Read aloud has always been a very important part of my classroom. I’ve alternated between reading class novels and reading picture books with my students. Sometimes I’ve read both a picture book and a chapter of a novel on the same day.
This year has been different.
On some days, as the children are getting ready to go home, it would dawn on me that I hadn’t read aloud to my students. Even as I write this, I realize that I am embarrassed to admit that I violated such a critical pillar of my teaching philosophy. Who am I to advocate for reading aloud every day when I’m not doing it myself!
At first, I thought it was a scheduling problem. So, I tried different times to do read aloud. I scheduled read aloud at the beginning of the day, at the end of reading workshop and at odd moments. Yet, nothing stuck for long. I felt the pressure to abide by the arbitrarily required number of minutes per subject.
So, in addition to having a challenging class this year, I am also feeling the need to cover everything at breakneck speed.
This kind of timetable organization is almost impossible. So many things interfere with it and the needs and wants of learners trumps the most meticulously designed schedule. Oh, and, of course, there is no such thing as the perfect schedule!
While routine is important, flexibility, including with the mandated curriculum, and pivoting (remember COVID?) is just as important. I have let go of some of these unrealistic expectations set by someone who is too distanced from the classroom to understand a teacher’s day-to-day reality.
However, the little voice berating and judging me is often still there.
I recently read that it’s important to push ourselves to do better at the same time that we need to give ourselves grace. So, I’ve decided to give myself grace in order to address the complex needs and interests of the students in my classroom.
Read aloud is important and deserves its own dedicated time in the day. Reading to my students first thing in the morning, or at the end of the school day, is a great way to start or end the day. Yes, I’ve tried this already. It didn’t work because I was too fixated on how much time this activity was taking. Shouldn’t I be teaching math (60 minutes daily) or social studies right now? I wasn’t enjoying it because of, well, the schedule. Also, compartmentalizing learning is never how we learn best.
No more self-sabotaging. No more second guessing myself. No more doubts.
It’s time to get back to my core beliefs and make this happen.
I’d love to hear how you are fitting in read aloud given all of the external demands on teachers’ time. Please leave a comment below. Thank you!
Update: Since I first started drafting this post, I made an in-the-moment decision to ditch my carefully-crafted-minute-by-minute schedule and let the kids finish creating their Kandinsky-inspired art. Although this was not about read aloud, it reminded me how important it is to deviate from the timetable when necessary. My students were engaged with the art activity. They wanted to do more. Why interfere with that? Even the kids that aren’t easily engaged in school were working hard on their creations.
Their final pieces were so wonderful!
It was pure joy to watch everyone experimenting with colour. After dividing their circles into fourths (math connection), each child collaborated with a partner to recombine their circle pieces in order to create something new.
And…I have no regrets. In fact, I am going to look for these moments of joy and continue to extend them. The schedule should not determine what we do.
Elisa Waingort 
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