Reading Aloud in Library Lesson: Choose Your Own Adventure!
Reading aloud to students is definitely not a new concept. However, working in a Secondary School, some staff might think of it as more of a Primary School Activity.
We all know that reading aloud increases vocabulary and strengthens cognition in children among other benefits.
However it also provides basic enjoyment and helps people of all ages fall in love with books and reading.
I think I forgot that most people enjoy being read to and that it isn't an activity that should be relegated to Primary Schools only.
I recently had a Year 7 class in, the majority of the class could be identified as reluctant or struggling readers. There are a lot of boys in that class who I struggle to find books for or books that they stick with.
When a copy of a new Choose Your Own Adventure story by Charlie Higson landed on my desk, I decided to try something new and read aloud to the class.
This time was different because at the end of each section, I was getting the class to vote which route the character would take.
The story is a fantasy adventure with tons of dangerous characters and creatures. It's a dungeon-crawling story which is perfect for Choose Your Own Adventure.
A typical line in the story reads: Do you try to tiptoe past the sleeping Goblin or wake him up and challenge him to a fight to take his treasure?
You can only imagine how the class voted in the particular scene.
The best part of this exercise was that you could hear a pin drop in the class as I read each passage. Students debated fiercely about which way our character should turn or which action they should take.
"Do want me to stop there?" I asked, looking at my watch to see if we should move on the next activity.
"No!" a dozen or more voices shouted out.
And by the end of the lesson our Library Assistant had pulled out a pile of Choose Your Own Adventures and the students pawed through them.
I also had a great time doing this, I did the voices and tried to make each scene as dramatic and fun as possible. For a while there we were all working together for one goal: get our character out of the dungeon alive.
Since then I've read different Choose Your Own Adventures to other classes, including a Year 8 class who are all considered confident and eager readers. They loved it as well. It creates a lot of discussion and more importantly, a lot of laughs, especially if your character meets a grisly death and you make a big production out of it.
I highly recommend reading these kinds of books out loud if you haven't already, your students will ask for more each lesson they come in.
We all know that reading aloud increases vocabulary and strengthens cognition in children among other benefits.
However it also provides basic enjoyment and helps people of all ages fall in love with books and reading.
I think I forgot that most people enjoy being read to and that it isn't an activity that should be relegated to Primary Schools only.
I recently had a Year 7 class in, the majority of the class could be identified as reluctant or struggling readers. There are a lot of boys in that class who I struggle to find books for or books that they stick with.
This time was different because at the end of each section, I was getting the class to vote which route the character would take.
The story is a fantasy adventure with tons of dangerous characters and creatures. It's a dungeon-crawling story which is perfect for Choose Your Own Adventure.
A typical line in the story reads: Do you try to tiptoe past the sleeping Goblin or wake him up and challenge him to a fight to take his treasure?
You can only imagine how the class voted in the particular scene.
The best part of this exercise was that you could hear a pin drop in the class as I read each passage. Students debated fiercely about which way our character should turn or which action they should take.
"Do want me to stop there?" I asked, looking at my watch to see if we should move on the next activity.
"No!" a dozen or more voices shouted out.
And by the end of the lesson our Library Assistant had pulled out a pile of Choose Your Own Adventures and the students pawed through them.
I also had a great time doing this, I did the voices and tried to make each scene as dramatic and fun as possible. For a while there we were all working together for one goal: get our character out of the dungeon alive.
Since then I've read different Choose Your Own Adventures to other classes, including a Year 8 class who are all considered confident and eager readers. They loved it as well. It creates a lot of discussion and more importantly, a lot of laughs, especially if your character meets a grisly death and you make a big production out of it.
I highly recommend reading these kinds of books out loud if you haven't already, your students will ask for more each lesson they come in.
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