One of the most traditional and effective methods for teaching fluency, with both fiction and nonfiction texts, is through repeated readings. In the elementary classroom, nonfiction texts related to the content areas can be read repeatedly, allowing the students to develop fluency. To read fluently, most children need to read a text about 3 or 4 times, so opportunities for this should be provided to them. Nonfiction texts can be used as shared reading texts for the whole class and also in pair reading or teacher-student reading combinations. While the texts can be discussed after the complete reading, the teacher should limit interruptions of the reading only to correct a mispronounced word when reading for fluency. After the correction, the student should continue reading.
Fluency can also be developed through the use of read-aloud texts. Teachers can choose nonfiction texts that relate to a topic the class is studying and model correct reading skills for the students. Listening to the way the words need to sound when they read will help students develop fluency. This will help students begin to read fluently, even in their silent independent reading. Nonfiction books chosen for read-aloud should also be available to the students to read independently so they can practice what the teacher has modeled.
Having students read in a choral reading activity can also help to improve fluency with nonfiction texts. Teachers can choose speeches or interesting parts of documents and have the students read it aloud together. The activity can begin with the teacher modeling the reading. After the students hear the teacher's version, they can read together as a class. There are variations to this. Students can join in slowly, perhaps one sentence at a time, building up their voices. It can also be done in the opposite manner, having students stop reading gradually. The class can experiment with a few options, giving all the students a chance to read aloud several times and to practice their fluency.
When most people think of Reader's Theater, or RT, they think of drama and fiction. But this activity can also work well with nonfiction, especially with biographies. According to Jennifer Prescott, in "The Power of Reader's Theater," Reader's Theater can even work with science books about animals, since the information can be adapted into scripts where the animals are personalized. RT encourages students to read and reread the scripts, and since an integral part of the activity involves reading aloud and acting out lines, students get to practice fluency and experiment with verbal expression in a fun, engaging manner.