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Is it ever okay to drop the Read Along step?
The Read Along step is crucial for teaching correct pronunciation, phrasing, and expression. However, middle and high school students may be ready to drop the Read Along step when they can read grade-level material with very few errors at a fluency rate approaching grade-level expectations. If an older student regularly has cold-timing scores above 90 words correct per minute with few errors and few phrasing and expression problems, have the student go directly to the Practice step after the Cold Timing step. Rather than drop the Read Along step all at once, you could also gradually reduce the number of read alongs from three to two to one and finally to none.
In rare cases, a student may have an auditory "photographic memory," such that the student can actually memorize the entire story by listening. In such a case, you may need to reduce the number of read alongs or drop the step entirely for the student.