How do you know what kinds of reading exercises are the most effective?
rote memorization, choral reading, entertainment, VARK
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10 Answers By Expert Tutors
It really depends on the student and what type of reading skill(s) you are trying to improve. There is vocabulary, words in context, grammar and more. For reading comprehension in general across most age groups, one skill that you can start mastering right away, is paraphrasing. If the student is able to put the: sentence, passage, or story into their own words, in a way that accurately reflects the text.... clearly the comprehension is there and half the battle is done at a bare minimum.
"Paraphrasing"
That is one quick tip you can use in the future that should be easy to remember! There are many other great
strategies for mastering reading and writing at different levels. Feel free to reach out!
Carley M.
tutor
I have to agree with it really depends on the student(s). Because everyone learns differently and everyones brains are built differently. One technique for learning how to read might work for one kid and then might not work for others.
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10/10/25
Anita W.
tutor
A fun exercise that demonstrates mastery over vocabulary development is the uncovering of new words from the prefixes, suffixes, root words, and playful creations of new vocabulary by making up nonsense songs using blends, parts of speech and nonsense poems like Lewis Carrol's the Jabberwocky.
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10/15/25
Anita W.
tutor
The use of Christina Rossetti's poetry can make learning new words fun, creative, and life-changing. Her playful, sensuous, vivid language opens up multiply ways of savoring sound, imaging the five senses with each line of rhythm, rime, and rhetorical device, including alliteration, assonance, and allusion, or consonance, conceit, and corresponding imagery.
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10/16/25
Anita W.
tutor
Despite the students' level of reading, ability, and economic resources, they can learn about western literature or the Judaic-Christian values, including Anglo-Saxon ethnicity, diversity of cultural beliefs, and Latina and African, Caribbean, and Pacific-riff cultures. In short, most western cultures identify with the various Bibles, especially the King James Version. The Bible, a collection of little books, has been woven into our language, philosophy, moral systems, pathos, ethos, and logos, so has affected our educational structures from the second century after Christ. This rich compendium contains a plethora of sensuous genres, including folk tales, legends, sagas, Aesop fables, proverbs, dictates of proper behavior or advice and counsel of comportment or Ben Franklin's rules of Scottish wisdom or Ann Lander's advice column or the uncanny and supernatural tales of Edgar Alan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and science-fiction writers and fantasy mavins. Thus, the Bible can depict evil dragons, giants, demonic characters such as Grendel, Unferth, and Jeffrey Dahmer.
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10/16/25
Michele W. answered • 4d
Tutor
5
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Certified Elementary Teacher (25+ years) :Grades K-6 Reading & Phonics
I am a reading specialist. I have taught over 30 years and would be happy to help.
The best way to teach phonetic reading is through a systematic approach where students work on prereading skills such as rhyming, finding beginning sounds of words. Then you systematically teach reading phonics skills be introducing the phonemes of the English language. There are 44 phonemes ( 20 consonant phonemes and 24 vowel sounds including diphthongs and monophthongs). Students need to be able to blend and segment this sounds to make or break apart words. One should also teach common spelling patterns, locations of sounds in words, and syllables. As child progresses it is also helpful to teach morphology of words including ( prefix and suffix meanings and Greek and Latin roots.) Repeated practice over time will commit these skills and make readers more fluent.
Reading comprehension involves learning and understanding vocabulary, understanding types of text both fiction and non-fiction and the patterns seen in these texts. SO teaching skills such as story elements and text structure can help. Practicing finding evidence in the text, learning about main idea, plot, and theme is also important for comprehension.
If you need a tutor feel free to look me up. I also work with home school families and parents in helping them to plan activities for their children. Michele W.
Joanna N. answered • 11d
Tutor
New to Wyzant
Dynamic & Experienced Educator
The most effective reading strategies are those that help students actively engage with a text and build understanding in a step by step manner. I use close reading, which involves reading a passage multiple times with different focuses, as well as various levels of questioning—literal, inferential, and evaluative—to deepen comprehension. Scaffolding is essential, as it breaks complex information into smaller, teachable parts, allowing students to master one layer before adding the next. I also teach students to preview the text, visualize scenes or ideas, and highlight key details to track important information. Finally, rereading is one of the most potent strategies; it allows students to notice new details, clarify confusion, and strengthen overall comprehension.
