Shared Reading
My implementation of shared reading is a special 10 – 15 minutes with my students on the carpet where I am incorporating reading a book to my class with direct instruction. This is a time where I model using reading strategies, think alouds, and create an interactive reading environment with my students. THE STUDENTS SHARE MEANINGFUL THOUGHTS AND REACTIONS TO THE TEXT!!! I mean it is simply magical! Let me tell you how I do this!
The Focus
Each week I use one read aloud stretched across the five days of shared reading. As we read this book together, we are focusing on implementing one reading comprehension strategy, (when all the skills are taught, sometimes we combine two strategies!) I also have a little secret about why we love this time together so much that I will share at the end!
How This Looks
Monday
- introduction/ direct instruction of the focus reading strategy (5 minutes)
- introduction of this week’s book (2 minutes)
- teacher models think alouds of using reading strategy while reading book (6-8 minutes)
- teacher continues to read book, but pauses for students to practice implementing the reading strategy (2-3 minutes)
Tuesday- Friday
- quick instructional review of focus reading strategy (1-2 minutes)
- quick recap of what is happening in the book (1-2 minutes)
- teacher models think alouds of using reading strategy while reading book (3 -7 minutes) decreases throughout week
- teacher continues to read book, but pauses for students to practice- as the week progresses this becomes almost the entire time of shared reading! (3-10 minutes) increases throughout week
Why I Love This Routine
This routine gradually passes the ownership of interacting with the text to the students and promotes their confidence using the strategy. Also, reading just a segment of a picture book a day REALLY grabs their attention. It allows them to think and wonder about it before the next reading to really engage with what is happening in the text.
I structure the student practice portion by having specific sentence frames students should say to practice each reading strategy. It is incredible how confident students are to raise their hand when they have support about what to say and have very low risk for being incorrect. Otherwise you know we would end up with 10,000 random thoughts that the story somehow made them think of to share! Below shows a little preview of the sentence frames I use to keep students focused on the strategy and to support them in using it correctly! Keep scrolling for my secret.. I didn’t forget!
The Secret Engaging Ingredient
Did you notice those characters in the picture above? That’s it! Each reading strategy has a character which bring so much fun, engagement, and concrete understanding to each ready strategy! The first time I teach them, I dress up as the character and teach the strategy in the context of the character’s career. REAL LIFE CONNECTIONS. Often reading strategies can not only seem abstract to students in the way of how they use them in reading, but how they are truly important to everyday life. We use those 9 “reading strategies” EVERYDAY in our thinking. This concrete approach to the reading strategies provides a concrete foundational understanding of the strategies and the association of a character makes it fun and memorable!
The Characters
- Izzy The Inferencer
- Quinn The Questioner
- Presley The Predictor
- Sophia The Summarizer
- Clarissa The Clarifier
- Connor The Connector
- Shane The Synthesizer
- Evan The Evaluator
- Victor The Visualizer
Since shared reading in only the first 10 – 15 minutes of my reading time, I use the rest of the time in a centers approach. I do this so I can practice this reading strategy along with other important reading skills in guided reading with small groups. If you want you can read more about how I set up and facilitate centers!
If you have any questions about shared reading or I can help you get started at all, please reach out to me! I am happy to help!
