Step 6: Oral Reading ~ 1/3+ of our total lesson time.

In a 50-minute lesson, we reserve at least 20 minutes for oral reading.  All of the reading in Structured Literacy is done out loud.

Our adolescent students have devised countless ways to get around decoding. We build up their skills so that they can read the words. Then we practice, practice, practice.

In the beginning of the intervention, all of our reading is from decodable texts. Once students are decoding unfamiliar words instead of guessing, we begin to incorporate "authentic" texts. 

• Each year we have a theme that guides our reading. See our Focus #2: Building Belonging page on this site for more details. Students in each section of Structured Literacy, from beginning (I) to advanced (IV), can engage in learning about our topics at various levels commensurate with their decoding abilities.

Our Echo, Choral, and Paired Reading Routines

"Echo Reading" and our "Read, Re-read, and Read Again" Routine

• I read it with expression, they reread it with expression. By paragraph, by sentence, by phrase if needed. We change up the routines. Maybe they read first, I reread it with expression and fluency, and they read it again. We call this the "read, reread, and read again" routine. I heard this from someone and cannot recall who to credit this phrase to. 

Choral Reading

• We all read it out loud together with expression, phrasing, smoothness, and pacing. We'll use this for short things like a completed dicatation page, word lists, sentences, and occasionally paragraphs.

"Paired Reading," "10-Words-Or-Less Routine," and/or "Partner Reading - Paragraph Shrinking" (Maki et al., 2020)

• Once a feeling of trust and community prevails in the class, we begin our paired reading. We will start discussing this in the first weeks of school. "Soon you'll get to do this in pairs" or "We'll be helping each other improve soon" or "When you're ready to ditch me, you get to do these routines with your friends." We prepare the students because reading out loud to a peer often carries with it a lot of fear and anxiety. So first, we build up a culture of togetherness and success. 

• Paired reading can be echo reading, choral reading, or simply taking turns and helping each other with 100% accuracy or fluency - whichever is the stated goal. It can also include "10 words or less" summaries. We circulate and support our students, and often leave them notes on what we noticed. We read these "notes" on the board and debrief what went well and what we can improve on together for paired reading next class. We slowly become a community of improvement focused on helping each other reach our goals.

• Paired reading increases the number of minutes our students get to practice actually reading. Model first and set a goal for the readings (ex: is it accuracy, expression, pacing, or retelling?). Setting a timer is helpful at first: "The expectation is that we continuously take turns reading for the next 9 minutes. Then we'll discuss as a class and continue reading. Ready, let's go." Because the classes are carefully grouped, any student can be paired with any other in the class.

• The room is alight with voices - we spread out, have cozy chairs and cushions, and our students get to work. 

• Combining paired reading with retelling a paragraph or short text in your own words using 10 words or less keeps things moving along and focused on language and comprehension (Maki et al., 2020). We practice until everyone is very comfortable with this strategy. We want this to be quick and not lead into tangential discussions that eat up our practice time for reading connected texts.

A typical year's progression in reading out loud in 4 stages:

Rubrics and Checklists for Oral Reading

On Fluency and Older Students: Key Findings