Using parent reading workshops to enhance the amount and the quality of reading interactions with children

Learning to read is a main aspect of first grade curriculum. A first grade teacher looks at research and her experience reading aloud to children as the key in giving children more language skills, thus making learning to read easier. Using the expert literature on reading aloud and a parent questionnaire to determine need, she designed and implemented a parent reading workshop. This workshop gave reading information to parents that would help them model good techniques and build enthusiasm. A large focus of the workshop focused on dialogic questioning techniques to use with children while reading to start conversation and build comprehension. The researcher found in a follow-up questionnaire that hosting a parent workshop focusing on reading did increase the amount of reading time and quality of interactions parents were having with their children