In the age of the Science of Reading, many schools have adopted various curricula aligned to explicitly teach the five pillars of reading instruction: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Research around reading instruction emphasizes The Reading Rope, a visual metaphor connecting language comprehension and word recognition in order to build a skilled reader. As schools begin to pilot or implement curricula aligned with this type of explicit teaching, it is crucial for administrators to emphasize the need for teachers to continue to bridge their passion, art, and craft of teaching with the technicalities of the “science” of literacy instruction. Most curriculums on the market are scripted, containing step-by-step directions on how to teach the lesson. At times, teachers can get lost in learning the new curriculum, which leads to losing their art of teacher voice. Below are some pros and cons from teachers in regards to their experiences with scripted curricula:
Pros
-Easy access for learning standards/targets
-Helpful for substitute or guest teachers
-Can be interdisciplinary with other content areas
-An outline of activities for interventions or enrichment
-Rigorous academic content
-High level of family engagement with topics
Cons
-Feeling of restriction… worried about veering off from the script
-Lack of teacher autonomy or creativity
-A lot of prior reading before implementing the lesson with students
-Can be overwhelming for first-year teachers
-A lot of time dedicated to one content area
Teacher feedback loops show there are many pros and cons. As more schools purchase these curricula, teachers must have an understanding of not only the why for the switch, but also the importance of the how in regards to the implementation process.
Teacher Engagement is Crucial
Research shows high teacher engagement has a positive effect on student engagement levels. As professional development teams roll out scripted curriculums, it is important to express the need for teachers to continue to teach as their authentic self. For example, the “script” of the curriculum is a roadmap, a guide, to aid in navigating the academic rigor of the content. Teachers must know they are still the trained expert, and they understand the needs of their students. A “tuned in” teacher will recognize when their students are disengaged. If an activity must be slightly altered to meet the students where they are, do it. This is the art of responsive teaching.
Think about your own experiences with professional development. The times where the speaker may have been monotone, or the session was primarily what we call a “sit and get”. Afterwards, or even during, you feel drained, and your brain has been essentially turned off. It is our job as teachers to use all of our craft to try not to let this happen to the students that sit before us each day.
Many teachers fear being handed a “script” and the mere thought of being asked to teach verbatim. While it is important to hit the necessary targets being addressed in the lesson, paraphrasing the language in your own words, or even language that your students may understand more effectively, is justifiable as long as the core target of the lesson is communicated.
So now what? How will you navigate the uncharted waters of a scripted curriculum?
Teacher Tips
–Embrace the unknown! You are a learner alongside your students –Be honest. Share with your students that this is new for you and that you will make mistakes… It’s okay! Students need to see adults modeling mistakes
–Read the manual the day prior to feel prepared
–Use different colored highlighters to designate words or items you will say verbatim and areas of the lesson that allow your creativity and art of teaching to shine
–Get connected. Find your colleagues that are in the same boat as you. Share your triumphs and tribulations
–Social media. Join curriculum support groups to get ideas
–Have fun! Continue to bring your best teacher flair
Administrator Tips
–Communicate. Share with your staff that you value their vulnerability in learning something new
–Validate. Express that you understand this will be a shift from current teaching practices
–You are learning, too. Alongside them you will help to provide the necessary supports to make this transition manageable
–Evaluations. Yes, they will still occur, however you recognize the manual will be in the teacher’s hands and mistakes will happen. It is natural and should be celebrated
In conclusion, remember this…
You are the expert, the trained professional, that best knows your students.
Whatever you do, do not lose sight of your unique art of being an authentic teacher.
]We must continue to advocate to bridge the art and science of scripted curricula.
We are stronger together.
You can do this.
Cameron Carter is currently a first grade teacher in Worthington, Ohio and an aspiring educational leader. He is pursuing his administrative licensure from The Ohio State University. Continue learning alongside Cameron viaLinkedIn.
Attempts to improve reading outcomes, especially among students who struggle to become proficient reading, have been in the reading spotlight in the past few years. The solution that is most commonly offered is a stronger emphasis on direct systematic phonics instruction (e.g. Sold a Story podcast, 2022). While we completely agree that phonics is essential to reading success, phonics itself is only one part of the equation to develop proficient readers.
The aim of phonics instruction is for readers to be able to decode words accurately. However, consider a reader who is able to decode words accurately but does so in an overly slow word-by-word manner without paying any attention to phrasing or expression. Clearly, we would not consider such readers proficient. Truly proficient readers not only decode words accurately, they also decode the words they read effortlessly and they read text with good phrasing.
