CHORAL READING OR PARTNER READING

There are better alternatives to round-robin and popcorn reading: “Of the 30-odd studies and articles
I’ve consumed on the subject,” says Todd Finley, a professor of English education, “only one graduate
research paper claimed a benefit to round-robin reading or its variations.” It simply doesn’t benefit
students to have poor fluency skills and pronunciation modeled, and asking students to take turns
reading aloud in front of the whole class can stigmatize struggling readers.

Choral reading—when the teacher and class read a text aloud together—takes the spotlight off of
struggling readers while encouraging them to participate. Research suggests that it improves reading
fluency, expands vocabulary, and increases students’ confidence.

Partner reading is another low-stakes, research-backed strategy. A pair of students alternate reading a
text aloud, then taking the role of the listener. The listener asks probing questions to check that the
reader comprehends the text. Having the stronger reader go first benefits struggling readers because
they hear the difficult words before reading them aloud themselves. This form of peer monitoring and
questioning improves reading fluency, according to a 2007 study

Pairing students from fast learner to slow learner

to read together has academic and social and emotional benefits that flow both ways. The little kids see
greater reading fluency modeled and profit from the one-to-one attention of a mentoring relationship;
the upper elementary kids learn by answering questions and develop crucial skills like empathy and
patience. Additionally, for older kids who struggle with grade-level reading, the experience allows them
to access simpler texts without shame—all the while increasing their confidence by taking on a
leadership role.

Student pairs can meet at least once a month for 30 minutes. At first, let the younger students choose
the books to increase their engagement; later, have older students share their favorite reads. As the
younger kids’ skills develop, they can start reading too, instead of just listening.

MAKE EAR READING AVAILABLE TO YOUR CLASS

Ear reading, listening to an audiobook while reading, is a great approach—at least periodically—for all
students, but it has particular benefits for struggling readers and students with dyslexia. In a 2010 study,
students with dyslexia who listened to audiobooks showed significant gains in reading accuracy,
improved behavior and school performance, and greater motivation and school involvement. You can
get human-read audiobooks and textbooks from Learning Ally, a nonprofit focused on supporting K–12
struggling readers. OverDrive, Bookshare, and Audible also provide audiobooks.
Although ear reading is an effective strategy for supporting students with dyslexia, it doesn’t replace
explicit, step-by-step phonics-based instruction, also known as structured literacy, which remains one of
the most effective reading strategies for students with the condition. Structured literacy focuses on
teaching phonemic and phonological awareness, among other skills like encoding and comprehension.

TEACH ACADEMIC ENGLISH

A 2014 report from the Institute of Education Sciences looks at how teaching academic English—general
and domain-specific vocabulary for a subject area or a unit, for example—empowers students,
particularly English language learners (ELLs), to understand the content better. Acting out the words in a
skit, creating physical gestures for challenging words, and coupling challenging language with images are
some useful strategies for teaching vocabulary.

But students need more than vocabulary to become successful readers. Regular formative assessment is
important, especially in supporting ELLs, who now make up almost 10 percent of K–12 students in the
United States. In kindergarten and first grade, check in regularly to assess students’ understanding of the
alphabet and ability to sound out words. For second through fifth graders, look for their ability to read
accurately, with expression, and on pace. Walking around the room while students read in pairs can be
an easy way to assess students; you can ask pairs to discuss what they read to assess their
comprehension in real time.

GIVE STUDENTS CHOICE IN THE BOOKS THEY READ

Allowing students to choose what they read and offering choices that reflect their experiences increases
their engagement. A kid may have no desire to read The Boxcar Children but be eager to get her hands
on Hansel & Gretel & Zombies: A Graphic Novel once she gets home. Giving students choice doesn’t
mean lowering your expectations. Yes, kids may choose books that don’t challenge them, but you can
manage that. Bring in options that are rigorous and also meet their interests, or rotate between choice
books and whole-class reading.

When it comes to ensuring that your bookshelves are stocked with stories that will interest your
students, having a diverse classroom library matters. Asking your students what books they want to read
and what categories they are interested in is a good place to start, suggests Meredith Kimi Lewis, a K–5
program specialist for Seattle Public Schools.

HAVE STUDENTS READ THE SAME TEXT MULTIPLE TIMES, IN MULTIPLE MODALITIES
Fluency-oriented reading instruction (FORI)—when students read the same text multiple times over the
course of a week as a class, in pairs, and alone, for example—significantly improved word pronunciation
and reading comprehension for a diverse group of second graders, according to a 2010 study.

And at New York–based Concourse Village Elementary School, composed of a predominantly Latinx and
black student population in the poorest congressional district in the nation, a schoolwide, cross-
discipline reading approach that emphasizes repeated exposure to the same text has the school
outscoring the citywide average by as many as 40 points for the English state exam. Their five-step
reading strategy—one of several approaches in the school—also emphasizes repeated access to the
same text in different modalities. Students echo and choral read the same text every day over the span
of a week, and each day they focus on honing a different skill: identifying the main point, annotating,
identifying key details, analyzing the author’s craft, and drawing conclusions.

