Did YOUR School Teachers Read Aloud to Your Class?

[Mom2OandE]

I remember being read to all through school. Fewer teachers as I got older but those who did wer excellent at it.

[Targhee]

Yes, read to all the way to sixth grade. I really enjoyed coming in from recess and laying my head on my desk to listen. It was a good rhythm near the end of the school day.

 

I remember even into high school taking turns reading aloud from the text

[candicane]

I don't recall any teachers reading aloud, but I do recall having us read aloud amongst the class all the way up until my senior year. I absolutely hated it as other students were either slow readers or couldn't read at all. When we weren't doing that, the teacher would put on the audio tape of the book which was just as bad. I can't understand or enjoy a book being read to me. I prefer reading silently.

[Mandylubug]

Mine read through elementary and middle school.

[mountains27]

Yes I can recall being read too in the early years in the classroom and in the library every time we went. My aunt was the librarian when I was in elementary school and loved Bill Peet books so I heard all of those and learned to love his books so much I even read his autobiography when I was a bit older and loved that too! My 3rd grade teacher I remember very vividly reading us lots of Rahl Dahl and she was also the teacher that had us sing Beatles songs in the classroom and preform them at open house :)  I also remember doing the round robin style starting around 4th grade but still also getting read to by the teacher all the way through to high school I think. It's funny how I can remember so many of the books and experiences of being read to over the years from K-12 grade, goes to show how important reading to and with kids can really be!

[3 Only Children]

Yes! My 5th grade teacher read to us and I credit her for helping me to become a life long reader.

She read out loud every day and when she finished a chapter we would sometimes beg her to keep reading and she always did.

 Charlotte's Web,  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and all the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books were our favorites.

 

I have read to my own children since they were babies and now my youngest (14 ) still likes it when I read to him!

 

My husband and I also have had times when one of us was in the hospital and we read to each other to help take our minds to a happier place.

Our favorite books for those occasions have been books by P.G. Wodehouse (funny)  and The Chronicles of Narnia.

 

I don't think I will ever outgrow liking to read out loud or being read to. 

[Tanikit]

We were read to in school certainly up to 5th grade - I can't remember what happened in 6th and 7th grade. We had silent reading periods at school too where we could read whatever we wanted to. And certainly for literature through high school even we had to read aloud in class - I know with the plays we studied people would be given characters to read aloud for that period even though we didn't act it out.

[Melissa in Australia]

YEs all through primary school. IN high school ( which here starts at year 7) we had to read aloud to the class. taking it in turns, one paragraph per student.

[calihil]

Yep. I dont remember what they read, but I remember read alouds happening after lunch time, usually.

[Laura Corin]

I can't remember if we were read to in primary school.  I do remember my French teacher reading whole books aloud to us in French from age 16 to 18.  It was Candide, Le Grand Meaulnes and a modern novel called Hans.

 

L

[carriede]

Yes, through 5th grade at a K-5th school.

[Another Lynn]

My sixth grade teacher did:  The one that stands out most in my memory is Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  Oh, also Snow Treasure. 

[xixstar]

It is one of my favorite memories from school, all the reading. Johnny Tremain, Maniac McGee (?), The Wheel on the School House and many others. And I remember being read to in high school too. Loved it.

[rdj2027]

Only my Latin teacher in 5th grade read to us.  If we worked hard all week and the class average for tests/exams was above a certain number he would read us The Chronicles of Narnia on Saturdays as a reward.  To this day this is my favorite piece of literature.  On the day before holidays or breaks he would read us stories in Latin.  I still have fond memories of Caius, a little boy in ancient Rome and his adventures.

[wintermom]

Yes, I remember being read aloud to in elementary school - up to grade 6. Those teachers really brought the stories to life, and I loved them. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Danny, the Champion of the World, Owls in the Family are a few I vividly remember.

 

I don't remember as clearly in middle and high school. I think the class took turns reading MacBeth aloud.

[ScoutTN]

Absolutely! In grade school we had about 45 minutes of RA right after lunch. It was great to come in from the playground to rest and listen. I remember vividly my 4th grade teacher reading The Hobbit and my 3rd grade teacher reading The Trumpet of the Swan.

 

Unfortunately, we moved away and I did't get to finish elementary school there.

 

In high school I did have two English teachers who spent large chunks of class time reading to us. They were the best literature teachers I had! I remember one reading from The Odyssey and another reading from Dr. Faustus. Each one made the books come alive!

[Chris in VA]

Yes.

I distinctly remember my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Reinhart, reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

She read Charlotte's Web, and From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, too.

I'm sure other teachers read aloud, too.