Fluency in reading involves teaching students to read text not only accurately but also automatically or effortlessly. The significance of automatic word recognition is that readers no longer have to employ their cognitive resources to decode the words in text – the words are instantly decoded with minimal use of cognitive resources. Those freed up resources can then be employed to the more important task in reading – comprehension.
Fluency also involves reading with what linguists call prosody. We prefer to call it reading with expression and phrasing that reflects the meaning of the text. In order to read with prosody, readers need to be attending to the meaning of the text. Thus, prosodic reading aids in comprehension.
Studies by the National Assessment of Educational Progress have shown that large numbers of lower performing fourth grade readers tend to struggle in both automatic word recognition and prosodic reading. Clearly, then, developing fluency in these students, both automaticity and prosody, will significantly improve reading proficiency. Fluency instruction must be a part of any science-based reading curriculum.
The Tools for Developing Fluency
Modeling Fluent Reading. Young readers need to hear fluent reading in order to understand reading fluency. This means teachers, parents, and others should read to their children regularly and make sure that when they do they read with expression that marks fluent reading.
Wide Reading. Fluency in anything requires practice. Wide reading involves reading as much as possible. Recent research (Allington & McGill-Franzen, 2021) has shown that reading volume is associated with reading achievement.
Deep (Repeated) Reading. Fluency often requires the learner to practice a text (or other activity) multiple times in order to achieve fluency. Research (Rasinski, et al, 2011) has shown that repeatedly reading one text leads to improvements in new texts never before read. The key to repeated reading (i.e. rehearsal) is to make it authentic. If a text is meant to be performed for an audience it needs to be rehearsed- not for speed but for developing a sense of expression that an audience with find satisfying. Texts such as readers theater scripts, poetry, song lyrics, and other are meant to be read aloud for an audience and are thus excellent choices for repeated reading.
Assisted Reading. If a text is challenging having an assist or scaffold from a more fluent reader can lead to fluent reading. Assisted reading can take the form of choral reading as a group, paired reading where the partner is a more fluent reader, or reading while simultaneously listening to a prerecorded version of the text. Assisted reading (Rasinski, et al, 2011) has been shown to be a powerful tool for developing fluency and overall reading proficiency.
Phrased Reading. Less fluent readers / tend to read / in a word-by-word manner / that disrupts the natural language / of the text / and makes comprehension difficult. // Helping students / read in phrases / by marking a text / with phrase boundaries / can move students / to more natural and meaningful phrasing / that will improve reading fluency / and comprehension.//
These basic fluency development tools, by themselves, can move students toward higher levels of fluency and reading proficiency. However, if we can combine these tools into a single lesson format we get synergy – a situation where the benefit from a whole lesson combining these elements is greater than the sum of the parts alone. This is where the Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) comes in.
The Fluency Development Lesson
The FDL is a systematic, explicit, science-backed instructional practice that when implemented regularly closes reading gaps for all students, including multilingual learners (National Reading Panel, 2000; Kulich 2009; Zimmerman, et al., 2019). While the FDL supports all foundational reading skills, it targets fluency since reading difficulties often manifest in this area (White, et al., 2021), and its flexible design supports readers of all ages.
Implemented in 15-20 minutes, the FDL includes effective assisted reading practices like choral, echo, and partner reading. Initially, the FDL was created to be delivered in a single day using short, grade-level passages (Rasinski, 2010; Rasinski, Padak, Linek, & Sturtevant, 1994). Research suggests that scaffolded, repeated reading of a single text over the course of a week leads to gains in fluency and comprehension skills (Stahl & Heubach, 2005). So, we encourage students to read the same text throughout the school week with a variety of scaffolds. Additionally, you’ll find embedded activities to target all literacy skills, i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing. You’ll also notice activities for students to continue developing all foundational reading skills, such as phonemic awareness and phonics.
Planning
First, choose a grade-level text aligned to a reading scope and sequence, theme, or phonics skill. The FDL supports your core curriculum. While any genre will do, our favorite is poetry. Given its rich, rhythmic language, poetry is an obvious choice. This is particularly true for multilingual learners who benefit from the rhythm, rhyme, and repetition that poetry offers (Vardell, Hadaway, & Young, 2006).
Next, select the assisted reading practices needed to support your students, and plan to explicitly teach new vocabulary. Remember students will need more scaffolding earlier rather than later in the week. Prepare to discuss the poet’s purpose, word choice, and theme because comprehension is always the goal.
Include opportunities for students to read aloud for different audiences, e.g., principal, custodian, etc., and include a written response activity. Reading and writing are synergistic, so be sure students write about the poem and share their responses. This experience helps develop the necessary dialogic communication skills students need and will use.
