Shared Reading: Demonstrating Strategic Processing of Print

for Young Readers

“All readers, from the beginning reader to the fluent adult reader, have to use and integrate various kinds of information to create meaning from text.”

--New Zealand Ministry of Education

  1. Directionality (left page before right page, left to right in a line of print, within a word)
  2. 1:1 Voice Print Match
  3. Locate a known word (using known [anchor] words to track print and locate a given word in a line of text.
  4. Locate an unknown word (using known [anchor] words to locate a given, unfamiliar word in a line of text).
  5. Reading using knowledge of return sweep.
  6. Readers get ready to read by thinking, “What do I already know about ___ that will help me read?”
  7. Readers use clues when they read (pictures, letters, words, what sounds right in our ears—what we know about language and talk).
  8. Readers match the print to what they say. (graphophonics) They don’t just say anything.
  9. Readers think about what they would expect to see in print.
  10. Get your mouth ready for the first sound (matching first letter to what you say aloud).
  11. Reading should always make sense. Readers say what makes sense, but they use other clues, too.
  12. Readers can predict what a word will say by using print clues and thinking about what would make sense. Then readers check all the print to see if they were right.
  13. Readers make their reading sound like talk or the way a book would say it (syntax).
  14. Readers can use two clues when they read. Cross-check print with picture clues (get mouth ready for first sound, check picture, attempt the word).
  15. Automatically recognizing high frequency words makes reading quick and accurate.
  16. Making an attempt—readers don’t just stop and ask for help. They try something.
  17. Getting your mouth ready for blends, digraphs.
  18. Using eye spaces to read instead of fingerpointing (beyond DRA Level 6).
  19. Using fingerpointing to slow down and pay attention to clues when you come to a tricky word.
  20. Stop when something about your reading isn’t right (self-monitoring). Reread. Try something to fix it/self-correct.
  21. Chunking part of a word using known patterns and generalizations.
  22. Using a known word to solve a new word (I know boy; it helps me read toy).
  23. Using what you know about letters and sounds as clues to solve a word.
  24. Looking through the word for more letters than the first letter. Make your reading match the print.
  25. Using what you know about endings (s, ed, ing) to solve a word and make your reading sound like talk or the way a book would say it.
  26. Never skip a word entirely—read, make the first sound(s), and then read the rest of the sentence for language and meaning clues.
  27. Break a longer word into manageable parts (ex. hos-pit-al).
  28. Reading in phrases to promote fluency.
  29. Using punctuation to read meaningfully.
  30. Use what you know about the meaning of a base word to figure out the meaning of a base word and ending (s, ed, ing).
  31. Readers use text features (bold print, headings, charts, etc.) in informational text to help them read and understand.

Choose appropriate teaching points from your running record analysis. Build the necessary skill and then elevate the skill to a strategy by demonstrating how to use the skill in shared reading. Demonstrations may also occur in a small group before/after whole group shared reading, during guided reading, and/or reading conferences as needed to support struggling readers.