Why I Love Shared Reading
A Shared Reading Lesson Plan Format can be downloaded at the end of this post.
As you likely know, the four reading instructional approaches align with the Gradual Release of Responsibility model of instruction.
Modelled Reading - I Do, You Watch
Shared Reading - I Do, You Help
Guided Reading - You Do, I Help
Independent Reading - You Do, I Watch
Each of these reading instructional approaches are needed to help our students become strong readers. Of the four approaches, Shared Reading is definitely my favourite. Why, you ask? Read on to find out why!
My Top 5 Reasons to Love Shared Reading
Reason #1: All my students can participate in Shared Reading lessons.
No matter what grade you teach, you’ll have a wide range of reading abilities within your student population. During Shared Reading lessons, a text that is visible to all students is read aloud by the teacher. That means my students who are reading below grade level can still engage in the lesson in a purposeful manner. How? All my students are included in the before, during, and after oral discussions and comprehension activities related to the Shared Reading text. These lessons prove to my struggling readers that they, too, can share ideas and understandings connected to a grade-level text.
Reason #2: I can demonstrate my love for reading.
When I choose a text for Shared Reading, I always choose one that I personally like and am certain most, if not all of my students will too. When I read the text to my students, my love for reading is evident by my enthusiasm.
That joy is contagious! There’s nothing better than hearing students exclaim, “I love that book!” or plead, “Read it again, Mrs. Richards!”
Reason #3: I can build my students' background knowledge for Science and Social Studies concepts.
We all know how challenging it is to get through all the outcomes for all the subjects we need to teach in a year. In particular, my students often have very little background knowledge for the Science and Social Studies topics. How can I possibly guide them to master outcomes that seem so abstract for children their age? I discovered that Shared Reading of nonfiction texts connected to my Science and Social Studies units is a fabulous way to build background knowledge in my students! After a few Shared Reading lessons, the Science or Social Studies outcome is much easier to teach.
Reason #4: I can model different purposes for rereading a text.
As teachers, we know that it is necessary to reread a text to truly grasp its meaning. Students, however, are often unmotivated to reread text once they reach the end. Of course, there are a variety of reasons for their lack of enthusiasm but the primary reason for our young students is simply this - their brains are tired! Reading is hard work when you’re still decoding many words and/or you’re unsure of a lot of vocabulary used by the author. Shared Reading to the rescue! Since I’m the one leading the oral reading of the text, my students don’t have to use their brains to decode. They can focus on understanding the text. So, the first Shared Reading lesson will have one or two specific focuses, such as accessing background knowledge and predicting. A day or two later, we’ll read the same text for a different purpose, such as inferring character feelings and actions or learning new information from images. Usually we’ll reread the text a third time to focus on a phonics skill, vocabulary, or even a writing technique the author has used. By engaging in these Shared Reading lessons, my students gain firsthand experience in the value of rereading.
Reason #5: Shared Reading improves my students’ reading fluency.
As mentioned above, my students and I usually reread a text three times. For the first Shared Reading lesson, my students listen to me read while following along with their eyes. The second time we read the text, I encourage them to read along with me. I have them mimic my fluency. This includes my reading pace, phrasing, intonation, stress on words, and pausing. When students read ahead of me or read in a monotone, for example, I’ll stop to discuss the relevant fluency aspect, have them listen to me model it by rereading a sentence or two, and then we’ll all try again. During our third lesson, before rereading the text for that lesson’s specific rereading purpose, we’ll have a quick discussion regarding how we read the text fluently together.
What are your favourite aspects of the Shared Reading instructional approach?
Download your copy of a Shared Reading Lesson Plan Framework.
You might like to check out the Animals in Winter Shared Reading Unit that’s all planned for you and ready to teach!
You can find it in My Shop. Click on this button to check it out.
