Little Reading Coach

I’m teaching a Mommy & Me Literacy class in a few weeks and I’ve been doing some research to figure out how I want to structure my class. Normally I would just Google some key words and have information at my fingertips in seconds. However, now that the weather is finally nice, I’ve been going to our local library and I decided to check out some of the books in the parenting section. Our library is very old fashioned (you can check out the Bobbsey Twins), but they do have a wide variety of children’s and parenting books.

To help me navigate the Parent’s Corner, I asked the children’s librarian for some guidance. She is the typical old school librarian, and was more than thrilled to assist me in my search. We chatted about the changes in reading with children today and she made a very good point. It’s not the children that have changed, it’s the parents. Kids still act like they always have (running around, touching everything in sight, etc.) but parents respond and interact differently with their children. She also said that you can tell the parents that read to their children and make literacy a part of their life because those kids go straight for the bookshelves on their visits to the library. Those kids that go straight for the computer are typically ones whose parents are on their phones during the library visit, and use more technology at home.

Since my Mommy & Me Literacy class is about helping moms incorporating literacy into their daily routine, I found the librarian’s comment to be very interesting. Over the years as a teacher I’ve seen different parenting styles, and now as a parent I tend to watch how other parents handle situations, and I would have to agree with the librarian.  Each parent and family has their own way of parenting, and as a new mom I respect that more each day.

I got to thinking, it’s human nature for us to avoid things we aren’t familiar with or good at. In this case some parents are not comfortable with reading to their children which is why they turn to technology. We know why it’s important to read aloud to kids (see previous post), but it can be challenging to find even just five minutes on some days to check email, let alone research reading aloud strategies. Which is what brings me to this post today. I’m going to share some resources that I have been using lately to hopefully help another parent. This post is for parents and early education teachers. 

Podcasts

With the nice weather we’re starting to have I’ve been taking Molly to the park more often. I’ve discovered I enjoy our park time more if I’m listening to something while I walk a few loops around the park, so I’ve started listening to podcasts.

Read-Aloud Revival

This podcast is truly a gem. I struggled finding a good one that focused on literacy, but it was worth the digging. It focuses on motivating your family to read and provides fantastic read aloud suggestions, tips for parents, and just great ideas. They also have a great website that is super user-friendly. The podcast I listened to today was from April 4, 2016 on Raising Kids Who read, which was an interview by author Dr. Daniel
Willingham. One of the best parts of this interview was how they discussed realistic ways to help kids of all ages read more at home. This included how to monitor screen time and leaving books in certain places in the house. Dr. Willingham discussed his book, Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do, which I plan on purchasing and reviewing in the next few weeks.

Reading Rockets

For those of you unfamiliar with Reading Rockets, it’s a fantastic website for parents and educators about reading. I’ve actually used it for multiple graduate school assignments and in my own classroom. Even though there are no recent podcasts, the existing ones are great. They have a few different podcast series for parents and children including: Meet the Author, Watch and Learn, and Meet the Experts. Meet the Author includes interviews of popular children’s book authors, Watch and Learn has videos for teaching reading, and Meet the Experts are interviews of various experts on specific reading topics (spelling, reading today).

Videos

Our children live in an exciting time of technology because there is so much out there that kids and parents can watch.

One Youtube Channel, Children’s Books Read Aloud, actually has adults reading aloud popular children’s books. This is great for parents to watch and listen to get ideas about how to read aloud. It’s also perfect for those days when you don’t have time to read to the kids, but they can watch a video of the book with someone reading to them.

I also came across a quick Ted Talk, Why we should all be reading aloud to children, and I LOVE the way Rebecca Bellingham reads aloud. Even as an adult, you feel captivated by her voice, especially when she uses the different voices. This is great a video just hear how effective a great read aloud can be.

The last video I want to share with you is one done by Pre-K teacher Breeyn Mack, and it’s called Strategies for Reading Aloud to Young Children. There are so many positive things about this video, but the biggest is how she interacts with the text while she’s reading. She demonstrates how to think aloud, read at a good pace, use appropriate voice volume, and more, providing parents and educators with a great demonstration on how to read aloud to little ones. I would love for Molly to have a teacher like her in the future.

Being a teacher first allowed me to become comfortable with reading aloud. I made it a priority to read to my students over the last few years because I saw how invested they became in the stories. If I didn’t have a teaching background I would feel reading is important, but I probably wouldn’t be doing it enough and not as effectively as I would want. If you or someone you know feels this way, these are some great resources for parents and educators to help feel more comfortable and confident in reading aloud.