- Reader's Theater is a fun way to practice fluency in a small or large group. According to Trisha Callella, author of Developing Reading Fluency, "reader's theater does not use any props, costumes, or materials other than the script, which allows the focus to stay on fluent and expressive reading. The 'actors' must tell the story using only their voices and rely on their tone of voice, expression, phrasing, and fluency to express the story." Give each student a copy of a play and assign parts. Allow the students a few days to practice the play at home and in school. Stress fluency, tone of voice and expression. It is very important that students read the play many times, because the more a student reads her part, the more comfortable she will be adding expression to her words. After a few days, have the students perform the play for another class or, if it is a small group, the rest of the class.
- Read arounds are an activity that is best for a small group. A read around is when each student in a group is given a few cards with a sentence that is already split into readable phrases. Each phrase connects to another student's phrase. One student will be given the first card, and that card will be clearly marked. Read arounds can be about any subject. For example, in her book, Trisha Callella has a read around about idioms. One student may be given a card that says, "I have / the first card. / Who has the meaning / of the idiom in / 'I am up to my ears / in paperwork!' " The spaces (slashes) between phrases are intentional to teach a student to say more than one word before he pauses. Another student will have the answer to that idiom, and will then read his answer out loud. Read around groups help to develop fluency, attention, teamwork, inflexion and sight word recognition.
- Trisha Callella suggests making flash cards with common phrases on them. Examples could be "in the beginning," "in a long time" or "the main reason why." Have students practice reading these flash cards as a whole phrase, without pausing in the middle. This activity will help the student memorize common phrases so that when he sees them in a book, he will automatically read them as one and not stop between words.
- Model with the student to teach him what appropriate phrasing sounds like. Lucy McCormick Calkins, author of The Art of Teaching Reading, suggests using the following phrases with your student. "1. Can you put it together, and say it quickly? 2. Say it as if you're talking. 3. Try it like this. (Model), or 4. Can you read it again and help me feel what is happening in the story?" Asking your student these questions and modeling appropriate fluency and inflexion will help him to understand what you are looking for when you ask him to read more fluently.
