11 Alternatives to "Round Robin" (and "Popcorn") Reading
December 1, 2014
Round Robin Reading (RRR) has been a classroom staple for over 200 years and an activity that over half of K-8 teachers report using
in one of its many forms, such as Popcorn Reading. RRR's popularity
endures, despite overwhelming criticism that the practice is ineffective
for its stated purpose: enhancing fluency, word decoding, and
comprehension. Cecile Somme echoes that perspective in Popcorn Reading: The Need to Encourage Reflective Practice: "Popcorn reading is one of the sure-fire ways to get kids who are already hesitant about reading to really hate reading."
Why all the harshitude? Because Round Robin Reading . . .
Tell us your favorite fluency or comprehension activity.
Facts About Round Robin Reading
In RRR, students read orally from a common text, one child after another, while the rest of the class follows along in their copies of the text. Several spinoffs of the technique offer negligible advantages over RRR, if any. They simply differ in how the reading transition occurs:- Popcorn Reading: A student reads orally for a time, and then calls out "popcorn" before selecting another student in class to read.
- Combat Reading: A kid nominates a classmate to read in the attempt to catch a peer off task, explains Gwynne Ash and Melanie Kuhn in their chapter of Fluency Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices.
- Popsicle Stick Reading: Student names are written on Popsicle sticks and placed in a can. The learner whose name is drawn reads next.
- Touch Go Reading: As described by Professor Cecile Somme, the instructor taps a child when it's his or her turn to read.
Why all the harshitude? Because Round Robin Reading . . .
- Stigmatizes poor readers. Imagine the terror that English-language learners and struggling readers face when made to read in front of an entire class.
- Weakens comprehension. Listening to a peer orally read too slowly, too fast, or too haltingly weakens learners' comprehension -- a problem exacerbated by turn-taking interruptions.
- Sabotages fluency and pronunciation. Struggling readers model poor fluency skills and pronunciation. When instructors correct errors, fluency is further compromised.
11 Better Approaches
1. Choral Reading
The teacher and class read a passage aloud together, minimizing struggling readers' public exposure. In a 2011 study of over a hundred sixth graders (PDF, 232KB), David Paige found that 16 minutes of whole-class choral reading per week enhanced decoding and fluency. In another version, every time the instructor omits a word during her oral reading, students say the word all together.2. Partner Reading
Two-person student teams alternate reading aloud, switching each time there is a new paragraph. Or they can read each section at the same time.3. PALS
The Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) exercises pair strong and weak readers who take turns reading, re-reading, and retelling.4. Silent Reading
For added scaffolding, frontload silent individual reading with vocabulary instruction, a plot overview, an anticipation guide, or KWL+ activity.5. Teacher Read Aloud
This activity, says Julie Adams of Adams Educational Consulting, is "perhaps one of the most effective methods for improving student fluency and comprehension, as the teacher is the expert in reading the text and models how a skilled reader reads using appropriate pacing and prosody (inflection)." Playing an audiobook achieves similar results.6. Echo Reading
Students "echo" back what the teacher reads, mimicking her pacing and inflections.7. Shared Reading/Modeling
By reading aloud while students follow along in their own books, the instructor models fluency, pausing occasionally to demonstrate comprehension strategies. (PDF, 551KB)8. The Crazy Professor Reading Game
Chris Biffle's Crazy Professor Reading Game video (start watching at 1:49) is more entertaining than home movies of Blue Ivy. To bring the text to life, students . . .- Read orally with hysterical enthusiasm
- Reread with dramatic hand gestures
- Partner up with a super-stoked question asker and answerer
- Play "crazy professor" and "eager student" in a hyped-up overview of the text.
9. Buddy Reading
Kids practice orally reading a text in preparation for reading to an assigned buddy in an earlier grade.10. Timed Repeat Readings
This activity can aid fluency, according to literacy professors Katherine Hilden and Jennifer Jones (PDF, 271KB). After an instructor reads (with expression) a short text selection appropriate to students' reading level (90-95 percent accuracy), learners read the passage silently, then again loudly, quickly, and dynamically. Another kid graphs the times and errors so that children can track their growth.11. FORI
With Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (FORI), primary students read the same section of a text many times over the course of a week (PDF, 54KB). Here are the steps:- The teacher reads aloud while students follow along in their books.
- Students echo read.
- Students choral read.
- Students partner read.
- The text is taken home if more practice is required, and extension activities can be integrated during the week.
Tell us your favorite fluency or comprehension activity.
