Mark Sample has a post on Reading Aloud in the Classroom, specifically talking about having the students read.
Reading aloud is a right reserved for the professor.
And how wrong this is. How drearily, dreadfully, dismally wrong this is.
Sheridan Blau argues in The Literature Workshop that one of the most powerful tools at the disposal of readers is rereading. And reading aloud—reading out loud—is in turn one of the most powerful ways of rereading.
I will confess that it is only in my British Literature courses that I have students read aloud. And most of the time in Brit Lit I that is for only one play, Everyman. (And this semester, due to an MWF schedule, the students are reading that at home.)
This is making me stop and rethink my plans, not for reading in class, because I do that, but for having the students read more often. It is true that my students are more likely to be good readers now (at an SLAC) than in the past (at my CCs). I definitely want to help the students in any way I can and it looks like this is one way.
Professor Sample also gives a discussion over a passage from Frankenstein that he chose for reading aloud in the classroom. I may come back to that, as I do Frankenstein in my Brit Lit II course.
I’m a 7th grade Reading/Writing Workshop teacher and I agree. Reading aloud is so important on many levels. Not only comprehension, but also confidence as a reader.