Conversations that are part of the classroom environment clarify children's thinking. As students sit side by side and read and talk about what they are reading, they learn about themselves and they learn from the thinking of other readers. An interactive classroom that promotes conversation can provide opportunities for students to raise the level of their thinking, to dig deep into texts, and to grow as readers (Sibberson and Szymusiak, 2003).

Partner reading is the instructional practice of reading with and by students and is therefore a key component in a balanced literacy program. Partner reading is often used in kindergarten, first and second grade. Reading partnerships provide students with opportunities to practice their word attack, fluency, thinking and talking skills as well as increase their reading stamina and volume. Students are usually grouped together as reading partners based on similar reading levels. Teachers use ongoing assessment data to make any necessary changes in partnership pairings as students independent reading levels will change over time.

Reading partnerships usually meet daily during the reading workshop. (Primary teachers find it valuable for students to spend time both reading independently and then with a reading partner during the daily reading workshop as a way to build students' reading stamina.) During a partnership session, students spend time reading and talking about books together. The texts students read during reading partnerships are their "just right books", books in other words that reflect their independent reading levels. Partners learn to take turns selecting texts to read, deciding how to read each text (e.g., chorally, taking turns, echoing) and engaging in conversation about books. The teacher's role is to confer with partnerships and model and support students in reading the texts (e.g., word attack strategies, fluency strategies) as well as engaging in focused conversations (e.g., comprehension strategies, talk strategies).

While reading books together, partners learn to offer support to one another when faced with unknown words. Rather than tell one another an unknown word, partners will suggest helpful reading strategies to use. One partner might suggest to another, for example, strategies such "Look at the picture and think about what would make sense", "Look at the first letter of the word, make that sound and ask yourself what would make sense," "Do you see a helfpul chunk?," "Does that look right?". By supporting one another in this manner, students expand their repertoire of reading strategies and become flexible word solvers.

In addition to practing their word attack strategies, reading partnerships are also an opportunity for students to develop their fluency skills as students are engaged in the reading and rereading of familiar texts. In addition, reading partnerships prompt students to think and respond to texts before, during and after the reading of a text. Partners apply and practice the talk skills learned during read aloud, shared reading and guided reading.

The goal of reading partnerships, similar to that of book clubs, is for students to deepen their comprehension skills by engaging in authentic reading conversations about books .

Conversational prompts that students learn to use to keep the conversation going about a text may include the following:

In the upper grades, students still participate in reading partnerships, however, it typically looks somewhat different. Students at these levels may read copies of a text silently and then meet periodically to discuss their thinking about the text. In addition, students in grades 3-5, often participate in book clubs. Research shows that reading partnerships lay the effective groundwork for successful book clubs - for students to be effective in clubs which are typically comprised of four or more students, they must first be able to successfully converse with a single partner.

 

Collins, K. (2008). Reading For Real. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Daley, A. (2004). Partner Reading: A Way To Help All Readers Grow. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Prescott-Griffin, M. L. (2005). Reader to Reader. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Sibberson, F., & Szymusiak, K. (2003). Still Learning to Read. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.