Defining High Quality Reading:
Revisting Read Alouds With
Some New Lenses
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A CLOSE LOOK AT THE POWER OF CRITICAL
LITERACY AND UNANSWERABLE
QUESTIONS TO TRANSFORM READ ALOUDS
AND READING LIVES
BERGENFIELD, NJ SCHOOLS
6 TH, 7 TH A N D 8 TH G R A D E T E A C H E R S
MARCH 2011
GINNY LOCKWOOD
www.GinnyLockwood.com
Defining High Quality Reading
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Reading, when engaging and successful, calls
us to action…emotional, intellectual and
often social action! Reading, when engaging
and successful, can and should change one’s
view of the world and of how to live in more
aware and involved ways within it.
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Framework for Reading Instruction
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Guided
Reading
Differentiated
Groups
Shared
Reading
Read
Aloud
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Independent
Reading and
Writing
Word/
Language
Study
Have you ever found yourself…
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 Using books to teach skills rather than using books
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to engage readers?
Asking higher level questions only to receive literal
recall from books?
Faced with passive quiet listeners?
Trying to endlessly elicit responses that don’t come?
Prepared for and excited about a read aloud that did
not quite live up to your hopes and expectations?
Generally frustrated that what you know is possible
seems so unattainable?
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Various Purposes for Reading Aloud
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 Enjoying great books and loving reading
 Learning about content
 Giving children access to books they may not be able
to read independently
Today’s purpose:
 Engaging with texts and classmates and the world in
ways that make an impact and leave us pondering
things that matter
“For me, this book really spoke to the issue of….”
 “Having read this book, I am left thinking a lot about…”

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From Harold Bloom’s “How to Read and Why”
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We read deeply for varied
reasons:
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That we cannot know
enough people profoundly
enough
That we need to know
ourselves better
That we require knowledge,
not just of self and others,
but of the way things are
That we search for a
difficult pleasure
During Interactive Read Alouds
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 We experience literature in ways that:
 Engage readers emotionally
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Engage readers intellectually
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Engage readers authentically and purposefully
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Invite readers to ponder, linger and reflect
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Inspire readers to read better and in more powerful ways on
their own
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Impact on Student Reading Quality
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Only literal
understanding
Increased inferential
thinking
Lack of
engagement
Increased empathy,
visualization,
questioning, etc.
Unresponsive
reading
Increased ability to “talk
back” to the book and to
other readers
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Invisible
From:
My Name is
Jorge on Both
Sides of the
River
By Jane Medina
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If I stay very still
And breathe
very quietly,
The magic happens:
I disappear
-and nobody sees me
-and nobody hears me
-and nobody even thinks about me
And the teacher won’t call on me.
It’s very safe
being invisible
I’m perfect!
I can’t make mistakes
-at least
nobody sees them,
so nobody laughs.
Interactive Read Aloud: Choosing Texts
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Closely consider…
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Genre
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Author
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Content
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Context
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Culture
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Overall literary quality
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Overall aesthetic quality
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“Conversation creates
the conditions for us to
rediscover the joy of
thinking together.”
-Margaret Wheatley; Author
From, “Turning to One Another”
Choosing Books for Read Aloud
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 What’s grabbing me about this book? Why did I
add it to my stack?
 What about this book might grab the hearts and
minds of my kids?
 What are some debates I can imagine engaging in
when talking about this book with other readers?
 What makes this a high quality piece of writing?
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The Duality of
Powerful Interactive Read Alouds
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Comprehension and
Meaning Making
 Actively engaging
readers in the
“busyness” of reading
well
 Implicitly engaging
readers in employing
comprehension
strategies while making
meaning of text
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Talk and Discourse
 Modeling and engaging
readers in the use of
specific types of talk
structures
 Modeling and engaging
readers in increasingly
complex and higher
levels of conversation
Something to Think About…
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“By changing the way we talk, we change
the way we think, not just as
individuals, but all together.
