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Should students do the cold timing step themselves, or should I do it for them? What if their cold timing scores seem too high or they don't always count their errors accurately?
The purpose of the cold timing step is for students to see how many words they can read correctly in a minute when reading a new (unpracticed) story aloud. This reading score is a baseline for monitoring progress. But it is the hot timing at the Pass step that counts, and the teacher conducts that timing.
Read Naturally recommends that you teach students to time themselves and are present for the first few stories to coach them through self-timing. Being present for the cold timings during the first few stories will help you:
- Check if placement is appropriate.
- Determine if the student is able to self-time in the future.
When you conduct the cold timings, the student should underline all of his or her mistakes. Help teach students to identify their errors by pointing out any that they miss. As soon as you determine the placement is correct and believe the student can self-time, the student should do the cold timings independently.
Be sure that the student proves to you that he or she is capable of doing cold timings independently by accurately identifying his or her errors.
Once students have proven they are ready, there are several benefits to having them conduct their own cold timings:
- Students who time themselves don't waste time waiting for the teacher to time them. We want students to be reading, not sitting idle.
- Students hear the words read correctly in the Read Along step, so they will soon learn the words they thought they knew but did not.
- Students raise their level of awareness of their reading strengths and weaknesses.
- The teacher can successfully support more students.
If a student exaggerates cold-timing scores, try setting a rule that to pass, he or she must exceed the cold-timing score by 25–30 words, regardless of the goal.