Objective: Students at all reading levels will improve oral reading fluency and increase reading confidence with choral reading -- reading aloud together in a group.

Model and Practice: a) Create groups that take into account both reading comprehension and reading fluency to ensure that students are comfortably developing and everyone is participating. As such, choral reading might be best in small groups rather than whole class. b) Remind students they need to read at the group pace--the goal is for everyone to be reading together at a good, consistent pace that they can maintain over longer texts. c) Choral reading can be effective for students with weaker stamina. Encourage these students to read as much as they can, rest, and then jump back in when they can.

Teacher Takeaways: a) Teachers can read along to set the pace, or they might just listen so they can hear who might be struggling at certain points and then provide additional instruction as needed. Even for teachers, it is difficult to listen to students and read aloud at the same time. b) Note that choral reading is not the same as students taking turns reading aloud in a group (i.e. popcorn reading). Sequential reading is likely to make struggling readers nervous and they might spend their time preparing or being nervous for their turn and not fully participating.

OER Resource: Participatory & Partner Read-alouds (Digital Promise Learner Variability Project)