At the high school level? I wouldn’t at all. They should all be literate.

In my 12th grade English class, there were times my teacher would read aloud the entire period, or show a movie to help us understand the work, or hold a book discussion. As long as you don’t do it on a regular basis (they’ll get bored of this after a few classes), and as long as you tell the story well, you could do it for the entire period.

My teacher did this while we were studying Shakespeare, and it helped even the kids who practically slept through class to understand it. Honestly, other than an AP class that I loved, his is the only class I remember from that year.

Many children have a hard time transitioning from pre-k to kindergarten.It is much more structured than when I went to school. Most schools have eliminated the need for naps and the children don’t get to play as much. It is required that the teachers begin many types of lessons such as math and reading that can be intimidating to a child that may not understand the concepts. They also have to sit for longer periods of time. It is a good thing that you are getting feedback now so you and the school can intervene and help your son. Your son sounds gifted but may have ADHD. You need to speak with your pediatrician and see if you can have an independent test done on him. Once you get your results back from the independent testing then you will know where to go for him. He may also need to go through testing at the school. You need to set it up now so this won’t be a continuing problem throughout school. If the doctor can find out that he has a learning disability on top of ADHD, he can have an IEP done(at school) that can accommodate him and his lessons as well as behavior modifications. They may be able to change up his schedule so he can enhance his reading skills with more computer software as well as a more advanced set of books. The teachers can also watch him to see what may trigger the behaviors and know when to nip it in the bud before it starts. Please understand that sometimes memorizing school rules aren’t enough, especially if your son may not comprehend what those rules are. You may need to teach him in a different way. Above all, try not to get frustrated and educate yourself about ADHD and learning disabilities in gifted children. Good luck with everything! Lori

If you want to get through the book quickly, you can summarize whole sections and just read the text that connects to the teaching objective. You don’t have to read all of Hamlet if all you want to teach is iambic pentameter. Focus on what made you choose this book.

I assume you are reading to them from a book above their instructional level. You should have a specific objective for each section you read aloud. Is it connected to the text they are reading themselves? Most high school teachers I know don’t have time for this every day, but it can be a good five minute anticipatory set to what you’re headed for in the lesson. Everyone loves to be read to and if you can keep them in suspense and make share your wonder at the writer’s craft, that’s magic. It can get butts in the seats, and motivate them to perform for you.

If it is a play or something, assign parts to students in the class and change parts frequently; this should make it less boring

My teacher read to us when I was in 10th grade. She would read the entire period. We didn’t have any problems with it. If the book is tough then try reading for half the period.

Is the propose of the book to get through it as quickly as possible?

I try to keep to less than 15 minutes…