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How to Read Aloud for Drawing Conclusions

Using the right reading style, while teaching students to draw their own conclusions from a story, allows you to direct your student’s attention to specific clues and information in a story. The process of drawing effective conclusions begins with the student’s ability to identify important clues in a story, analyze these clues for meaning and make a decision about what these clues can mean. While teaching students to draw conclusions can challenge you as a reading teacher, it is an important evaluation tool your students will use later in their academic pursuits.

Instructions

- 1
  Select a passage to read, which is short enough to keep students interested, while providing enough clues for students to draw an effective conclusion. Look for short stories, with vocabulary appropriate to the age level of the students. Scan the story, making sure it has a few specific clues which lead up to a larger conclusion.
- 2
  Make a note of each clue, as you read the book to yourself before presenting it to the class. Note each clue by either making a mark in the book or writing the page number and section on a separate piece of paper you can keep with you as you read to the class. Include both the real clues, and the red herring clues given in the text.
- 3
  Note the final clue by determining when the story begins to answer the clues for the reader. Mark this section, either in the story or on your separate paper, as the point where you intend to stop reading to your class.
- 4
  Instruct your students to write down the clues, or facts, as they hear them in the story. Make sure each student has a separate piece of paper and an pencil to write down the clues as they hear them. Explain that they only need to write down the specific facts about each clue, not write down the entire sentence as they hear it, such as writing down that a character finds a footprint outside of a window, instead of copying the entire sentence as you read.
- 5
  Read the story aloud, slowing your voice notably every time you reach one of the clues you marked. Pause for a moment after each clue, giving your students time to write down the clue before you continue.
- 6
  Stop reading after you reach the final clue, giving your students time to consider each clue and draw their own conclusions about the meanings of all clues they wrote down. Discuss what the clues could mean with your students, allowing them to point out the clues they found and draw a conclusion about what each could mean.
- 7
  Instruct your class to write down their final conclusions, before finishing the story aloud. Once you finish, discuss their conclusions and determine how close they were to predicting the outcome of the story.

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