RUNNING HEAD: Read Aloud Performance

Interactive Read Aloud Performance

Katie Martin
CURR 611 Dr. Peck
SUNY Geneseo

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Interactive Read Aloud Performance

For my interactive read aloud performance, I chose I Need My Monster, written by

Amanda Noll and illustrated by Howard McWilliam. The goal of this activity is to engage all
students in the reading and create an equal partnership between the teacher, or the reader, and
the students, or the participants. Furthermore, this book is full of a number of interesting
descriptive words that describe the various monsters that Ethan, the main character, encounters
throughout the night. This fits in with Boushey and Mosers (2009) CAF strategy Tune In to
Interesting Words and would be helpful in expanding young readers vocabulary. With all of
the new words and funny dialogue, the students will be able to enjoy the language and find
words to use in their speaking and writing (Fountas & Pinnell, 2006). Through modeling the
strategy and using response cards to engage all students, the children should be able to
understand what they are reading and use interesting words from the story in the written
extension activity.
The Book
I Need My Monster is a story that would be suitable for a child before bedtime, but also
has a great deal of elements that make it great for a whole class read aloud. This is both the
author and the illustrators first picture book and it has one numerous picture book awards in
various states (Noll, 2009). It was published in 2009 and has since become very popular. The
book has a sort of dark humor, which is complemented by the detailed illustrations. Like DisneyPixars Monsters Inc., I Need My Monster allows children to see the more light-hearted side of
those monsters that lurk under our beds, while still using scary or gross words to describe the
action that takes place during the story.
Rationale for Choice

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I chose this text because I saw a teacher in one of my student teaching placements come
in and perform a read-aloud for my class of students. She made the book so fun that the kids
laughed and were so engaged. However, I intend to make the read aloud much more interactive
for the students. Throughout the read aloud, I will develop the skill of tune into interesting
words and use vocabulary in speaking and writing (Boushey & Moser, 2009). This book is
excellent for this skill because there is a great deal of descriptive vocabulary words such as
scrambled, crouched, ragged, sleekly, rasped, impressive, menacing, and quivered present in the
story that students will find intriguing. Fountas and Pinnell (2006) also identify the significance
of defin[ing] or highlight[ing] difficult or unusual words throughout the reading. In terms of
involving students in the book, there are a number of quirky characters that pop up throughout
the story and each of them as a unique personality. I would read this book aloud to a group of
second graders and show them how to tune in to the interesting words that would be helpful to
them as they work on making their writing pieces more interesting.
Activating Prior Knowledge
In order for students to be successful with this text, they would need to have some
knowledge that children can be scared of monsters under their bed. This will allow the students
to more richly understand and see the humor in the story. Some of the descriptive words might
be new to them, but only enhance the story; it is not necessary for them to understand them all.
Plus, that is the focus of the lesson, so it makes sense that the students would not know the
meaning of all the interesting words found in the text. I Need My Monster is socially and
developmentally appropriate and meets the students interests and the selection was previewed
and practiced by me (Fisher, Flood, Lapp, & Frey, 2004).

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To activate prior knowledge and see what they already know, I would ask the students if
any of them have ever thought there was a monster under their bed. This would allow me to
gauge what experience they have with the idea of monsters and their attitudes toward them. I
would then ask the students to talk to a partner and tell them some words they would use to
describe a monster. I will ask some of the students to share out with the rest of the group. I would
ask the students to draw a picture of a scary monster and write down some of the words they
would use to describe it. They would share these pictures with a partner. After this activity, I
would tell the students that throughout the reading, I want them to listen for particularly
interesting words, as we will be using them later in our writing. This sets a clear purpose for why
we are reading this specific book (Fisher et al., 2004). In order to help them build on what they
know, I would tell the students that this book might just change their feelings toward monsters
under the bed.
During the Reading
Engaging All Students
If I use an expressive voice, especially with the funny dialogue and interesting characters,
and read with fluency, students will be engaged and want to hear what happens next. I will
engage all students in the story by giving them response cards so that they can actively
participate in the story as I read it, without it being too disruptive (Fisher et al., 2004). While I
am reading, when we are introduced to a new monster, I will ask the students to hold up a card
that they think describes the monster. In addition to this expectation, students will listen
respectfully to the story and be ready to engage with a partner when I ask questions. For
materials, I will need response cards for each students (Figure 1), a blank sheet of paper for
students to draw their monster at the beginning of the lesson, a word collector for students to