Kristi W. answered • 10/22/25
Tutor
New to Wyzant
10+ Years of Teaching Experience using The Wilson Reading System
- When students ask for help strengthening phonics & reading comprehension skills, I use a structured literacy assessment (WADE) to gauge student's strengths and skill deficiency. The WADE Assessment (Wilson Reading Program) will provide student's abilities in (decoding, spelling, & written work). Using a structured literacy program like Wilson OR Orton Gillingham, helps isolate and strengthen specific spelling patterns in a methodic way.
- Next, identify the specific goals the student has for improvement: is the student below grade level, on grade level, OR above grade level ?
- The tutor and family can cooperatively make a plan and create SMART goals to track student's progress.
- In addition to using structured literacy program, I encourage the student to choose a book(s) we read (nonfiction, fiction, graphic novel, etc) to help the student stay engaged with the learning.
Elizabeth P. answered • 09/21/25
Tutor
5
(13)
Certified TEFL & GED Reading Tutor
The most effective reading exercises are the ones that help you really understand what you are reading, not just repeat words. Rote memorization is mostly about saying things over and over without always knowing what they mean, and choral reading is practicing out loud together but it does not always build deep understanding. Entertainment can make reading fun, but it may not always teach strong skills. VARK is the most effective because it uses different ways of learning, like seeing, hearing, writing, and doing, which helps people fully understand and remember what they read.
How do you know what kinds of reading exercises are the most effective?
A good tutor knows what to do because he/she knows the student, has evaluated the student’s skills accurately & has multiple options for teaching skills that need more expertise. This is straightforward & relatively simple.
The key is being able to assess the student - background, interests, reading skills (decoding, vocabulary, comprehension), fears about learning. If the tutor is well-trained & has a potpourri if techniques & can apply them, all will go well.
Look for an experienced, well-trained tutor who can truly enjoy working with your child.
Excellent question! I think it depends on the student-particularly their needs and what their reading goal(s) are. The first step would be identifying the reader's deficits in order to know which area or areas to work on. From there, we would be able to set reading goals that are both realistic and attainable within a set timeframe. The reading exercises would need to be identified based upon the set reading goals. The most effective reading exercises target the student’s deficits such as phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and/or comprehension.
There's already some good answers here in terms of "it depends on the student," which is absolutely true. Depending on reading levels and other learning factors, different methods will help different students. For example, choral reading/reading out loud will help learners who thrive with audio-visual contexts by connecting spoken words with their written counterparts. Likewise, rote memorization may help students who are struggling with vocabulary, and of course "hands-on" kinesthetic learners or students who struggle with focus, such as those with ADHD, may benefit from note-taking. And as mentioned by Ryan C., when working with comprehension, asking students to paraphrase often gets you an idea of what they might not be picking up.
However, another factor not mentioned yet is purpose. What does the student need to accomplish from the reading activity? For example, are they reading for information? If they need to get specific data, working on strategies like skimming and scanning would be far more beneficial than say choral reading. Is the student struggling to be motivated to read? Then low stakes reading for entertainment activities or finding topics of interest to work on other strategies could help open the door to other kinds of reading.
Another situation to consider: if a student does well with phonics-based reading but is a very slow reader, even if they aren't mouthing words, it could be because of things like prevocalization. Do you see their neck muscles moving? If so, it might be time to look at strategies for whole-word, whole-phrase, and whole-line reading activities, where words or phrases or the like are flashed only for a moment, maybe first with images and then without them, to help them recognize the collection of letters with the meaning rather than the sounds.
There are so many strategies for reading, and identifying which is going to be the most useful for a given learner and context is one of the most challenging parts of teaching because it requires listening to your learners and also paying attention to why they are struggling with a certain situation. Is it because they are reading too slowly? Too quickly? Too casually? Different reading contexts require different tools, so it's important to provide learners with all of them in the appropriate contexts.
In my experience, it depends on the student's level of comprehension AND the material they are reading.
