This op-ed in the NY Times caught my eye just now. It’s all about how we’ve lost the art of reading out loud. Most of my classroom persona is a crustier version of my real self- I’ve always been theatric and sarcastic, but at school I also police gum chewing. I have to admit that the pleasure I take in reading out loud to my students is one thing that I feel sheepish about.
I’ve always loved reading out loud and being read to – who doesn’t? It’s why I listen so obsessively to the radio. In college a bunch of my friends had a kid’s radio show where we acted out folk tales – it was probably ten times more fun to put together than it was to hear, I’m sure. All of my art projects are executed while listening to This American Life. I just love listening to stories, much more than watching them. Even when I watch TV shows or movies online, I generally have another window open and play a repetitive game at the same time.
All this to say that I love reading out loud to the kids. I feel guilty because I should be pushing them more to practice reading out loud themselves so that they don’t sound like affect-less robots. And while I have no qualms in forcing them to listen to opera, I worry all the time that I’m the only one having fun when I read. Not only that- when they do read out loud, I save the good scenes for myself. It gets painful to read for all classes – I’ve got six – and when we’re in the middle of a novel I usually lose my voice for a day or two.
I’m so good at it that by the fifth class I can modulate the pitch and dynamics of my voice (high, fast and loud just before an important part- then slower, lower and softer for Dramatic Effect) while only glancing at the page every two sentences or so. This while using my facial expression to control the class. I can tell someone to spit out their gum, give someone else permission to go to the bathroom and admonish a third for not paying attention with my eyebrows while not missing a beat.
So there it is – I take an inordinate amount of pride in my reading -out – loud skills, and am probably forcing them to sit through something they’d much rather do themselves.
Then again, it does make them laugh.
What are you reading to them now?
Charming.
I’d love to be in your class. Perhaps you can read me/us/people some stories when you come to Boston next? Which is when, by the way? 
As with everything I come across on the Internet, I immediately put this post in a deaf person’s perspective.
When hearing people do pretend voices, deaf people only see the expressions on their faces, which is why I can’t think of Dr. Seuss without laughing at memories of elementary school.
You’re a rock star!
You like to do the voice?
lol, I’m sure your students LOVE you doing the voices!
My 2nd grade teacher read us BOXCAR CHILDREN, and my memory of that story is more vivid than is my memory almost any of the books I’ve read with my eyes in the last [oh, a substantial number of] decades. A pitcher of cold mild the boxcar children kept cold in a stream near their boxcar home. I loved that story as much as I loved math, by some miracle. And I too would like to know what you’ve been reading to your classes.