Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sarah's Choral Reeding Entry
In class last week we practiced choral reading by dividing the class in half and reading a poem together. In this case we were able to put emphasis on the poem through choral reading. Choral reading can be used for a variety of purposes, for example to emphasize the meaning of a passage or poem or to get everyone in the class to participate in reading aloud. I think that choral reading can be a beneficial way to get students to feel comfortable reading aloud since they are not reading by themselves but rather as a group. Many students are not confident with their ability to read aloud and are shy when speaking in front of the class. Choral reading provides a way for these students to participate in reading aloud without getting nervous or feeling singled out. The difficult thing about choral reading is that it can be hard for the teacher to tell which students are actually reading aloud and which students are just mouthing the words and following their peers. Also, some students may not put as much effort into doing the actual reading if they can just follow along with their peers. Overall, I think choral reading is most effective when trying to emphasize meaning or when used with beginning readers.
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2 comments:
I agree that choral reading is a way for shy readers to feel comfortable reading in front of their peers because everyone is participating. However, I think we share a concern of making sure students are actually participating and reading instead of being distracted and off topic. When I was reading your post I was trying to think about whether using choral reading is better with the younger grades or older students. I think most younger students want to fit in and be involved so they would put forth the effort but I also think the younger students are the ones to be distracted easily by listening to their peers read or playing with stuff in their desk. On the other hand, older students can have an attitude that they don't want to participate because they were told to do so. Hopefully, with encouragement and guidelines any age range will be successful with choral reading!
I agree with the concerns raised by Emily and Sarah about choral reading in the classroom. I feel like the younger students would benefit most from choral reading by gaining confidence in their reading outloud without having to be singled out as a reader. They may be distracted easily, but I find (this may be a personal opinion) that the younger students would be more willing to try different styles of reading (and learning in general) than the older students. For the older students I think having a single student read out loud while the rest of the class follows along may work better.
-Liz
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