Page 36 - ABCTE Study Guide_Neat

Each of the following classroom instructional activities is an approximation of lap reading. Each
promotes reading fluency through a sequence of modeling fluency, guiding student practice, and
providing multiple opportunities for independent practice.

A. Shared reading from big books is an efficient method for modeling fluent reading to

a group of students. With students within close proximity—closer to the teacher than
when they are in the traditional semicircle for large-group activities—the teacher reads
from a very large, illustrated, age-appropriate book with text large enough to be read
by the farthest student. As the teacher reads, he or she points to the corresponding
words so that all students can follow along silently. It is important to remember that the
teacher is modeling fluency, not reading in a stilted, word-by-word monotone. The
objective is for students eventually to be able to read the book for themselves, aloud,
with some semblance of fluency.

During subsequent readings, the students are invited to read along as the teacher or a
student points to the text. It may be prudent to spread these subsequent readings over
two or three contiguous days, depending on the length of the book. Some publishers
provide class sets of smaller versions of their big book titles, which is an easy way to let

students practice reading the same story with peer partners or by themselves, aloud.
Peer partnering is discussed in greater detail below.

B. Recorded reading models offer the possibility of repeated practice during student-
directed learning segments of the day, such as learning centers; plan-do-review; or
while waiting for classmates to complete other work. Students will be able to listen to
recorded models of a book being read while following along in a print version of the
book. Then students read aloud with the recorded model. Finally, students read the
book aloud without relying on the recorded model at all. The relative independence of
this approach requires some preparation. The teacher selects an age-appropriate
book—that is, one that students will be able to read while stumbling over no more than

one word out of every twenty—and reads it into a tape recorder. The teacher then sets
up a listening center comprised of one or more tape players, one or more sets of
headphones, and one or more copies of the book that was recorded. Finally, the
teacher provides direct instruction to the students on how to use the listening center,
modeling:
• how to use the tape players
• how to follow along with the print copies of the book
• the volume to use while reading aloud with the recording
• the volume to use while reading without tape accompaniment.

C. Reading with a mentor is most like lap reading, which is a big advantage. However,
it also requires that each student read a text several times over with guidance from a
fluent adult reader, which is not always possible. To get started, a teacher or other