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write down the words following the read-aloud (Figure 2), a planning page (Figure 3), writing
paper (Figure 4) and drawing paper (Figure 5) for students to write their paragraph and draw the
picture of their monster during the extension activity.
Pauses and Questions
During the reading, in order to model how to Tune In to Interesting Words, when I come
to the words ragged and scrabbling (Noll, 2009, p. 4), I would pause and say, Did you hear
the word I read? I love that word! (Boushey & Mosher, 2009, p. 37) and then to add a more
appropriate response to the types of words I would continue by saying, It sounds creepy and
really helps me know what Ethans monster is like! Periodically throughout the reading, I will
pause and show the students that I am again tuning in to more interesting words and will
occasionally ask the students if they tuned in to any interesting words when I am done reading a
page. I will do this a few times during the reading, but not after every page, as this will disrupt
the flow of the story.
In addition to simply acknowledging the interesting words we come across, I will also
ask the students to use the sentences around the word to see if we can determine what the
meaning of the word is (Boushey & Mosher, 2009). For example, on page 10 when we come to
the word inspection, I will ask the students if they can determine the meaning of the word. I
will re-read the paragraph and have the students turn and talk to their partner about what they
think it means. When a student shares a definition, we will see if it fits with the rest of the words.
A similar process will be carried out for other words that will extend the students vocabulary
such as sleekly, rasped, peered, impressive, menacing, scruffy, and unfurled. At the end of the
reading, before we shift into the reader response, I would ask, who thinks you can challenge

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yourself to use these words in your writing? (Boushey & Mosher, 2009, p. 103). The students
will be using these words in their writing in the extension activity.
In order to supplement paying attention to the words, I will ask a few questions for
students to think within, about, and beyond the text (Fountas & Pinnell, 2006). For example,
when Ethan discovers that Gabe, his normal monster, is gone (Noll, 2009, p. 2), I will ask, how
do you think Ethan feels? It would also be interesting to see if the children find it strange that
Ethan actually misses his monster when he is not there for the night, rather than being relieved
that he has a night of peace.
Reader Response
In order to extend students learning, solidify use of interesting words, and engage
students in the key ideas of the lesson, we would together list some of the interesting words we
tuned into throughout the story on the word collector. If possible, we will add additional words to
the story. Then, students would have the opportunity to create their own monster. First, the
students will use the planning page to answer a variety of questions to determine what their
monster looks and acts like. From there, students will use the interesting words as well as the
answers to their questions to generate a paragraph that details their monster. Following the
paragraph writing, students will use their descriptions to make a picture of their monster.
Another possible extension would be for students to read their paragraph aloud to the class and
then students are to guess which picture matches the description. Through these extension
activities, the students will use the new and interesting words that we tuned in to in their writing.

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References

Boushey, G. & Moser, J. (2009). The CAF book: Engaging all students in daily literary
assessment and instruction. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Fisher, D., Flood, J., Lapp, D., & Frey, N. (2004). Interactive read-alouds: Is there a common set
of implementation practices? International Reading Association, 8-17. doi:
10.1598/RT.58.11
Fountas, I. & Pinnell G.S. (2006). Teaching for comprehending and fluency: Thinking, talking,
and writing about reading, K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Noll, A. (2009). I need my monster. Brooklyn: Flashlight Press.

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Figure 1

BREATHY

SLEEK

SLIMY

SCRUFFY

MENANCING

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Figure 2

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Figure 3

MY MONSTER
Planning Page
Answer the following questions about your monster. Dont
forget to use descriptive words we learned from the story!
What is your monsters name? _____________________________
How old is your monster? _________________________________
What color is your monster? ______________________________
How big/little is your monster? ____________________________
How many arms does your monster have? ____________________
How many legs does your monster have? _____________________
What does your monster like to eat? ________________________
_____________________________________________________
What does your monster like to drink? ______________________
Where does your monster live? ____________________________
What kind of hair does your monster have? ___________________
Does your monster have fur/scales/skin? ____________________
Whats your monsters favorite thing to do that is scary? _________
_____________________________________________________

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Figure 4

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Figure 5

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