Ever opened a picture book in your classroom only to have a student's enthusiastic but completely off-topic story derail your carefully planned lesson? Or perhaps you've watched the same three hands shoot up while the rest of your class sits silently? In this episode, I tackle one of the biggest challenges teachers face during interactive read alouds: managing student sharing without losing instructional focus or precious time.

I'll walk you through practical strategies for encouraging meaningful participation while keeping your read aloud on track. You'll discover how to set clear expectations, implement time-saving sharing structures, document student responses for assessment, and balance the needs of both your enthusiastic and hesitant sharers. Whether you're struggling with the "personal story spiral" or simply trying to make the most of your limited read aloud time, this episode offers actionable solutions you can implement in your very next lesson.

🌟 50 Picture Books Every Classroom Needs

Read the show notes

Join the Colorful Apple Book Club!
Check out the TpT Store.
Join our FREE Facebook Group all about read alouds.
Keep your teaching colorful,
Sara :)

The Colorful Apple
Full disclosure: Amazon links in my descriptions are usually affiliate links which means if you purchase through that link, I receive a very small percentage of the sale.