The Surprising Value Of Taking Turns Reading

It has long been the accepted wisdom that reading to your child is beneficial. And, of course, having the children read is also beneficial. It turns out that when these two activities are combined, the benefits aren’t just added, they’re multiplied.

Here’s how it works:

You take turns reading to each other. It can be a parent and child taking turns or two children taking turns. You can alternate every paragraph, every page, or every 5-minutes – whatever interval makes sense for their age and ability.

This helps kids learn to read because they’re hearing, seeing, and practicing, all in one session. They can observe someone sounding out big words. Parents can demonstrate using a finger to track where they are in a sentence. Parents can model voice modulation, pausing for commas, and other verbal subtleties that early readers often miss. And because the child will get a turn to read very soon, they’re more likely to try these techniques themselves.

Taking turns also creates natural opportunities for the three Ps of active reading: pausing to reflect, paraphrasing what you’ve just read, and predicting what comes next. So they don’t just become better at decoding the words; they also become better at understanding and engaging with the text.

Taking turns reading also has surprising benefits beyond reading comprehension.

It teaches kids to take turns. They learn to listen. They learn patience. These are some of the key micro-skills that form the foundation of executive function. When this practice is implemented in kindergarten classrooms, there are significant, long-term benefits: the kids do better in elementary school both academically and behaviorally.¹

And this practice isn’t just for beginning readers. Older kids who have dyslexia or who simply struggle with reading will also benefit from taking turns reading. It would be perfectly appropriate to use this method to support a middle schooler reading a science article or a high schooler reading a history textbook.

There’s no cut-off age, and it’s never too late to start.

¹ Bronson, Po and Ashley Merryman. NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children. Twelve, 2011.

New here?

Every other week, we publish a new article with helpful ideas and strategies for parents, educators, and students.

Enter your email below to subscribe.

Email Address*

The post The Surprising Value Of Taking Turns Reading appeared first on Northwest Educational Services.