(for Teachers, Librarians, and other Interested Adults)
FORMAT
- Introduction and Overview
- Reading Aloud: Modeling by Workshop Leader
- Story Selection and Small Group/Partners Work (hands on)
- Groups/Partners Present Their Stories
- Follow up Discussion/Closure
GUIDELINES FOR HANDS-ON COMPONENT OF WORKSHOP
In this part of the workshop, participants working in small groups or with a partner will plan a reading aloud session using one story each pair of partners or each small group has chosen. Planning may focus on three related topics:
- Introducing the story
- Presenting the story
- Closing the reading aloud session
After each partner or group member has had a chance to read aloud part of the selected story, workshop participants will discuss/brainstorm strategies for addressing the above three topics.
The following questions may be useful in facilitating this discussion/brainstorming:
- How might you introduce the story in ways that will motivate listening and build on children’s prior knowledge?
- What references, concepts, words will you need to explain or clarify beforehand?
- What is the predominant tone of the story — mysterious, suspenseful, whimsical, comical, serious? How might you communicate this tone through your reading?
- How is the narrative constructed? Are some parts better read at a fast pace? What parts might need to be slowed down? (To make reading aloud a more enriching experience for listeners, consider varying pace (how fast or slow you read); pitch (how high or low your voice is); volume (how soft or loud your voice is); and tone (how you emotionally color your voice).
- What are the major emotional elements or feelings of the story? How can you communicate them in ways that will allow the children to experience them with you?
- If the story has dialogue, what vocal adjustments can you make to help children distinguish the different characters?
- If you are using an illustrated storybook, how might you handle the illustrations — showing them one at a time as you read the narrative? Showing only selected illustrations as you read? Showing them after you finish reading?
CLOSURE
If time allows, workshop participants will try reading aloud the same story selection but this time working to incorporate discoveries, insights, strategies that emerged during the previous discussion.