Read Aloud Chattanooga

Mural located in Brown Academy, Chattanooga, TN

Read Aloud Chattanooga

Read Aloud Chattanooga is a literacy program created by Bill Thurman. Based on research by Jim Trelease, author of The Read Aloud Handbook, Read Aloud's mission is to educate parents on the importance of reading aloud to children beginning in the womb. Parents that read to their children create a positive memory associated with words and books, thus encouraging the child to develop a love of reading. 

All over Chattanooga you will find schools, children's hospitals and church daycare facilities that have been touched by Read Aloud. Murals like the ones pictured throughout this blog brighten the hallways of these places, offering quotes related to reading. The murals, painted by muralist Gail Hinton, depict scenes that promote reading as a joyful experience. Rain gutter bookshelves can also be found, displaying children's books of all kinds, to entice children to pick up the books (read more about rain gutter bookshelves here.) These design techniques create an environment geared towards expressing how enjoyable reading can be.
      

Read Aloud mural in the gym at Brown Academy, Chattanooga, TN

I visited two facilities in Chattanooga on March 19, 2013, that have implemented Thurman's Read Aloud program. The first, Brown Academy, is a magnet school located in Chattanooga that has incorporated the fundamentals of Read Aloud into their school. The Read Aloud murals can be found on almost every hallway throughout the school, creating a visual statement that Brown believes in the Read Aloud program. During the visit Donna Sutton, secretary for Brown Academy, discussed the enthusiasm the school and the children that attend Brown have for the Read Aloud program. 

Brown Academy creates a love of reading in their students by taking away the pressures involved. When children are asked to read aloud to adults there is pressure to achieve perfection. The student worries that they will mispronounce words, not read fast or fluid enough, or that they will make other mistakes that will embarrass themselves (Thurman). By using therapy dogs and younger children as the audience, Brown Academy raises children's' confidence thus creating a more enjoyable experience. 

Brown Academy has partnered with the UTC daycare center located below the school, to allow students to read to babies and toddlers. Before students can participate they must show their teachers that they are ready to do so. Once the student has shown capability, they are permitted to read to the younger children in the daycare center. During my visit in March, I observed students participating in this program. As I watched the students skipping down the hall with their books in hand, I gained a sense of how excited they were to go read to the younger children. I watched three 2nd grade students read to 18 month old toddlers. When the students sat down on the floor to read, some of the toddlers came over to listen right away. Others joined the group on the carpet once the students started reading. Watching this interaction between the students and toddlers confirmed that all of the children benefited from the experience. While the older kids enhanced their literacy skills, the younger kids had a happy experience listening to the stories.

A child is both the teacher and the student when reading to a baby.

The second place I visited on this trip was First-Centenary United Methodist's Children's Enrichment Center, which provides childcare for children aged 6 weeks to 5 years old. Program Director Beverley Trobaugh led a walk through of the facility, highlighting the use of rain gutter bookshelves in every room. Bookshelves in the rooms for babies and toddlers were filled with books Bill Thurman calls "consumables". Thurman believes that small children build an acquaintance with books by using all of their senses to explore them, including chewing on a corner or two.

In each classroom at First-Centenary teachers and caregivers take time daily to read to the children. The rooms are painted in bright colors, with many books on display in the rain gutter bookshelves. The classrooms also have designated reading areas that have a cozy look and feel, to encourage a comfortable and pleasant experience. These reading nooks are equipped with pillows, blankets and some even have listening devices for books on tape. The way the classrooms are designed with reading being the focus shows that First-Centenary strongly believes in the Read Aloud message.

Bill Thurman and those working with the Read Aloud literacy program are champions for literacy (Trobaugh). Educating parents on the importance of reading aloud to their children from the start is a key to literary success. Thurman's passion for the ideas expressed through Read Aloud is captivating Chattanooga, touching the lives of countless numbers of families and children. Thurman has put research into action by creating a program that works hard to instill a love of reading in children.