Finally, the FDL supports home-school partnerships. Students can read their weekly poems to someone at home. Consider hosting classroom poetry parties and invite families to listen to students read their favorite poems.
Implementation
Monday: Present the new poem.Model fluent reading. Discuss poet’s purpose, word choice, and style. Identify rhymes, antonyms, hyperbole, etc. Students chorally echo read.
Tuesday:Reread poem.Review components of fluency (rate, accuracy & prosody).Students chorally read poem.Small groups of students read different lines or stanzas.Students locate words with r-controlled vowels, consonant clusters, homonyms, etc.
Wednesday:Teacher and students chorally read.Students partner read and provide feedback.Students volunteer to read for class.Students complete word activities, such as a Word Ladder.
Thursday:Students chorally read and self-evaluate.Volunteers read for class.Students read poem for families.Students complete writing activity.
Friday:Students read poem with different emotions.Students perform for different school audiences.Teacher records mystery readers.
Conclusion
I (Lynne) implemented the FDL with my elementary students, and no other instructional practice proved to engage my students and advance their reading skills like the FDL. One year, 12 first graders out of 27 were performing below grade level based on general reading outcome measures in the fall. In addition, five of those students were multilingual learners. Due to limited bandwidth, not all 12 students qualified for Title 1 services. I (Lynne) knew I had to leverage evidence-based reading practices – core instruction had to be solid. Besides using the district’s curricular resources, which included an explicit phonics program, I (Lynne) implemented the FDL each day for 15 – 20 minutes. All 27 students were reading on or above grade level by the spring. The following year, none of the students qualified for Title 1 services (Kulich & Evanchan, 2007, 2008).
Pre and post reading data from my (Lynne’s) doctoral research (2009) with Karen children revealed the reading growth three students made during the summer and after-school sessions with the FDL. During this 9-week summer program for a total of 4½ hours a week, and the afterschool sessions from September through December for 1 hour a week, the multilingual learners made between two to three years of reading progress. In addition, their attitudes towards reading significantly improved.
Fluency instruction can be engaging, authentic, and effective all at the same time. The Fluency Development Lesson combines all the evidence-based tools for fluency instruction into a synergistic practice that closes reading gaps and promotes the joy of reading.
References (Lynne)
Allington, R.L., & McGill-Franzen, A.M. (2021). Reading Volume and Reading Achievement: A Review of Recent Research. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(S1), S231– S238. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.404
Kulich, L. S. (2009). The English reading development of Karen children using the Fluency Development Lesson in an intensive English language program: Three descriptive case studies (Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron).
Kulich, L. S., & Evanchan, G. (2007, November). The Fluency Factor: How did the fluency development lesson impact the literacy development of thirteen “at-risk” first grade readers? Paper presented at the Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the College Reading Association, Salt Lake City, UT.
Kulich, L. S., & Evanchan, G. (2008, November). The Final Fluency Factor: How did the fluency development lesson impact the literacy development of thirteen “at risk” first grade readers? Paper presented at the Fifty-First Annual Meeting of the College Reading Association, Sarasota, FL.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read. Report of the subgroups. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health.
Rasinski, T. V. (2010). The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition, fluency, and comprehension (2nd ed.). Scholastic.
Rasinski, T. V., Padak, N. D., Linek, W. L., & Sturtevant, E. (1994). Effects of fluency development on urban second-grade readers. Journal of Educational Research, 87, 158–165.
Rasinski, T. V., Reutzel, C. R., Chard, D. & Linan-Thompson, S. (2011). Reading Fluency. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, B. Moje, & P. Afflerbach E (Eds), Handbook of Reading Research, Volume IV (pp. 286-319). New York: Routledge.
Stahl, S., & Heubach, K. (2005). Fluency-oriented reading instruction. Journal of Literacy Research, 37, 25–60.
Vardell, S. M., Hadaway, N. L., & Young, T. A. (2006). Matching books and readers: Selecting literature for English learners. The Reading Teacher, 59(8), 734–741.
White, S., Sabatini, J., Park, B. J., Chen, J., Bernstein, J., and Li, M. (2021). The 2018 NAEP oral reading fluency study. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.
Zimmerman, B.S., Rasinski, T.V., Kruse, S.D., Was, C.A., Rawson, K.A., Dunlosky, J., & Nikbakht, E. (2019). Enhancing outcomes for struggling readers: Empirical analysis of the fluency development lesson, Reading Psychology,40(1), 70-94. DOI: 10.1080/02702711.2018.1555365
Are you searching for a quick-fix solution to improve reading scores? If so, I must disappoint you because I have nothing to offer. Improving reading scores, or any test scores for that matter, doesn’t involve silver bullets or magic tricks. Unfortunately, it’s common for school stakeholders to jump to conclusions about a school’s quality, teachers’ effectiveness, or even the superintendent’s leadership based solely on test scores from a single day. Let’s shift our focus towards practical strategies that can genuinely enhance reading skills and subsequently improve scores.
