Blair Wright Blog #6: Emphasize Shared Reading

   According to Routman, shared reading is an under used component in the teaching of reading. Shared reading is mainly used in kindergarten and first grade classrooms and casually fades away about 2nd grade. Routman however, says that it is needed through high school to help promote and demonstrate what good readers do when they read. Shared reading is a way to promote many aspects all at the same time.
   I remember as a child that my teacher used big books. My teacher would read the story to the class, the class would read a long, she would ask questions, introduce new words, etc. All of these are skills that good readers use when they read and she was teaching them to us all at the same time. As students are learning to read for the first time in kindergarten or 1st grade, this is terrific. I can see why it has faded as students get older. However, after reading this chapter I can see the benefits of using shared reading in the upper grades. Shared reading to me is almost as if you are experiencing the book together as a class, so at any age this would be beneficial to their learning.  It also gives many students who do not read on the same level an opportunity to be on an even playing field with the rest of their classmates. It can also help students to make connections with each other as they talk about the text. The chapter also indicated verbiage students and teachers can use when they are thinking out loud or turning and talking which encourages students to focus on the topic at hand and learn from one another. One of the best parts of shared reading is that it can be done with various types of texts, like poems, chapter books, and even nonfiction books. I agree that shared reading is an important component in reading that we cannot leave out.