-William Isaacs
Author of, “Dialogue: The Art of
Thinking Together”
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The Interplay of Meaning Making
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 Literal ~ Holding onto the gist of the story
 Inferential ~ Making sense of and thinking
more about the story, especially what’s not
on the page
 Unanswerable ~ Pondering something
bigger launched by the story
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Something
to Think
About…
“I think that when we
teach, we need to
remember that human
beings want to work
with heart and soul on
endeavors that
matter.”
-Lucy Calkins
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Concepts for Critical Reading/Thinking
From, “For a Better World” 2001; Bomer and Bomer; Pages 28 – 37
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 Groups
 Class
 Power
 Money
 Taking Things for Granted
(Naturalization)
 Labor
 Fairness/Justice
 Language
 Voice/Silence
 Intimate Relationships and
 Multiple Perspectives
(Different Sides of Stories)
 Representation
(Showing What People Are Like)
 Gender
 Race
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Families
 Relationships to Nature
 Violence and Peace
 Acting Alone or Together
(Individualism/Collectivism)
Eyeing the Possibilities
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When planning for talk around critical literacy lenses and the
unanswerable think about:
 Character decisions, or unusual behavior
 New information is given about a character
 Strong emotions
 Heightened interactions (conflict, big news, etc.)
 Evidence of problem or resolution
 Surprise
 Anticipation
 Themes/Lenses
 Perspectives
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Angling Questions: Inside the Story
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 What are you thinking?
 How will he try to get it?
 Why did the character do
 What do we think the
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that?
What does it tell you that
she acted that way?
Should he have done
that? Why? Why not?
What should happen
because of that?
What does the character
want?
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character needs? Does
she think she needs it?
 Is there a problem? What
are characters doing to
make it better? Worse?
 Is the character
changing? How? How
can we tell?
Angling Questions: Beyond the Story
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 What are you thinking?
 What is going on here?
 What is really going on
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here?
Is this fair, right, wise?
Are characters doing
their best?
Does this match what
you know about the
world?
Is this how things work
in your experience?
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 Is there another way to
look at this?
 What would you say to
the characters if you
could?
 What do you think they’d
say to us if they could?
 Do you think the author
wants us to know,
believe, or change
something? What? How
do you know?
Give Them a Little Substance
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 Move beyond the obvious
 Imagine possible interpretations
 Plan through lenses for critical thinking
and analysis
 Embrace the unanswerable
 Consider the symbiotic relationship
between content and conversation
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Interactive Read Aloud: Try it!
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 Read, “Mr. Entwhistle” first as a reader, not a
teacher of readers
 Reread the text through a teacher’s lens
 Where might you model your own thinking?
 Where might you ask literal/inferential questions?
 Where/When might you ask an unanswerable question? Why?
 Are there particular lenses for critical analysis through which
you might question/analyze the text?
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Vocabulary
Development
A more varied and
extensive
vocabulary makes
a direct impact on
comprehension of
texts and the
ability to discuss
them with others.
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Initial Introduction of
“Tier Two” Words*
Define the word in simple terms
as it is encountered in a text
Discuss the word in the context of
a shared experience
Discuss the word in the context of
individual students’ experiences
Ongoing use in and out of school
*Bringing Words to Life; Robust Vocabulary Instruction;
Beck, McKeown and Kucan; 2002
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Planning for Interactive Read Alouds: Try it!
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Mama
by Jacqueline Woodson
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Across the Alley
by Richard Michelson
Reflecting and Moving Forward
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 How might you choose texts for Read Alouds slightly
differently?
 How might your planning/preparation process
change?
 How might you judge the success of Read Alouds?
 What will give you the satisfying sense that the work
is impacting students’ independent reading?
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A Few “Take Away” Thoughts
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 Substitute, “Should…” for “Will…”
 Plan for the unanswerable
 Decisions
 Relationship dynamics
 Outcomes/resolutions
 Themes
 Critical literacy lenses
 Teach reading not books
 Books don’t have “right” interpretations
 Read Alouds level the playing field for ALL readers!
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Something
to Think
About…
“Ignorance is not so much
about not knowing an
answer as it is about not
knowing that there is a
question, not being able to
think when thinking is
required.”
-Frank Smith
Essays into Literacy
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