Back Up and Reread

Back Up and Reread!
What do teachers need to help students develop into good readers? We need effective strategies.  What if you knew of a single instructional strategy that has shown improves decoding, fluency and reading comprehension?  Would you use it? Of course, you say. And yet, one of the least talked about literacy strategies is rereading. We all have favorite subjects or strategies to teach in our classrooms and mine is reading and everything that comes with it. I love it! After attending the Early Literacy training, my passion for literacy was rekindled.  We all want students to be successful readers with a love for reading. So let’s talk about an important strategy that can get them there. Rereading!
How many times have we heard a student say “Sometimes I’m in the middle of reading a book and I don’t understand, so I put it away and choose an easier book.” Or “If I don’t understand pages, I skip them and keep reading.”  These comments sadden me. It’s unfortunate that students are going through the motions of reading and identifying confusing parts, yet lacking strategies to help them through the difficult parts.  These are strategies I want to help them develop.
	Rereading is a powerful instructional strategy.  Children will ask you to read aloud the same book over and over again.  They might have a favorite book that they chose to read every time.  Repetitive reading is so beneficial to children.  They enjoy it because they understand it and get joy from the story.  Rereading helps them to memorize the story and in turn comprehend it. The strategy fosters fluency, recall of details, improved recognition and builds self-confidence.  As children reread stories, they improve their voice and expression.  They can learn to pause, and change their tone depending on the plot of the story.  Rereading encourages students to ask questions while reading. The more encounters children have with a text the better they will read and understand it.  It’s an amazing feeling to see and hear a student reread a text and truly understand what they have read.  You know you have molded active readers when they figure out the benefits of rereading.  My goal is the get kids to view rereading as a positive habit.
“The joy of reading is in the rereading; this is where you get to know the world and characters in deep and rewarding fashion.” -Walter Mosley
In order to motivate students to be rereaders, we must incorporate it into our daily routine.  How do we teach our students to read and read again?
	Rereading is a key skill in becoming a good reader.  My goal each year is to create active readers who can acknowledge when what they read has not made sense to them.  When students reread they slow down and pay attention to the words and meanings more carefully.  To get students to independently reread I first have to teach them what rereading means. First, I  introduce this strategy by having my students collaborate using their prior knowledge. I like to have them speak with their team (using a single round robin) about a time when they (or a family member) had to reread something and why did they have to do it.  As a class, we then discuss what was said.  I love their responses. “ I had to read the directions again to remember how to play the game” or “My mom had to reread the recipe to remember how to make the cookies.”  Real life!   Next, I ask them to tell their shoulder partner why they think rereading helped them.  Together, we discuss their ideas for why rereading works and why we use it.  This is a very brief discussion.  I just want to activate their brain into focusing on rereading.   Then, I give them a brief definition and explanation of what rereading is.  I explain that rereading is when we back up far enough to help us understand and read again.  I teach them a cute little chant that goes to the tune of B-I-N-GO.       I read a bit and now I’ve found I really just don’t get it. Now, what should I do? Now, what should I do? Now, what should I do? I’ll back up and reread it! I explain that by rereading it will help improve their fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. I explain that by the end of the year, I want them all to become expert rereaders.  Students love the idea of becoming an expert!     Then, I model.  I ask them to watch me carefully and think about what they see me doing.  When I model, I think aloud.  I usually choose a story from our Reading Writing Workshop or Anthology for this read aloud.  I only model with the first two pages.  As I read, I make mistakes such as not pausing at a period or skipping a word.  They love this!  Then I reread.  I reread the words I made mistakes on and I stop and notice the periods.  As I read, I invite them to ask me questions.  What has happened so far? Who are the characters? This takes prompts or think alouds the first time. When I can not answer the questions I reread the text. I tell them I reread because I don’t understand. Becoming the student and having your students be the teachers is an effective strategy. Last, we practice rereading every single day.  We reread everything-language arts text, fluency, math, social studies, and science texts.  Rereading daily is a must.   My hope is that our students will leave our classrooms with a passion and hunger for reading.  They will be able to tell us about the books they read and be craving more.  Let’s dive in and inspire some active readers! Here is a little video of my superstar students rereading their Decodable Readers.  Rereading in my classroom!                                Positively Teaching,                               Randi Muehlen
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