interactive read aloud

one of my favorite parts of reading workshop is the interactive read aloud. right now we are in the middle of the great gilly hopkins by katherine paterson. it's about an ingeniously manipulative and racist foster child that gets sent to live with an unflappable "religious fanatic" and a "mentally retarded" boy. throw in a blind neighbor who loves william wordsworth, a hippy mom who strings her "sweet galadriel" along, an african-american teacher unwilling to give up on her (titular) student, and you've got a compelling, newbury award-winning novel. my class is completely captivated by it. and it's the perfect book to stimulate students' "thinking journeys."

that's why when i was asked to demonstrate the interactive read aloud at our staff meeting today, i chose to read it instead of a picture book. the book is an instant conversation-starter, a book that causes adults' and students' metacognitive voices to literally scream reactions out loud. as a matter of fact, when i read it in my class, that's usually what happens: students' metacognitive voices burst forth, spilling from their brains out of their mouths! it's pretty fun to hear...

but our staff was a different animal. so stoic. so expressionless. so silent. as i modeled my thinking journey aloud, their silence made me very uncomfortable and threw me off my game. i'm used to the give and take "on stage"--the reciprocation-- whether i'm performing with an instrument or a book. i got next to nothing. i was about to read more, then i thought i should cut my losses because it seemed i was boring everyone...

once i got back to my seat, i did get a few questions and comments about the book, not to mention some very nice emails afterward, but overall it wasn't what i expected. i felt intimidated and a bit silly for putting myself out there. it definitely made me appreciate my class all the more!