Shared reading is a powerful teaching technique which has a strong research base.

It supports and improves students:

• foundational skills
• oral language
• vocabulary
• awareness of print
• knowledge of print concepts
• phonological awareness
• word and letter knowledge
• sound-letter correspondences

Depending on how many questions you ask, or concepts you focus on, shared reading takes about 15 minutes per read. It is recommended you read a text three times (over three days), so 45 minutes across the three reads.

Allow students to see the text as it is being read. Students may be able to join in with the teacher as they read aloud, take turns reading or chorally read texts together. Teachers can intersperse brief comprehension checks (checks for understanding), pair shares, discussions and short written tasks (older students).

Choosing your Text

Use high quality texts – picture books, big books, short stories, poetry, non-fiction. Check the text you are reading and include the concepts that you are focusing on. For example: if you are teaching /sh/ digraph, ensure there are some /sh/ words in the text.

Pick a text that students will be able to join you in reading, a text that they can follow. If you are working on early decoding skills, you might choose a text with some decodable words to allow the students to practice their decoding skills, with your support.

Choose a text that is related to other subject content or interests (science, arts, local curriculum). Shared reading can benefit foundational reading skills and still be ‘real’ reading that supports comprehension.

Set Up
Display the text so students can see it as you read together. This can be a print-based or digital text.

Share an authentic purpose for reading the text. For example, to learn information about whales and dolphins.

Support Foundational Skills
Pick a text with many instances of the target sound-spelling correspondence, this may include poems, nursery rhymes, and songs.

Remind students of the sound-spelling correspondence they are learning before reading; eg “ai can spell the long /a/ sound, such as in the word tail.”

Ask questions directly about the words with the sound-spelling correspondences in addition to print concepts, eg “Who can find a word on this page with a long sound in the middle? Who can find a word on this page with the ai spelling? Let’s read the word together.”

After Reading
Ask students to extend their sound-spelling knowledge.
“We read a lot of words with the long a spelled ai. If we spell tail t-a-i-l, how do you think we spell sail? Spell it on your whiteboard.”

Through shared reading experiences you can bolster a wide range of students’ foundational skills, while explicitly, systematically supporting their knowledge of print concepts and cultivating an enjoyment of reading.

Johnna Alborn
Deputy Principal/Literacy Facilitator

References:
Reading above the Fray: Reliable, Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills.  Julia B Lindsey, Scholastic, 2022.