What Is the Purpose of Shared Reading

What is the Purpose of Shared Reading?

The main purpose of shared reading is to provide children with an enjoyable experience, introduce them to a variety of authors, illustrators and types of texts to entice them to become a reader. The second and equally as important purpose is to teach children the reading process and teach systematically and explicitly how to be readers and writers themselves. (Parkes, 2000)

[edit] Specification for texts

When selecting texts for reading, teachers typically look for text that is appropriate for the reading level of the students, that is also cross-curricular and relevant in its nature. The text should be of an appropriate length for study and be adequately complex. The text should also have an impact.

[edit] Method

In primary grades, the teachers read while the children are encouraged to read along. The more familiar the text, the more the teachers asks of the students in terms of reading, talking and answering questions about the reading. In upper grades, the teacher reads the text aloud after stating a focus, and then re-reads the text, asking questions specific to the focus of choice (and may ask students to join). The focus may include things like: analysis, predictions, drawing inferences, grammar and punctuation, vocabulary development, questioning, literacy elements, critical thinking, phrasing, fluency, intonation, character and plot Development.

Shared Reading

Overview

The concept of shared reading was developed by educator and researcher Don Holdaway. In shared reading, teachers read engaging large format books to students with the purpose of demonstrating the different aspects of reading. Shared reading is meant to be fun and pressure free. Students who may experience reading frustration can follow along and observe the teacher's reading and thinking process. It is a perfect medium to model reading comprehension: fluency, figuring out words, wondering, predicting, and rereading. The teacher often previews the book cover, performs a picture walk though the book, and makes predictions before the book is read. When reading, the teacher uses an expressive voice, paying attention to phrasing and intonation. The teacher demonstrates a reader's inner dialog, making connections with the text, inferring the meaning of words by using context, predicting and confirming predictions, summarizing, and so on. Regie Routman suggests combining shared reading with interactive reading, a format she calls "shared reading aloud." (Routman, 2003) In this model the teacher selects several places in a story to stop for discussion. These breaks feature a large format of the selected page for interaction with students.