At times throughout the year, I will read aloud to my students. Yes, Junior Honors English students need to be read to, too. It's good for them to hear the rhythm and voices of a skilled reader. I also find that reading aloud to students gets them more interested in reading in general. Around prom time, I usually read Jean Shepherd's
Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and other Disasters out loud to my students. It's a silly story, and we have fun with it. The goal for the reading varies depending on the group in front of me. This time around we focused on: part to whole. How do parts of the story (setting, characterization, literary devices) help support the overall message of the story. I read
all parts of the story out loud--except for one. There is a part at the dance when the band playing (ah...a time before DJs played bump and grind music) features the "band's romantic vocalist" who also doubles as the drummer. I always request a student volunteer to read the parts where he sings. It's fun to see the personalities of the classes come out. I can usually predict which classes are going to need a bit more coaxing to get a volunteer. This year, I got an volunteer, but he would only do it with a pal--a backup singer, if you will.
Here they are, prepping to "moo," as the text requires them to do:
As you can see, one of our warblers is not too thrilled at the prospect of being filmed/photographed during his singing--but they rose to the occasion. Thanks for playing along, gents. And for showing that reading is more fun the more you get into it.