 

When I was in 6th grade, our school went a little "experimental." Along with having an independent math class (where about 5 of us sat in the library with a math book and had at it...alone...), we also had a semester where we broke into groups in different rooms and were read to for, maybe, 20 minutes. We took an interest survey to see what genre we would be assigned to. I listened to a survival story of kids after a flood--but we didn't finish it! It has made me curious for years, as to the ending of that story! WHO DOES THAT? Leaving off before an ending and not telling the name of the book...sheesh.

[Aspasia]

My second grade teacher did. She read aloud Charlotte's Web and I spent 4 months being totally lost. I think, because I was not an auditory learner and bored easily that I would just tune out. I had no idea what that book was about and absolutely hated "read aloud" time. When it came time for everyone to make a diorama, all I knew was that there was a spider named charlotte and a pig named wilbur and that's about it.

 

Bad memory.

 

Overall, I was a straight A student, in the gifted program, etc.

 

BUT Read Aloud in the classroom setting did NOT do a thing for me.

I could have written this post word for word, substituting a few other titles. All of my elementary teachers read aloud to us and I HATED it. I was also a very good student, but I hated being read to and didn't really "hear" any of it. It was the time of day when I tuned out and daydreamed--in fact, the first time someone explained daydreaming to me, I understood it because I pictured myself sitting in my desk while my teacher read, "The Indian in the Cupboard" (a book about which I know absolutely nothing except the title). Same problem with round robin reading. Oh, the memories are painful!

 

Happily, my own kids seem to enjoy listening to read-alouds. And I love reading to them. I have also come to love audio books. Go figure.

[happypamama]

I remember being required to read aloud to my second grade class.  That was a bad year.  We moved to the district in August, and the top track class was already full, so I got stuck in the second level class.  The kids weren't bad, and the teacher did give me spelling words on my own, but she wasn't a very good teacher and not really a very nice person either.  She made me do a lot of reading aloud to the class.  I have never really liked reading aloud, and she made it very unfun.  (Years later, during some college breaks, I did some substitute teaching in my former elementary school.  I had a lot of happy feelings when I went by the library, and it was pleasant to see some of the teachers I had liked.  When I saw my second grade teacher, who absolutely still remembered me, my stomach tied up in knots.  I never really considered that *that* would be one of my reasons for homeschooling, but yeah, I'm glad my children won't have to have teachers like her.  She wasn't just strict -- we had a sixth grade teacher who was strict but kind -- she was mean, and my parents weren't the only ones who disliked her strongly.)

 

Anyway, I have a couple of good memories of teachers reading aloud.  Our third grade teacher read us Bunnicula, which was fun.  And I believe it was our fifth grade teacher who read us Kavik, The Wolf Dog.  I would not have picked that up on my own, but I enjoyed the story very much, and now I have things like that in the back of my head as ideas for my own children.  So that was really cool, that a read aloud broadened a student's repertoire.

 

I don't remember reading aloud after fifth grade, though, either by the teacher or the students, although I guess we did read Hamlet aloud in sixth grade while practicing for doing it as our play that year.

[speedmom4]

One of my absolutely best school memories is listening to my teacher read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to our class. She would read a little every day and we would get so still and quiet to be able to hear every word.

 

Thanks for bringing up a great memory!

 

Elise in NC

[happypamama]

I was also a very early reader and read a lot, although I wasn't necessarily inclined to push myself out of my preferred genres or into challenging stuff.  My mom says she wishes she had kept up reading aloud to me even after I could read well.  (However, I'm not much of an auditory learner at all, like one of my children; my DH and several of my children pick up stuff just from listening and love audio books, but my one child and I would much rather see it in print than hear it.)

[Critterfixer]

I don't remember my elementary teachers reading to us, but I had my own problems to contend with, so I might well have forgotten. I remember reading aloud with other students from the readers. I didn't care for that, although I loved to read aloud. I remember reading to my friend over the telephone whole sections of LOTR. And discussing them. She was reading that too, so we pretty much had the whole book memorized.

I attended only one year of PS, and I remember reading Romeo and Juliet aloud with the rest of the class, which I actually liked. I had a decent part, which helped. I remember our teacher also reading to us, and that was in ninth grade. 

I also seem to remember a literature professor in college who liked to read aloud sections for discussion. I didn't always get along with that professor, but I appreciated her reading aloud and oral discussions in class a lot.

 

I read aloud to my siblings as long as I was at home. It's kind of funny now, because one of my sons is a BIG read-aloud kid--he loves to read and recite whole sections of various things he is reading to me. Reminds me of myself a little bit.

[Wabi Sabi]

Not that I can recall. 

[jaderbee]

Mr. Phillips read to us in 11th grade and we took turns reading Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and a Shakespeare play in 12th (I don't remember which because I was a drama geek and we performed Shakespeare every year). However, those two years were unique. I don't recall a teacher reading to the class after 6th grade.

