Mention teachers' reading aloud in class and more than likely your memory will recall an image of a cozy corner in your elementary school classroom where children sat on a rug surrounding a teacher sitting in a rocking chair reading Charlotte's Web. Am I Right?

Middle and High School English teachers are now reading classics such as the Odyssey to Mice and Men or Beowulf! You may also walk into a social studies class and hear the teacher voicing the words of the Declaration of Independence and letters home from U.S. Soldiers in the Vietnam War. Math and Science teachers are getting in on the reaching action as well and are reading to their adolescent students.

Follow up:

We all agree that reading to young students will help the student become a more fluent reader. Studies are showing that students in upper level classes are doing better when their teacher spends time reading in the classroom. Improved understanding, improved interest and improved performance.

Ms. Albright, associate professor in literacy at Texas Women's University co-wrote an article published in the journal of Reading Research and Instruction that supports reading in the classroom and improved student performance. "The teacher needs to think about why he or she is using the book and connect it to the curriculum, to have purpose, to think about how you will introduce it to the students," Ms. Albright said. "You don't want to just pick up a book, read it, and then close it and move on."

Bridging to the fluent reader is not an easy task and we must concern ourselves with advancing students to closed reading or reading to themselves. If you have a struggling student and in your home environment are able to pull beautifully illustrated books to help the student become more interested in the subject content don't hesitate to read the book together..... you might be forging the right path to fluency and a joy of reading and better results in the classroom.

Recently, classroom teachers have begun reading to middle school and high school student. And guess what? It is also beginning to show an improvement in reading fluency for low preforming students.