A 5th-12th grader reading a chapter book, I will have them complete a SOAPStone page. Higher grade levels may also benefit from making Cornell reading notes.
Breaking the reading down into sections is much easier for readers (especially the younger ones). Taking the chapter by each paragraph and writing a short 1-2 sentence summary can help guide readers through what is taking place in the reading.
I also find that some readers do better with highlighting and underlining the paragraphs. Main ideas, places, characters, etc. Making note of these things helps them learn to better comprehend what the author's intentions are with the piece.
As far as more advanced readers, harder pieces of work (such as my personal favorite War and Peace), research papers, poetry, etc, readers often have better comprehension when they understand the work itself. If they understand that an ode is to highlight something that is liked by the writer, then they can know that everything stated is positive. If they understand that a work like War and Peace is a historical fiction based on non-fiction events, then they can know that it may refer to things and people that were real. Yet, things like conversations and emotions may not be exactly what they were, and are only used to deliver the narration of the events themselves.
As far as actual exercises, again, each student and each reading level is different. I find it's best to break the reading down, take notes while they read, and then review notes and write a summary at the end of the reading. Discussions and asking questions about the reading are also helpful to ensure comprehension.
For little ones who are learning to read, I find it is best to read with them. Sometimes, having them read the page after you have read it to them, eventually working up to having them read to you, and only helping them with certain words. Over time, teaching them about inflection in conversations. Which can be difficult to discern when first learning. This helps strengthen their reading analysis skills.
Overall, -as I digress- it depends on the students, their abilities, and the material they are reading. Yet, I find that everyone benefits from chunk reading and taking notes.
In the 1940s to 1960s teacher taught by rote memorization. Every letter painfully had to be taught, a long list of letter represent a boring and useless exercise in teaching reading. I was the dumb kid because Mom spoke no English and sounded ignorant, for she did not have the sight words yet memorized. She sounded mentally challenged. We students laughed and said mean things about immigrants; we mocked greenies, and we wanted to write racist sign. We were saved by songs, coloring artwork, dancing, and games. I loved music and I learned to adapt, creating sounds, patterns, and synthetic phonetics with props. We found friends why?
We dated, broke up and ignored the pain; knowledge is empty and ---stupid if you a a rain forest; students are social animals and need to adapt.
Anita W.
tutor
The first thing a reading or writing or speech communications teacher looks is the child's eyes, mouth, ears, posture, and hands to see if the student exhibits any nonverbal signs of distraction, illness, discomfort, anger, fear, fatigue, hunger, or pain.
Why does the teach focus on the nonverbal cues?
Communication demonstrates both modes of encoding and decoding, and the teacher relies on these two areas to see if the child is reading to start the lesson. Ask yourself, what stops learning? These elements are essential to learning; the teacher must have the student's focus. The teacher must be aware of any physical, emotional, environmental, or external distractions.
Can the child hear you clearly? Can the child see the teacher clearly? Is the child ready to learn? Does he or she exhibit a need or signs of inattention or lack of motivation? Does the teacher have to adapt, reward, communicate to the parents that changes must be made for successful progress?
Assume the answer is negative. Hear is the process of teaching reading:
1. Use TPR, Total Physical Response
2. Use pros, realia, creative signs, sounds, play-act, dancing, commands to engage the child.
3. Engage the student through the steps: I do; we do; you do.
The teacher must teach initially through gestures to do these steps
Introduce the vocabulary word or patterned phrases 2. Show a reward object 3. practice the phrase or text 3. Correct the oral response and model the correct response at least 3 times 4. Apply the response and allow some creativity of actions. 5. Establish rapport, patience, and a positive sense of mastery.
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08/06/25
Anita W.
tutor
A teacher must be present to model the set letter sounds of the vowels, blends, phonemes, and syllables. The teacher gently corrects the child's responses, praises the child's attempts, and asks the student to repeat the responses at least three times, saying "great job!" after each time. The steps are as follows: "The teacher performs the targeted introductory task. The patterned responses involve these steps: Goals are listed on a whiteboard. The teacher brief tells his or her name. Then the teacher asks a simple four-word question---"How old are you? or "What do you see?" There is a song with a short melody, so both the child and teacher enjoy the singing, clapping, dancing, and the rhythm. The teacher gives the child a reward, an extrinsic reward like a star, a balloon, or a piece of candy.