 

ETA that in college I remember one professor reading his own poetry to us and another in a Shakespeare course reading with us.

[VeteranMom]

My teachers would read aloud after the lunch recess.  I have some really nice memories of them reading to the class and clearly remember a lot of the books.  My favorites were Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Where the Red Fern Grows (my 5th grade teacher cried when the dogs died).  Students reading aloud did not happen, though.  Read aloud time by the teachers continued through elementary school.

[mountains27]

 I just remembered we also had silent reading time once we got to about 6th grade and they called it U.S.S.R which somehow stood for silent reading time? And I remember our 7th grade homeroom teacher reading us Prozac Nation and all of us being sufficiently enthralled and disturbed at the same time! I'm not sure we got to the end of it before a parent complained...

This would have been 1994, I think she was a new teacher that year and only was there a year or two

[stripe]

I just remembered we also had silent reading time once we got to about 6th grade and they called it U.S.S.R which somehow stood for silent reading time?

I recall SSR = silent, sustained reading. Maybe they were saying "your SSR"?

[Luanne]

The only grade I remember the teacher reading aloud to us was 6th grade.  He read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I can't remember what else he read.  The class loved it!

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Yes. I remember teachers and students reading aloud in nursery school through high school. A smidgen in the university years too - foreign language and literature come to mind. We are in the middle school/high school transitional grey area and still reading aloud at various time throughout the day. Not only do we find it enjoyable, reading aloud has myriad benefits.

[Syllieann]

Ussr was uninterrupted sustained silent reading, kind of a stupid name IMO since it is obviously uninterrupted if it is sustained.

[Garga]

I clearly remember my 5th grade teacher reading through The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe with us. I think she read other books, too. And she would let the girls take turns brushing her hair while she read. She was in her 20s and we all thought she was like a beautiful fairy princess.

 

After that, I don't remember teachers reading to us, but I do remember kids reading. You'd read for a while and then say a classmate's name. That classmate then had to pick up where you left off. I remember this all the way through 12th grade. I loved it because I was an expressive reader and it was the only time I came out of my shell long enough to participate in anything in school. Other kids were bad readers and they'd stumble over the words (even in 12th grade.) They probably hated it.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Yes, in elementary school.

 

I still can vividly recall waiting on the edge of my seat for the next read-aloud installment of both Treasure Island and Around the World in 80 Days. Since I didn't come from a bookish family, it really opened up new worlds for me.

[meena]

Yes, my teachers read aloud. It was a regular after-lunch occurrence through 4th grade. I clearly remember my 3rd grade teacher reading Island of the Blue Dolphins and Where the Red Fern Grows but I don't remember any other specific titles. After 4th grade I don't recall teachers reading full books aloud. They did read passages from literature. When I was in 9th grade, my teacher had us listen to Romeo and Juliet--played from a record! This was the '90s, so past the era of records. We all thought it was so lame (although it was my first exposure to Shakespeare so I secretly thought it was cool)!

 

We did student read alouds through high school. I hated that. At the time I didn't understand why. I now know I'm a visual learner, so reading aloud doesn't usually stick for me. Since I'm visually oriented I would try to read along, but I read much faster than most people read aloud. I always ended up out of sync with the read aloud.

 

As an English/Reading teacher for Grades 6-8, I only required students to read texts aloud if we were reading through a play or while doing individual assessments. Students would read their own works aloud in front of small groups or the entire class. I read novels aloud if our schedule allowed. They loved it.

[boscopup]

I don't remember teachers reading to us, though I know we had library story time, and I'm sure the teacher probably read to us in K.

 

I do remember round robin reading in class.

[teeniebeenie6]

Yes, my sixth Grade teacher did all the time and so did my 7th grade teacher. I went to a Christian school.

[Walking-Iris]

I started school in 1st grade, not Kindergarten. I have few memories of being read to in school. I sort of recall going to the library with the class and a school librarian reading aloud,1st/2nd grade. I can almost recall excerpts from those awful school reading texts being read aloud. 

 

In high school my English teachers would occasionally read aloud excerpts for discussion. I recall that in college as well.

 

But overwhelmingly the trend was silent reading or reading independently for homework,usually from a textbook. I recall having to write and present book reports, and usually those were free choice reading.  There was also quite a bit of being called on to read something. 

 

This is why I read aloud today.  It's a good experience I have very little to no childhood experience with. My mother didn't read aloud very often either. 

[MinivanMom]

My elementary school teachers read aloud to us for 30-45 min every afternoon following our (1 hr long) lunch recess. I don't know if it was a school-wide policy, but all my teachers did it.  I remember my 5th grade teacher reading us Summer of the Monkeys, Where the Red Fern Grows, and The Hobbit. None of my junior high teachers read aloud, but my teacher for 9th grade Honors English read The Little Prince aloud to us at the beginning of the year and did all the voices. 

