Tier 1 strategies can be used during the reading block to help all students practice reading fluency. These strategies are listed in order from strategies that have the most teacher support to those providing the least teacher support.

Teacher Modeling

Teacher modeling involves the teacher reading text to students in an expressive manner. This allows students to hear reading in a fluent and expressive way. Teacher modeling can be a positive and effective fluency strategy. In addition, pre-recorded books can also be used as a teacher model.

Echo Reading

Echo reading is an intervention that is easy to implement. To echo read, a teacher reads a sentence to students and then students reread the same sentence.

Choral Reading

To choral read, a teacher first models the reading of a text. Students then chorally read the same part of the text, either as a group or with a partner. Choral reading provides a large level of support from the teacher. This reading technique helps students to practice fluency while also allowing them to focus on reading comprehension. As students choral read, a teacher can observe their reading. This process can be used with basal reader stories, short passages, commercially made resources, or poems.

Partner Reading

When engaging in partner reading, a struggling reader is matched with a strong reader. Each takes turns reading, with the less fluent partner signaling when he or she begins to struggle. The more fluent partner then takes over and begins to read again. As the students read, the more fluent partner corrects decoding errors as they occur. Partners are changed every four weeks.

Whisper Reading

Each student reads text in a quiet voice (not in unison).

Repeated Reading

Repeated reading is a technique that can be used to improve fluency (Wolf & Katzir-Cohen, 2001). Repeated reading involves reading one text continually until a predetermined reading level is achieved (Rasinski & Hoffman, 2003). As a student continues to read the same text, fluency rate should increase as word errors decrease. Repeated reading has been found to improve word recognition, accuracy, automaticity, prosody, and comprehension (Kuhn, 2005). Also, the repeated reading process has been found to help students successfully red subsequent new passages (Rasinski, 2010).

Wide Reading Fluency

Wide reading uses a large assortment of reading topics and materials to engage students in the reading process. When participating in wide reading, students read several books during the week with teacher support, rather than reading just one single text repeatedly. Wide reading exposes students to a broad range of reading materials, and can lead to improvement in prosody, word recognition and reading comprehension. Teacher support during wide reading can include modeling, expressive reading, echo reading, and choral reading.