Reading Aloud in Every Classroom: How the teacher's voice opens up texts for everyone
Reading Aloud in Every Classroom offers a refreshingly simple approach: the power of the teacher’s voice.
Grounded in cognitive science and real-world classroom experience, this book shows why reading aloud isn’t just for younger children – it is a vital, high-status strategy for all ages. By doing the heavy lifting of decoding, the teacher’s voice frees up pupils to focus on deep conceptual understanding.
Inside, you will learn how to:
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level the intellectual playing field for struggling readers
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master the four vocal levers of pace, pause, pitch and projection
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turn shared reading into collaborative dialogue and purposeful writing
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lead a workload-friendly, whole-school rollout.
Discover how a return to reading aloud can reduce your workload, command attention and open up challenging texts for everyone.
Buy individual copies here or contact me for discount on bulk school orders.
Book a Coffee Call to discuss INSET or whole school training based on this framework.
Meghan Cox Gurdon
It is such a gift to children when a teacher takes the time to lift a text off the page and turn it into spoken language. Classroom reading means that each student, whatever their own ability, gets to enjoy the same glorious, liberating access to words and story. Steve Willshaw has captured the philosophical whys and practical hows of group read-alouds to make an unassailable case for reading out loud in every classroom at every school – and at every age level.
Author of The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction
Teresa Cremin CBE
This invaluable text illuminates the professional craft of reading aloud effectively. Examining both theory and practice, it highlights the potential of read aloud to enhance the depth of young people’s understanding, enrich their vocabularies and build relational connections. Do yourself a favour and read on…
Professor of Education (Literacy) at the Open University
Carol Atherton
At a time when there is so much concern over young people’s engagement in reading, and when fewer and fewer children are being read to at home, reading aloud offers enormous benefits – emotional, cultural and educational. Steve Willshaw’s excellent book is a must for all school leaders and for those involved in education policy more widely, but it also deserves to be read by those who will be at the forefront of reading aloud: the classroom teachers who use this important strategy in their lessons every day, perhaps without recognising just how important it is.
Author of Reading Lessons: The Books We Read at School, the Conversations They Spark and Why They Matter.
Publications by Steve Willshaw
Throughout my career I have written articles and reviews for a number of journals and publications. I co-wrote with Colin Harrison a chapter in Understanding Reading Development (2004). I was an Associate Coordinator for Chalkface, putting together their best selling pack, Detention Tasks to Improve Behaviour. I have also written blogs for York Notes, was Head of English for schoolsnet.com and advised Longman on a range of publications.
As well as the above, I have also worked with young writers to publish their work, as shown below.