Then, the grapheme is shown on a white board, which is underlined, circled, or a prop, picture, or realia is used. The teacher rewards the student to reinforce the actions. Then there are the practice exercises lasting `15 minutes. According to objectives, vocabulary, phonics, synthetic phonics, blending, prefixes, or even or odd math skills are practiced. The goal of each lesson is to learn a task or skill that is divided up into a unit of sub-steps or modular main objectives.
Each step is specific and logically connected to the previous lesson. The structured modules are targeted to teach language skills (encoding and decoding, synthetic phonics, sight words, syllabication, parts of speech, and conversation. The teacher and the student interact and create a dynamic lesson.
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08/09/25
Anita W.
tutor
As an experienced reading teacher of 5th to12th graders, I use a simple process---I look at the work's artistic, and unique layout: For example, I examine the following: the height of the title, the photo captions, and then I define the words and summarize the interrogative questions ( Who? Where? What? Why? and How?). The student takes notes and summarizes these interrogatives. These questions explain the process of understanding comprehension understanding the text. The student highlights, underlines, and writes down 1-2 sentences of the group's choral reading. (Choral reading entails each student reading and summarizing the paragraph.) Thus, the student(s) breaks down the text into into sections, and the stories, prose articles, fantasies, non-fiction, or genre reveals the author's purpose or intention. (entertainment, exposition, descriptive, or argumentative). Is the work an historical novel, a scientific article, a prose or non-fictional work?
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08/12/25
Anita W.
tutor
The key to finding the main idea, to finding the rhetorical context or purpose of the essay, article in the newspaper, academic journal, nonfiction, fantasy novel, or short story is to search for these tools: The genre or the type of text; The purpose or intent (to persuade, to suggest a solution, to entertain, to share an idea, to describe and to argue a point; the evidence or proof of the proposition) ; the audience or the receiver of the message, or theme, the thesis--the restricted topic or controlling idea, or the point of significance.
Another feature of reading are the vehicles of rhetorical appeals---how to change a behavior: the rhetorical triangle: Logos or logic, Pathos or emotional and feeling; Ethos or Ethos---the writer's credibility, trustworthiness, moral value, integrity or honesty.
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08/13/25
Anita W.
tutor
The reason that I abhor rote memorization is that it destroys motivation and the the joy of natural responses to the conscious act of reading. How?
As a baby, when young Alfred touched a rabbit or small, white, soft animals, he was hurt, physically or mentally simultaneously, such that the toddler Alfred develop a classical Pavlovian (1928 Pavlov) response; just like the dog responding to a bell and drooling, the classical S-R of Albert was to associate the touch of small, white rabbits to fear, pain, and avoidance. For me, personally, when I saw long lists of white chalk board letters on the black board in mean memories of the long-ago time, I learned to hate reading because the writing out of rote letters meant pain and the nuns' habitual spankings at St. Patrick's School in San Francisco in the 1960s. Thus, I hated the Blooms-field technique of reading. I had polio, and I was unable to walk. Quickly, Dad drove me to the Shriner's Children Hospital in San Francisco when I learned to love reading when Olga, a Ukrainian nurse rubbed my aching left foot, while sing a folk tale melody, and secretly feeding me chocolate mints. Now, I was associating the pleasures of being touched, read aloud to, the tastes of eating rich dark Hazelnut chocolates and reading together with Pavlovian S-R with reading. I now loved to read, and I know that Dr. James Asher and the multi-sensory principle of VARK works.
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08/17/25
Anita W.
tutor
We reading comprehension teachers could take a lesson from pubic speech teachers because rhetoric teachers understand that many students misinterpret signs of dyslexia, ADHS and Asperger's symptom sufferers, and others that ESL students cannot comprehend American English text. According to Dr. Joseph Asher and Noam Chomsky, educators and social scientists, students not fluent in standard English benefit from multi-sensual media, resources that stand for VARK, V = Volumes; A = Audio; R = Rhythm; and K = kinesthetics. The solution for non-targeted language students. Why are these symbols necessary? What costs arise to implement VARK's technique to reading pedagogy? Nada! Rien! Nichts! Nothing!
