Interactive Read Aloud: Intentional Conversations about Texts

How are you supporting your readers to think deeply about texts in interactive read aloud?

Nikki Woodruff 
Literacy Collaborative Trainer

In this first grade classroom, children are sitting in
a circle to encourage conversation among all readers.

In Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency (2006), Fountas and Pinnell define interactive read aloud as the teacher reading aloud to the students where the “teacher and the students think about, talk about, and respond to the text.”

In all K-8 classrooms, children should be engaging in conversations about texts guided by the intentional teaching opportunities provided by the teacher. Teachers choose the texts carefully based on the needs of the students in the classroom and then plan for leading conversations within, beyond and about the text.

 

Pete and Pickles

Are you leading conversation or questioning?

The role of the teacher is to lead conversation based on the needs of the students, NOT to plan questions to test for comprehension. Supporting readers in interactive read aloud is much deeper than questioning the group of children. It is an opportunity for children to engage in deep conversations about the text.Let’s think about how this exchange during the reading of Pete & Pickles (2008) supports teaching for strategic actions during a first grade interactive read aloud.

Teacher:	Students:	Strategic Actions:
Text of Story: “Pete cut the evening’s fun off early and went to bed to get the nightmares out of the way--the same terrifying nightmares all pigs dream during the stormy nights.  For pigs are known for doing only one thing well in water:”
Pete is having terrifying nightmares.  Why would he be terrified?
	S1: Can you read that again please?	Within: Notice and ask questions when meaning is lost or understanding is interrupted.
Teacher reads passage again.
	S1: Drowning. Pigs drown in water.  When you reread that I thought he might drown because the book said “watery nightmare.”	Within: ●     Pick up important information and remember it to use in discussion. ●     Provide specific examples and evidence from the text to support thinking. Beyond: ●     Predict what will happen next. ●     Use evidence from the text to support predictions.
Later on in the text. Text says: “A sudden sound.” Teacher reads the next page for evidence of the sudden sound.
Teacher: What do you think was the sudden sound that Pete, the pig, heard?
	S2: The elephant is the sudden sound.	Within: ●     Notice and derive information from pictures and photographs. ●     Provide specific examples and evidence from the text to support thinking. ●     Use details from illustrations to support points made in discussion. Beyond: ●     Interpret the illustrations. ●     Discuss specific examples from the text to support or justify the ideas they are expressing. About: ●     Notice details in illustrations or photographs.
	S3:  Yea, I can see it right there because the window is open.
	S4: The elephant stomped so loud when he climbed in the window and went boom.
	S5: Yes, I agree, you can see where the elephant climbed in the open window because there is mud footprints coming from the window.

This exchange engaged the children in rich conversations about the text. These children have been taught through modeling and practice how to have conversations about the text. It was not an exchange where students answered low level questions. The teacher naturally involved these children in conversations thinking within, beyond and about the text. The children are “actively listening to and discussing a text” and we see the way this is supporting their comprehending using multiple strategic actions (Fountas & Pinnell, 2011).

In contrast, let’s look at this exchange, from the same text:

Text/Teacher:	Students:	Strategic Actions:
Text of Story: “Pete cut the evening’s fun off early and went to bed to get the nightmares out of the way--the same terrifying nightmares all pigs dream during the stormy nights.  For pigs are known for doing only one thing well in water:”
What is going to happen?	S1: Pig is having a nightmare about drowning.	Beyond: ●     Predict what will happen next.
Later on in the text. Text says: “A sudden sound.” Teacher reads the next page for evidence of the sudden sound.
Teacher: What is the sudden sound?
	S2: Elephant	Within: ●     Notice and derive information from pictures and photographs
Text: “The window was open.  Pete pulled the lamp switch. Nothing happened. He had an odd feeling--pigs are very smart in this way--that something was a little….wrong.”
Teacher: Why didn’t anything happen when pig pulled the lamp switch?
	S3: It was elephant’s tail.	Within: ●     Notice and derive information from pictures and photographs.
Teacher: What was wrong?
	S4: Elephant is at his house.	Beyond: ●     Interpret the illustrations.
Teacher: What else?
	S5: The pig is pulling elephant’s tail.

These responses are in stark contrast to the first example for several reasons. First, the teacher did not engage the children in conversation, instead the focus was on questioning for low level understanding. In turn, the children gave short answers that only indicated low level comprehension in thinking within and beyond the text. The teacher did not encourage the children to elaborate on many of the answers. Finally, the exchange is teacher-student-teacher-student instead of teacher-student-student-student.

We need to encourage deeper conversations by thinking deeper about the text ourselves. Read the text the first time as a reader, instead of as a teacher.  Reflect on how you understood the story and your thinking throughout the text. Think about where you might invite conversation remembering to stop only 3-4 times for conversation or turn and talks. If you stop often to drill children with low level question-answering sessions, this will negatively impact their understanding of the story because of the interruptions.

When you are teaching your readers to be conversational it is important to be thoughtful about your behavior. How are you beginning the conversation? How often do you stop during the reading of a book? What part of the book lends itself to a deep conversation for understanding? How are your questions aligning with the goals in the Continuum of Literacy Learning?

References

Breathed, Berkley. (2008). Pete & Pickles. New York, NY: Philomel Books
       Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading, K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (2006). Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, 
       Talking, and Writing About Reading, K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (2006). The Continuum of Literacy Learning: Grades PreK-8,
       Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.