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Co-Read with Student(s) to Strengthen Fluency

Tags

ELA: Reading K-8 Strategy

Skills

Expressive Language

Co-Read with Student(s) to Strengthen Fluency

If your student is below grade level in reading fluency and you can work with them one-to-one or in a small leveled group

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Students will strengthen reading fluency and comprehension by engaging in co-reading activities where they both read out loud and listen to another person read while following along.
  2. Teacher Takeaways: By listening to another person read, as well as taking a turn reading themselves, students hear and practice important fluency skills. Below are various types of co-reading approaches to try:
  3. Alternate reading aloud: In a small group with comparable abilities, or 1:1 with an adult, students take turns reading. To ensure active listening, students can track along with their finger or mouth the words silently. In a group, be sure each child reads for a sufficient stretch (e.g. a few paragraphs or pages rather than a single sentence). This is NOT popcorn reading.
  4. Echo reading: The adult reads a sentence, or a few sentences, and then the child reads the same sentence. This will help with intonation and comprehension, though it is more tedious.
  5. Read poetry aloud: This strengthens oral fluency, including melody and phrasing. While children first focus on the rhythm of poetry, over time they attend to the actual words, fostering greater word knowledge and overall comprehension.
  6. Read a script or play: Students and adults can assume different roles and work on intonation. It also feels more authentic than reading aloud for the sake of reading aloud.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

When students read silently they might be making mistakes without realizing it. Mistakes become harder to correct the longer they go unnoticed. Students benefit from hearing proper fluent reading. Also, when students read aloud they can hear their own mistakes and adults can hear where they might be struggling. This enables emerging readers to get the support and corrections they need. The importance of fluency and comprehension as distinct skills that are critical for academic outcomes and the role of immediate feedback is well-researched. (See the National Reading Panel).

Best-suited for students with weaker: Attention, Inhibition, Long-term Memory, Short-Term Memory, Working Memory, Processing Speed (Source: Digital Promise Learner Variability Project)