You can invest in your children's mastery of American language and the opportunities that appear, successful accomplishment and career moves.
Here are steps that incorporate VARK, rhetoric, public speaking, and English into reading comprehension. 1. introduction (hook, the attention, background data, establish ethos, logos, and pathos or ethical appeal, logical appeal, and passion or emotional appeal.) 2. Pre-writing or invention, discovery, and planning 3. Outline, set out the main idea or thesis, rough draft, revisions, first, seconds, third revisions, and peer-edits, and editing, and evidence, statistics, story-telling, using passions, personal expressions and experiences that connect with the theses. as well as establishment of the conclusions. Finally, is the publication, which is the conclusion that leaves the clincher or the last statement that leaves a lasting impression.
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08/22/25
Anita W.
tutor
Using the written structure of essays, as a means to communication about the message, main idea, and thesis, found in the introduction (where the background, the attention-getter or hook, the personal story that provides the passion, the pathos, the ethos or ethical appeal, and finally the logos or the purpose of the introduction, and its purpose or end goal: to present through emotion, logic, and credibility your point of view, your significant argument that is sufficient enough to leave the audience with a lasting memory.
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08/22/25
Anita W.
tutor
After the leading introduction, provide the following structure: !. State with at least five paragraphs (the 4 w's Who? What? Where? When? and Why?, and 1 How?) After these paragraphs are finished, the writer can finished with the summary and the restatement of the introduction, the writer rewrites the introductory lead and restates the propositions, the conclusion, and let's the sentence as the clincher sentence act as a lasting and memorable expression create a powerful impression.
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08/22/25
Anita W.
tutor
After the powerful conclusion or clincher has been effected, your final step is your plan for a lasting impression or emphasis on your (SALES PITCH) argument.
Find out directly through a timed summary of questions and answers:
What are the gaps in your argumentation? Were there supporting, logical, evidential, sufficient, and viable arguments made to counter rebuttals? Can you substantiate your propositions? Have you formulated the results of the feedback opinions to revise your speech? Have you met your goal of reading as a assessment strategy for understanding, cultural literacy, critical thinking, and global comprehension?
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08/23/25
Anita W.
tutor
The reader who is an expert in decoding and encoding signs through pictures or drawings can adapt to non-verbal gestures; a hungry dog drools; a hungry feline bumps against Madam's legs, and the cat-lady pets spoiled Felix. A boring text written with a didactic purpose i.e. a dull pedantic text is the best solution to killing a student's motivation to focus on comprehension or meaning of a word, according to speech experts. Speech communication is a performance action of employing attention-getting responses, based upon needs and desires. This basic concept is why graduate students go back to rhetorical appeals and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: a war-torn refugee does not want cash, jewelry, or bonds; that person wants a shelter, warmth, water, nutrients like meat, rice, bread, and cheese. Poor creatures plagued by war need protection from enemies. At the next level are friends, family members, and community, providing a sense of social participation in club memberships. This feeling of group identity in a institutional unit or apparatus inspires us to belong to an organization in order to be worthy of society's in-groups. Artists, musicians, dancers, nature-observers crave the awe-inspiring beauty of trees, flora and fauna, landscapes and the adventurers seek intellectual studies of the universe--- stars, planets, and scientific experts like geologists, botanists, and life-scientists, anthropologists, and psychologists, spiritualists crave the meaning of existence. The realm of dreams and Nirvana belongs to mavins of the intrinsic refinement and deal with the soul. In terms of making reading pleasurable, you must stimulate the sensory receptors and avoid boredom.
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09/07/25
Anita W.
tutor
Another drawback to understanding the Purpose of the message, is the Audience's biased views, level of training, educational degrees, expertise, global understanding, creditability, tolerance for ambiguity, level of cognitive dissonance, attitudinal flexibility or willingness to accept esoteric ideas that are uncanny, faith-bound, or just based solely on blind obtuseness. Sometimes it is difficult to discern an elephant traits if three blind scientist are only investigation a section of beast itself.