Let’s start by acknowledging a straightforward yet crucial principle: practice leads to improvement. However, practicing with purpose using research-backed strategies significantly enhances the likelihood of improvement. For students to excel in reading, they must engage in purposeful reading activities.
Here are some valuable tips and cautions to steer a successful reading program:
Rule #1: Read Aloud Sessions
Allocate five to ten minutes daily for read-aloud sessions, depending on class duration. This provides an opportunity to model reading, ask thought-provoking questions, and implement taught strategies effectively.
Reminder: Simply reading a favorite book throughout a class period, no matter how engaging the delivery, won’t necessarily enhance students’ reading skills.
Rule #2: Instructional Reading
Deliver purposeful reading instruction focused on applying strategies and skills to texts to improve students’ reading proficiency. State standards and extensive research can guide the selecting of specific strategies and skills necessary for better reading. It’s crucial to assess students’ lexile levels and tailor genre-focused instructional reading units accordingly to meet individual needs.
Reminder: Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach; instructional reading should cater to each student’s unique instructional needs. If the teacher reads aloud during this segment, students miss the opportunity to practice reading independently. Activities like popcorn reading serve as time fillers and don’t contribute to overall reading improvement.
Rule #3: Independent Reading
Encourage and promote independent reading throughout the school environment. This can include budgeting for books, organizing school-wide campaigns, and celebrating independent reading achievements. Foster a culture where students always carry an independent reading book related to topics they enjoy, thus boosting their motivation to read. Assign thirty minutes of independent reading as the primary homework task, and designate two days per week for in-school independent reading sessions, recognizing the value of classroom reading time.
Reminder: Focus on motivating students to read rather than solely holding them accountable or implementing punitive measures for lack of reading. Explore creative ways, such as monthly book talks, contracts, or logging completed books, to incentivize reading.
I urge a commitment to genuine reading experiences rather than mere reading programs focused on passages and questions or texts beyond students’ reading levels. Embrace research-based reading instruction to witness tangible improvements in students’ reading abilities. Encourage students to read at least three self-selected books monthly alongside instructional texts throughout the year, enhancing test scores.
As professionals, let’s reclaim proven methods backed by research. Ditch ineffective practices and prioritize reading quality literature. Reading educators should strive to master reading instruction, assessment, strategies, and necessary skills to nurture better readers. Let go of strategies that don’t yield results, avoiding being swayed by flashy programs prioritizing profit over education.
For more valuable insights on this topic, I recommend reading “Read Talk Write” by Laura!
I once asked a second-grade boy if Reader’s Theater made him a better reader, and he responded, “No, because it’s fun.” He was a reluctant reader, but he loved the interaction during rehearsal and entertaining his peers during the performance. So, I suppose he was a reluctant silent reader but loved reading aloud with his friends and classmates. You could tell he enjoyed it more than any other activity because he was always smiling when he rehearsed and performed.
Regardless of what this second grader thought, Reader’s Theater was helping him become a better reader, which is also true for many other students. Research says that Reader’s Theater is an excellent way to improve reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and confidence (Millin & Rinehart, 1999; Young et al., 2019). Improving these combined aspects of reading results in an increase in overall reading achievement. A recent meta-analysis found that Reader’s Theater has a large impact on students’ reading proficiency (Mastrothanasis et al., 2023). So, I encourage you to give it a try.
Reader’s Theater is essentially a group of students who dramatically read a text for an audience. All you need are some kids, a few scripts, and five to ten minutes per day. Although there are many ways to implement Readers Theater in your classroom, I will share a method that worked well for my second graders and me. Feel free to adapt the following to meet the needs of your students and unique teaching style.
Selecting Scripts reading skills I use a five-day format that helps students prepare for our weekly performances. Each day our rehearsals focus on different aspects of reading; we begin the week with decoding and end the week with fluent, expressive reading.
Before the week begins, I select three to six different scripts for the students to choose from. The number of scripts depends on your class size and the number of parts in each script. The scripts are usually based on popular novels, but I also include nonfiction, poetry, or speeches. In fact, I even use scripts from movies, such as A Christmas Story—the students really enjoy performing the “flagpole” scene.
