2015
Strategies for Students
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What is Choral Reading?
Choral reading is a literacy technique that helps students build their fluency, self-confidence, and motivation in reading. During choral reading a student, or a group of students reads a passage together, with or without a teacher. Choral reading can be done individually, in small groups, or as a whole class. According to Reading Rockets (n.d.), there are three main reasons why choral reading is beneficial, and they include:
  • It provides a model of fluency
  • It improves sight word recognition
  • It allows practice and support
Reading Rockets also mentions that teachers need to make sure the passage that they choose for choral reading is at the student’s reading level. Therefore, the students fully comprehend what they are reading. Typically, when teachers choose choral reading passages the passages include some type of rhyme or rhythm. There are many different ways to do choral reading in a classroom, and here are some examples:
  • Groups of students take turns reading different pages
  • Everyone in the class reads the whole passage together
  • Boys read lines 1-3, and girls read lines 4-6
  • Teacher models how to read a sentence, then the students read that sentence together
According to Jennings, Caldwell, and Lerner (2014), “because students find choral reading enjoyable, they willingly practice the word recognition that helps them to give a polished performance” (p.213). If students enjoy choral reading they might have more motivation when they are reading, and this is very important for struggling readers and really any reader. Also, Jennings et al. mentions that "low-achieving readers enjoy this activity [choral reading] because it gives them the satisfaction of delivering a well-rehearsed, expressive rendition" (p. 213). Students who have difficulties with fluency can really benefit from choral reading, because it provides them with a model and practice.
Visual Representations
Picture
Above is an image of five really good books to choral read with younger students. These books include a nice rhythm or dialogue, and that is a necessary component in choral reading. In the "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You" books students will take turn reading different pages. In these books there is a lot of alliteration, rhyme, and repetition.
The video above is an example of how to do choral reading in a classroom with a small group. The video suggests that in order to have a successful choral read the passage should be at an appropriate reading level, it should contain rhythm or dialogue, and it should be relatively short. Each student should also have a copy of the text and track with their finger.
Picture
Here is an image of a teacher choral reading with a small group of students. Each student has their own copy of the text and they are pointing while they are reading. It is likely that in this image that the students are just reading together, not with the teacher.
Content Area Examples

Social Studies- To use coral reading in a social studies classroom, the content of the passage students are reading could be something that was written many years ago, for example. Students would chorally read similar to what they would do for a fictional text, but it would give the read more meaning because it could be about something that really happened. 

Science- One possible way to do choral reading in a science class is for students to be divided up into groups of 3 or 4. Each group is given a different poem about birds and then they need to choral read that poem together.
The group or partners need to then research about the bird poem they received. Students could then chorally read their poem once again to the class and share the research that they found.

Language Arts-
As mentioned before, for a language arts classroom, students read a passage or a poem together, or chorally. Students can read the entire passage together, or in parts. For younger elementary students the teacher could use the example of The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and students could switch off ever other line. Since most students are familiar with this rhyme and song, it will help students become even more fluent.

Want to learn more about how you can incorporate choral reading into different content areas?
Click on the links below to find out.


Social Studies
Science
Language Arts
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