Interactive Read Aloud Planning Template
Text: Nasreen’s Secret School Author: Jeanette Winter Genre: Realistic Fiction
Learning Goals: Language Arts or Content Area
 The students will understand how the main character, Nasreen, changes
throughout the story.
 The students will understand the impact that learning has on the characters
in the story.
Before reading:
Build background knowledge: See the author’s note to build background for the
students. You can briefly paraphrase.
Introduce story vocabulary: Taliban (you will define while providing background
knowledge), forbidden, flourished
Set purpose: As I read this story I want you to listen to find out the impact that
learning has on our main character and how she changes throughout the story.
During reading:
Teaching Points/Questions:
Page #3-How is life in Afghanistan different for Nasreen? (When they answer
they should use specific details from the text to describe how life was before and
how it is now)
Page #8-What is the author trying to show us by using the phrase, “the full moon
passed our window many times.” (that many days/nights have passed)
Page #9- How is Nasreen feeling? What evidence from the text and illustration
support this?
Page #10-What does the illustration represent; what does the earth symbolize? (a
world of learning that the grandmother wants Nasreen to have access to)
Page #16-How do we know that the boys are supportive of the girls’ learning?
What clues do we see in the text and illustrations that prove this? (they
distracted the soldiers so the girls wouldn’t get caught)
Page #17- Look closely at the illustration- what is the illustrator trying to show?
(the shadows represent what is taking place inside the secret school)
Page #19- What does the author mean by the phrase, “Nasreen stayed inside
herself.”
Page #25- How has Nasreen changed since returning to school? How has this
change affected her learning?
Page #27- The author states that “windows opened for Nasreen.” What does she
mean by this? How do the illustrations support this? (Point out that this does not
mean that windows opened literally, but that it opened her mind to learning
about the outside world.)
Page #29- What does the author mean when she states, “now she can see blue
sky beyond those dark clouds.” Explain.
After reading:
Comprehension focus: What can we infer by the statement, “The soldiers can
never close the windows that have opened for my granddaughter.”? (that even
though the soldiers took away her parents, this new knowledge and learning is
something that no one can ever take away from her- it has opened up a whole
new world for her)
How does the author feel about education and learning? How do you know?
Vocabulary review: _Review the words. “forbidden” and “flourished” and have
students share a sentence using the words as they were used in the story
Written Response: Modeled__X___Shared_ X___Independent_____
Write a paragraph explaining how Nasreen has changed from the beginning of
the story to the end. Use details from the text to support your answer.