ABSTRACT
The National Reading Panel analyzed an abundance of research concerning two instructional approaches widely used in classrooms to foster reading fluency: "repeated oral reading" and "sustained silent reading." As a result of this analysis, the Panel concluded that much evidence supports the practice of repeated reading in elementary classrooms. Besides fostering increased reading fluency, repeated readings have been found to deepen comprehension of text, as children revisit the material on successive sessions. In the creators' lesson format, called the fluency development lesson, a procedure akin to echo reading involves the teacher reading aloud a section of text and the children repeating the section as they point to, or "track," the words they are reading. Poetry is an ideal way to increase fluency in the elementary classroom. Moreover, poetry is a universal language that can be made accessible to all children, regardless of primary language or ability level.