Monitoring comprehension

Students who are good at monitoring their comprehension know when they understand what they read
and when they do not. They have strategies to "fix" problems in their understanding as the problems
arise. Research shows that instruction, even in the early grades, can help students become better at
monitoring their comprehension.

Comprehension monitoring instruction teaches students to:

Be aware of what they do understand

Identify what they do not understand

Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension

Metacognition

Metacognition can be defined as "thinking about thinking." Good readers use metacognitive strategies
to think about and have control over their reading. Before reading, they might clarify their purpose for
reading and preview the text. During reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their
reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text and "fixing" any comprehension problems they have. After
reading, they check their understanding of what they read.

Students may use several comprehension monitoring strategies:

"I don't understand the second paragraph on page 76."

Identify what the difficulty is

"I don't get what the author means when she says, 'Arriving in America was a milestone in my
grandmother's life.'"

Restate the difficult sentence or passage in their own words

"Oh, so the author means that coming to America was a very important event in her grandmother's life."

Look back through the text

"The author talked about Mr. McBride in Chapter 2, but I don't remember much about him. Maybe if I
reread that chapter, I can figure out why he's acting this way now."

Look forward in the text for information that might help them to resolve the difficulty

"The text says, 'The groundwater may form a stream or pond or create a wetland. People can also bring
groundwater to the surface.' Hmm, I don't understand how people can do that… Oh, the next section is
called 'Wells.' I'll read this section to see if it tells how they do it."

Graphic and semantic organizers

Graphic organizers illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text or using diagrams.
Graphic organizers are known by different names, such as maps, webs, graphs, charts, frames, or
clusters.

Regardless of the label, graphic organizers can help readers focus on concepts and how they are related
to other concepts. Graphic organizers help students read and understand textbooks and picture books.

Graphic organizers can:

Provide students with tools they can use to examine and show relationships in a text

Help students write well-organized summaries of a text

Here are some examples of graphic organizers:

Venn-Diagrams (29K PDF)*

Used to compare or contrast information from two sources. For example, comparing two Dr. Seuss
books.

Storyboard/Chain of Events (29K PDF)*

Used to order or sequence events within a text. For example, listing the steps for brushing your teeth.

Story Map (19K PDF)*

Used to chart the story structure. These can be organized into fiction and nonfiction text structures. For
example, defining characters, setting, events, problem, resolution in a fiction story; however in a
nonfiction story, main idea and details would be identified.

Cause/Effect (13K PDF)*

Used to illustrate the cause and effects told within a text. For example, staying in the sun too long may
lead to a painful sunburn.

Answering questions

Questions can be effective because they:

Give students a purpose for reading

Focus students' attention on what they are to learn

Help students to think actively as they read

Help students to review content and relate what they have learned to what they already know

The Question-Answer Relationship strategy (QAR) encourages students to learn how to answer
questions better. Students are asked to indicate whether the information they used to answer questions
about the text was textually explicit information (information that was directly stated in the text),
textually implicit information (information that was implied in the text), or information entirely from the
student's own background knowledge.

There are four different types of questions:

"Right There"

Questions found right in the text that ask students to find the one right answer located in one place as a
word or a sentence in the passage.

Example: Who is Frog's friend? Answer: Toad

"Think and Search"

Questions based on the recall of facts that can be found directly in the text. Answers are typically found
in more than one place, thus requiring students to "think" and "search" through the passage to find the
answer.

Example: Why was Frog sad? Answer: His friend was leaving.

"Author and You"

Questions require students to use what they already know, with what they have learned from reading
the text. Students must understand the text and relate it to their prior knowledge before answering the
question.
Example: How do think Frog felt when he found Toad? Answer: I think that Frog felt happy because he
had not seen Toad in a long time. I feel happy when I get to see my friend who lives far away.

"On Your Own"

Questions are answered based on a student's prior knowledge and experiences. Reading the text may
not be helpful to them when answering this type of question.

Example: How would you feel if your best friend moved away? Answer: I would feel very sad if my best
friend moved away because I would miss her.

Generating questions

By generating questions, students become aware of whether they can answer the questions and if they
understand what they are reading. Students learn to ask themselves questions that require them to
combine information from different segments of text. For example, students can be taught to ask main
idea questions that relate to important information in a text.

Recognizing story structure

In story structure instruction, students learn to identify the categories of content (characters, setting,
events, problem, resolution). Often, students learn to recognize story structure through the use of story
maps. Instruction in story structure improves students' comprehension.

Direct explanation

The teacher explains to students why the strategy helps comprehension and when to apply the strategy.

Modeling

The teacher models, or demonstrates, how to apply the strategy, usually by "thinking aloud" while
reading the text that the students are using.

Guided practice

The teacher guides and assists students as they learn how and when to apply the strategy.

Application
The teacher helps students practice the strategy until they can apply it independently