 

All of my junior high & high school English teachers had us read plays aloud as a class. I remember reading Romeo and Juliet in 9th H Eng and reading Antigone aloud in 10th H Engl.

[Guest]

I vividly remember my 4th grade teacher reading to us, after lunch with the lights turned low. That was my favorite year of elementary school. I don't remember any teacher reading aloud after that until I sat in on a greek mythology/english class in 10th grade. I absolutely LOVED that teacher and can still hear his voice. Both of the teachers that read aloud so memorably made huge impacts on my life. (Sorry, nostalgic tangent there!)

[Space station]

Yes, I remember my English teacher reading to us as late as ninth grade. I loved that teacher! She also organized field trips to the university to see foreign films, and I thought she was the coolest teacher ever. She disappeared mid year and the rest of the year we had a student teacher. I still wonder what happened to her...but I digress. I seem to remember that my teachers read to us if we got through all our other work, so it was an incentive for the class to stay focused so that we could hear the next chapter in the book. :)

[FloridaLisa]

Yes, up through 5th grade.  Truly, some of the clearest and loveliest memories of elementary school. I can still see one teacher reading Island of the Blue Dolphins to us.  

 

Lisa

 

ETA: Interesting to read how many remember that book being read!  

 

 

[bakpak]

Definitely my teachers and librarians read to us K-6th. After that we read out loud Round-robin through 12th, but the teacher's didn't too often.

[Harriet Vane]

When you were a child in school, did your teachers read aloud to you in class? At what grade did it stop?

When you were a child in school, were the students required to/allowed to read aloud to the class? At what grade did it stop?

 

Yes. My kindergarten teacher did. My second grade teacher had a wonderful circle time at the end of the day that included stories as well as discussion topics. My fifth grade teacher was awful in so many ways, yet she read aloud to us most days after lunch, and I really enjoyed that.

 

My sixth grade teacher was a gem in more ways than one. He read to us a ton. I remember especially that he read us, "Follow My Leader." May God bless him for his many kindnesses.

 

I had a junior high lit teacher who sometimes read portions of our lit selections aloud. In high school, both of my (incredible) lit teachers also read aloud from time to time. They did this as part of teaching us about those particular pieces of literature.

 

When I was a child, yes, students were required to read aloud in class. In first grade I remember it being part of learning to read. After that, in older grades, it was usually when the teacher asked for a volunteer to read a paragraph of social studies or some such.

[lewelma]

My 9th grade teacher read Poe.  She turned all the lights out and used a flashlight to highlight her face.  She was very dark-skinned which made her eyes appear distinctly white, and she used this to her advantage.  She did a super spooky Fall of the House of Ushers! 

 

One of my best memories from high school.

 

Ruth in NZ

[lmrich]

The food ones did. Once in fourth grade, my teacher was going to finish My Side of the Mountain later in the day. I started feeling sick and refused to tell Her because I wanted to her the end so badly. I ended up with a fever of 102 and all sweaty but I heard the end before she sent me home.

[LibraryLover]

Yes. All through the years, regularly, and even in high school. Poetry as well.

[ELaurie]

My third grade teacher was a Menonite, who read Bible stories to us after lunch. She gave me my first Bible, and I kept it until I went to college.

 

My fifth grade teacher read Caddie Woodlawn and Johnny Tremain to us.I still remember her crying at the end of the book.

 

I think sixth grade was the last year our teachers read to us, but my third and fifth grade teachers left a big impression.

[Maela]

In grades K-4, I remember sitting on the rug in the front of the room in front of the chalkboard and the special teacher's chair a lot. For read alouds and for each lesson (before we went back to our desks to work on a worksheet). I don't remember being read to in fifth grade. Maybe it happened and I've just blocked a good chunk of that time out as it wasn't a good year for me socially. I do remember being read to every day for fifteen minutes after lunch in sixth grade. My teacher was so amazing that year. I remember I loved those fifteen minutes more than any other time. I don't remember being read to again in class after that.

[LucyStoner]

I recall the teacher reading aloud in every grade through 5th. I recall needing to read aloud, either in small groups or the whole class, from like 3rd grade or so up. I don't recall doing either in 6th grade but that was in a different state. We read aloud a lot at my high school, even the teacher. I had one of those flat out amazing, inspiring, awesome high school English teachers and it was a small school so I had the same teacher all 4 years for English.

[srs]

I remember read alouds in first grade, but not beyond that.

[SierraNevada]

The only book I remember being read aloud (beyond picture books) was in 6th grade and the book was Little Britches. I still hear it in that teacher's voice when I read it.