Reread text

If you see readers who . . .

• choose books that are too difficult, causing them to spend all their energy on decoding words, with little left for fluent reading.
• read choppily and can't remember what they read.

When beginning readers reread the same text over and over, they gain control of the words and enhance their understanding of the text. Early readers change from rereading to make sense of the material to rereading paragraphs to practice fluency.

You have to be reading from a good-fit book. And you must stop frequently to reread if you are not reading smoothly. The more you practice, the more fluently you will read.

Use the Fluency Development Lessons by Timothy V. Rasinski (2010) to practice rereading to gain fluency and ultimately to understand the text.

Model this with a shared text, such as a short poem.

1. Read the poem fluently, with expression.
2. Reread the poem, using a variety of other voices.
3. Chorally read the poem as a class a few times with a variety of voices.
4. Pair up students and have them read the poem three times, with the listener being supportive.
5. Have them reverse roles, so that the listener becomes the reader.

Suggested language:

• Which passage did you practice yesterday to increase your fluency? Will you read it for me?
• Let's try this together; show me the passage you are practicing and let me hear you read it.
• Do you think you are becoming more fluent? How do you know?

Possible ways to differentiate instruction:

• Having readers reread texts with a partner gives them an audience and purpose for practicing.
• Send home texts with students to practice rereading at home.
• Fluency is only one aspect of reading, and this rereading practice should always be just a small part of the overall reading that students are doing.
• Readers can reread by themselves or with a partner and use any good-fit book they are reading.

Reconsider materials, setting, instruction, and cognitive processes.

These strategies may provide support before, during, and after teaching this strategy:

• Adjust and Apply Different Reading Rates to Match Text
• Use Punctuation to Enhance Phrasing and Prosody
• Read Text That Is a Good Fit