While you can turn almost anything into a Reader’s Theater script, my website has over 200 free ready-to-download from www.thebestclass.org. Of course, once students become comfortable with Reader’s Theater, I encourage them to write their own scripts based on my read-alouds or books they’ve read. Teachers can also write scripts to match their students’ interests or topics in content areas. The key is to provide scripts that you think your students will love and enjoy performing.
Five-Day Format Teaching Reading Skills
On Monday, I read the scripts to my students, and they form groups based on their choice of script. At that time, I ask students to read the entire script and think about the overall meaning of the text.
On Tuesday, the students choose their parts. It is a little chaotic in the beginning of the year, but remember, Rock, Paper, Scissors solves everything. So, when your wonderful little people begin to argue over parts, break those hands out and try your luck at a best out of three matches.
After the students select and highlight their parts, we focus on decoding and word recognition accuracy; I make sure that students know all the sounds and words and that they can pronounce them accurately and automatically.
On Wednesday, we focus on expression—often referred to as prosody. The students practice reading expressively by calibrating their voice inflection, tone, volume, pitch and pauses for dramatic effect.
Students need a deep understanding of the script to render expressiveness that matches the author’s intended meaning. I offer assistance and also encourage the students to coach each other with the goal of producing appropriate prosody.
On Thursday, we have a practice performance. It is a time for any last-minute tweaks or suggestions from the teacher or peers. When students need additional assistance with their parts, I meet with them one-on-one and choose from a variety of interventions such as echo reading, repeated reading, or choral reading. The goal is to ensure that every student sounds great during the performance.
Once the students and I feel they are ready, we look forward to the last day of the five-day format: performance day. By this time, the students have engaged in daily rehearsals, which is an artful and authentic synonym for repeated reading.
Substantial research exists that promotes the method of repeated readings, and Reader’s Theater research acknowledges the power of practice but also includes a purpose—we believe that if you are going to read a text repeatedly, there better be a good reason. That reason is the performance.
On Friday, we perform. But first, it is important to secure an audience. You can invite parents, other classes, administrators, and other school staff, or take your show on the road!
Tips for Successful Reader’s Theater Teaching Reading Skills Here are a few recommendations that I’ve curated from experience.
Use challenging texts; they have plenty of support and time to rehearse.
Use challenging texts for another reason; I do not want students to memorize the texts; I want them to read their parts.
Select texts based on what your students will enjoy performing and will also engage the audience.
Incorporate daily activities related to decoding, vocabulary development, and expressive reading. I, along with Faida Stokes and Tim Rasinski, wrote an article for The Reading Teacher in 2017 titled “Reader’s Theater Plus Comprehension and Word Study,” which has daily activities beyond rehearsal that you can access and review.
Set a timer for rehearsals each day, allowing for at least two rehearsals.
Tell students there are no props or costumes. You don’t want a student to show up dressed like a farmer or an astronaut on Friday.
Find an audience. If you cannot, go to the front desk; someone is always there willing to attend.
Print extra scripts because students often lose them.
Some Interesting Results
There are many studies that suggest Reader’s Theater is an effective reading activity, but I’d like to share the results of one in particular. A study we conducted (Young et al., 2019) showed that Reader’s Theater had a profound impact on boys. The three pretest measures—decoding, word knowledge, and comprehension—revealed a gap in favor of the girls. By the end of the study, that gap had closed. We were shocked at these unexpected results but also excited to share that we found something that might help boost reading achievement among boys. An analysis of the survey revealed that most boys liked Reader’s Theater because of the interaction and humor and because it was a novel activity.
Conclusion Teaching Reading Skills Readers Theater is a lot of fun (my students and I can attest to that). But more importantly, it can improve many aspects of their reading, including reading fluency. Fluent readers do not have to focus on decoding as much and, therefore, can redirect their attention to reading comprehension, which is the main goal of reading.
So, download some scripts, prepare your little thespians, and integrate the science and art of reading instruction into your classroom.
References
Mastrothanasis, K., Maria Kladaki, M., Aphrodite Andreou, A. (2023). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Readers’ Theatre impact on the development of reading skills. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 4, 100243.
Millin, S. K., & Rinehart, S. D. (1999). Some of the benefits of readers theater participation for second‐grade title I students. Literacy Research and Instruction, 39(1), 71-88. Doi: 10.1080/19388079909558312
Young, C., Durham, P., Miller, M., Rasinski, T., & Lane, F. (2019). Improving reading comprehension with readers theater. Journal of Educational Research, 112(5), 615-626.
Young, C., Stokes, F., & Rasinski, T. (2017). Readers Theater plus comprehension and word study. Reading Teacher, 71(3), 351-355.
