Comprehension

I received the magazine "Reading Today" by the International Reading Association and it had a great article on why not to do round-robin reading in class.

Reasons for Not Doing Round-Robin

1. Students are usually reading the text-cold-which means they have not had time to preview the text or make connections before they read it aloud.

2. Not all students are comfortable reading aloud-especially when they might be correct by teachers and/or peers if they mispronounce a word or read the text in a less than fluent fashion.

3. It is very easy for student to read the segment for which they are responsible and then ignore the rest of the students' reading. Consequently, comprehension is rarely-if ever-an outcome of round-robin reading. It then provided strategies that are more beneficial to students.

Strategies that Encourage Comprehension instead of Round Robin

1. Use the Bookmark Technique (click here to get your copy).

2. Have students complete a KWL or KWLS worksheet.
 
KWL: "What do I know? What do I want to know? What have I learned?
KWLS: "What do I know? What do I want to know? What have I learned? What do I still
                want to know? 

3. Read-Pause-Question: One student reads, the pair pauses, and the student that reads asks the other student a question about the text.

4. Read-Pause-Sketch and Share: One student reads, the pair pauses, and each student sketches his/her visualization. Then the students share and discuss their sketches.

5. Read-Pause-Annotate: One student reads, the pair pauses, and then both students make suggestions about how to annotate that section of text.