Read Alouds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Read Alouds - Essay Example Reading aloud is so effective due to a number of factors, including: pleasure, emotional bonds among the participants of the process, opportunities to experience unusual situation and listen to the books that are above children’s own reading level. Meanwhile, read-alouds develop children, motivate them to read independently and serve as a trigger for creativity and discussion. Reading to the class, the teacher demonstrates her appreciation of literature and serves as a role model (Kieff 2003, p.28). Read-alouds serve as â€Å"a catalyst† for the discussion and social interchange. As Lawrence Sipe (1999) puts it â€Å"literature can help us perceive reality in new and fresh ways, â€Å"defamiliarizing life† and making us alive to new possibilities, new ways of perceiving the social order, so that we can imagine what a more just society would look like† (p.125). At the end of his article Lawrence Sipe concludes that â€Å"as children embrace or resist texts through language and a variety of artistic modes, they are forging links between literature and their own lives. Such links have the potential to be both informative and transformative for their developing sense of themselves as individuals and members of society† (p.129). However, children’s’ response to literature can be different. Success of read alouds may depend on various factors. Sipe’s article (1999) highlights some factors influencing children’s response to a book. As research show it is the literary experience of the reader and the context, which really matters. Individual experience and cultural background always contribute to the literary response. To my mind, this fact is of special interest for teachers working in multi-cultural classes, which are not rare in the United States. Multicultural literature available today represents cultures, which used to be invisible or treated negatively earlier. Such books can serve as mirrors or windows for children of