Heard reminds us that schools need to nourish wonder and curiosity in children, providing opportunities to explore and inquire.  Georgia even describes specific learning stations for wonder (see A PLACE FOR WONDER, 2012, Stenhouse Publishers) and suggests texts that might be used in the classroom to encourage wonder and inquiry.

Surely, fostering wonder about the natural world will assist our students on their journeys.

Informational texts can help them learn to critically process information of all kinds, to inquire thoughtfully, and—hopefully, for a lifetime-- to appreciate the wonder that abounds in the world.

Do you think we should add nonfiction texts to our read-aloud lists?  If so, what are your recommendations—and why?

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"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul."  

                                                      --Joyce Carol Oates