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09/08/25
Anita W.
tutor
The key to discerning truth from fiction is through careful analysis. What constitutes truth? Truth is in the eye of the truth beholder, as the poets say. Truth is a matter of the conqueror over the subjected, the Irish poet, Seamus Heaney writes in his introduction to his translation of Beowulf about his still smarting Irish heart-felt saga of the once imperialistic empire of Queen Victoria (Heaney, Seamus (2000) (xxvii-xxx) Heaney decries the tenth century interpretation of Beowulf as the age-old battle of good versus evil as St. Alcuin depicts as the Christian heroism of medieval sources. In truth, Beowulf is a Germanic warrior that lauds Weird or fate in the transitory existence of the Germanic hero who seeks in the struggle of physical strength versus the raw brute muscle of a Grendel or a dragon. The Anglo-saxon Germanic hero dies without heaven's blessings. There is no salvation for Beowulf. There are no saints or angels for Beowulf. Only cold, wintry, lonely and childless death awaits Beowulf, bereft of the comitatus, for his shoulder-thanes have cowardly fled. Thus, after reigning as mighty king, the soft, old Beowulf dies alone; only Wiglaf lives. The ending of this saga is bleak and foretells warfare as the ultimate end for a defeated king and a dead man.
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09/09/25
Anita W.
tutor
In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, the scope or bard questions what constitutes fame in the heroic value system; First, is bravery: A strong hero will test his powerful muscles fighting the whales while swimming the stormy waters and never drowning---- that feat demonstrates a worthy and strong hero. 2. loyalty; Thanes their committed loyalty to defend their Elders, and the posse (the Comitatus) when dangerous enemies or cannibalistic monsters from the marshes whose envy of the mead-drinking thanes as they celebrate their glory-filled battles. Then as their king rewards his thanes with the rings, helmets, embossed swords, and gold jewelry.
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09/12/25
Anita W.
tutor
The meaning or main operating thesis is the rhetorical axiom of the text; in short it encomposes the subject (Beowulf), the object (the enemies, Grendel, the Mom, the dragon, and the cosmic Uncanny forces of Chaos, transmuted into super-powerful forces of nature---the vices of St. Alcuin, the Christian patellina of 10th century interpretation of Alfred-the-Great, according to Dr. John Hatcher and Seamus Heaney that defines the theme or main idea as a question of what constitutes the forces and figures or incarnations of good versus evil. Is beowulf a German, Anglo-Saxon 6th century AD hero as Hatcher, and Heaney assert? Both support the archaeological evidence of 1938 finding of artefacts of warrior culture in the findings of Sutton site--a royal treasure hoard of swords, helmelts, warrior equipment. So, Evidence suggests the Viking theme is in force and Beowulf wants to prove his worth in feats of bravery.
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09/14/25
Anita W.
tutor
The overriding is, in fact, since life is brief, bleak, and brutal, the Germanic hero, Beowulf, risks his life for glory, the scope's golden songs of memorial renown; the spear-warrior awaits a cold death as a wintry bird finds doom in a sudden and deathly flight from from Heorot's beam to the last beam in the mead hall, where the Comitatus, the posse of thanes drink, celebrating their victories, and feat of valor only to die an agonizing death. For these men will be Grendel's carrion, devoured as prey, gone and alone as the hapless bird.
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09/14/25
Anita W.
tutor
The key to successful spelling, vocabulary development, and comprehesion is the discovery of the sentence structure, grammar, the parts of speech, analysis of prefices, suffices, and oral expressions, idiomatism or examination of common usage, via reading practice according to E.B. White and C.S. Lewis.
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21d
Anita W.
tutor
The key to using your cerebral resources, maintaining your executive function, and memory endurance is practice, through repetitive actions: writing down new lists, phrases, new vocabulary, creative ways of making associations, listening to recoded data, and reading new words, and exercises in EVERY TEXT, graphic or written media because the left and right hemisphere are integrated through the media of arts.
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20d
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Anita W.
21d