What is the number one thing on nearly every teacher's wish list? We've worked with teachers for over 30 years, and the answer is always the same. It isn't an expensive new curriculum or piece of technology. It isn't more books or a bigger classroom. Almost always, the main thing teachers need is simply more time.

We designed our Read Live program so that students can work mostly independently and still make considerable progress. This allows teachers to focus on the key components of the intervention that require their expertise, their unique understanding of the student, and a personal warmth that technology can't offer. These individual student-teacher moments are not time-intensive, but they are essential to the student's success. When one teacher has a classroom full of students who each need this little bit of individual attention, that teacher often feels pressed for time. If you find yourself in this situation, here is our best advice.

Get More Classroom Support

If it's possible to get more support in your classroom, this is by far the best solution. The ideal ratio for a Read Live intervention is no more than 6 to 8 students per adult. If you're on your own with more than 6 to 8 students, look into whether someone is available to help you on a regular basis. This could be a paraprofessional, a parent volunteer, a retired teacher in the community, a student studying education, or any trustworthy adult interested in helping students improve their literacy skills. Our Overview for Assistants and Conducting a Timed Reading videos provide these people with the training they need to quickly start helping with cold and hot timings. This will give you more time to connect with the students who need more of your individual attention.

Split Students Into Groups

If it isn't possible to get more support, try splitting your Read Live students into two groups each day. One group of students will work in Read Naturally Live (or Word Warm-ups Live or Read Naturally Live— Español), and the other group will work in One Minute Reader Live. Keep your focus that day mainly on the Read Naturally Live group, being available to conduct timings, score comprehension activities, and listen carefully to each of them as they read. The One Minute Reader Live group will not need your help with timings or scoring, so they can work independently while still building fluency and comprehension. Switch the groups daily so that you're regularly working one-on-one with each student. Note that One Minute Reader Live only has content through a fifth-grade reading level, so this solution will not work with students who are in higher levels.

Train Students to Switch Between Programs

Another solution is to have all your students start each day working in the main Read Live program they're focused on. If they reach a point where they need teacher support and you're not available, train them to switch to another Read Live program until you're able to help them. As long as the program they switch to has content at their level, this will allow them to keep working toward their reading goals as they wait for you. 

Allow Independent Cold Timings

To get the most reliable data, we recommend that teachers conduct cold timings in Read Naturally Live whenever possible. However, you can also train students to complete this step independently. Note that if students do cold timings independently, the data will be less reliable and Data Mentor will not make suggestions for adjusting levels and goals. Data Mentor suggestions tend to save teachers time in the end, so consider this decision carefully. Regardless, we encourage you to always be present for the student's first few cold timings in a level to ensure students are placed appropriately and you have accurate data at the beginning.

Use the Hot Timing Recording Feature

During COVID, we introduced a feature in which students can record themselves for their hot timings in Read Naturally Live, allowing them to do this step without a teacher present. The teacher can then listen to the recording and score the student at a convenient time. Note that using this feature still requires students to wait for you before they can move on in Read Naturally Live. You'll likely need to score their recording within a day or two to ensure they keep moving forward. Additionally, you make an important connection with the student when you sit next to them and listen to them read, so we discourage any practice that eliminates this one-on-one time entirely.

Bolster the Retell Step

Most students could benefit from working on their writing skills, and reading and writing go hand in hand. With this in mind, you could consider incorporating additional requirements into the retell step of Read Naturally Live and scoring it accordingly. For example, require students to write a certain number of sentences, attending to proper grammar and punctuation, or have them write the retell on paper using good penmanship. Spending more time on this step will keep students independently occupied for longer. However, note that students in a Read Live intervention will make the fastest reading progress if they spend most of their time reading. Especially for students who are reading far below grade level, spending too much time on the retell step could slow their reading progress.

Try Peer Grading (Older Students Only)

A group of older students may be able to score each other's stories in Read Naturally Live or Read Naturally Live— Español. You could give the students Read Live Assistant passwords and train them in the passing criteria via the Overview for Assistants and Conducting a Timed Reading videos so that they can score each other. You would then listen to students on a rotating basis—ideally scoring at least one out of every few stories yourself. As you know, peers may have trouble grading each other fairly, and your students need to have a certain maturity level in order for this to work well.

Don't Forget About Wordtastic and Phontastic!

Wordtastic in Read Naturally Live and Phontastic in Word Warm-ups Live are excellent ways for students to boost their vocabulary, phonics, and reading skills while waiting for teacher support. Remind them to play these games as they wait for you, and challenge them to get a certain number of points.

Use Wait-Time Activities

Each story in Read Naturally Live has a corresponding crossword puzzle with vocabulary words from the story. This is a great literacy-boosting activity for students to work on while waiting for you. Print out as many copies of the puzzles as you'd like here. Additionally, students may enjoy working on Story Title Scrambles or benefit from keeping a Difficult Word List. We also offer dozens of free printables on our blog.

Remember That New Students Can Place Themselves Independently

If you have students new to Read Live, they can place themselves in the program independently and get started right away. The Student Independent Placement feature uses speech recognition technology and is new as of 2023, so learn more about it if you haven't used it yet. Teachers have been loving this time-saving tool.

Plan Now for Next Year

If you've identified that you need more time and are working with a less-than-ideal ratio of teachers to students, look into ways you and your fellow Read Live teachers can get more support next year if possible. Talk to your school administrators about getting additional volunteer or paraprofessional help in your classroom. Reach out to retired teachers, students studying education, or others you know who might be interested in working with students on their reading skills. This tends to be a rewarding experience, and people may be more interested in helping than you think. Ideally, these helpers would be available and trained by the start of next school year.

Reach Out to Us!

Do you have concerns about any of these suggestions or about something we haven't addressed? Do you have additional ideas for teachers to consider? Have you discovered a way to clone yourself, which would eliminate every teacher's time constraints once and for all? Please reach out. We love hearing from you and are always here to help.