Today I came across the article, “3 Fresh Approaches to Teaching Reading,” by Doug Lemov published on tes.com. Lemov presents Independent Reading, Students Reading Aloud, and Reading Aloud to Students as the three approaches. He describes the benefits of each approach and outlines limitations of each approach in isolation. In the end, Lemov suggests the importance of balance. Each approach offers a critical component to students development as readers and the full benefit is only achieved with a strategic and thoughtful balanced blend of each.
The use of fresh in the title is both sad and hopeful. It’s sad because when I began my teaching career this approach was common practice in classrooms and we moved so far away from balance during the NCLB-era. There is a generation of students who missed opportunities to curl up with a great book, listen to each other and their teacher read aloud on a daily basis. At the same time, it’s hopeful that these approaches are considered fresh again for the next generation of readers.