Reading practices in Microsoft Reading Coach are great for empowering students to learn independently, with personalised sessions tailored to the individual reader and their unique challenges.
As a Microsoft Partner and after 10 years of working with schools and multi academy trusts, we are always excited about the latest education tools in Microsoft 365.
Reading Coach is one of many Learning Accelerators that Microsoft have released in recent years to support teachers in providing personalised learning for every student.
The practice tool in Reading Coach allows you to create a training reading exercise for students, helping you monitor progress without tying it to a specific grade or assignment.
In this helpful guide, we outline:
Here, one of our trainers takes you on a tour of practices in Reading Coach:
Why teachers and students love practices in Reading Coach
Helping to build confidence, fluency and support independent learning, practices in Reading Coach are loved by both students and their teachers. Below are some of the excellent ways educators are using the tool to enhance teaching and support learners:
Builds reading fluency
Giving students the ability to repeat practice sessions helps increase their reading speed and accuracy. Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, Annoo Padte, spoke with Cloud Design Box’s Chief of Operations, Darren Hemming, on our education podcast about how Reading Coach is using AI to create personal learning experiences to combat poor reading literacy.
Reinforces challenging words
After a student reads a passage and stumbles on certain words (mispronounced, skipped or hesitated), Reading Coach identifies these words. Students are then prompted to revisit and practise these specific words in isolation, with support like syllable breakdowns and visuals.
Supports independent learning
Students can practise reading independently, in their own space, with guided assistance. Reading Coach provides immediate feedback on misread words, pronunciation help and encouragement, allowing students to work at their own pace.
Prepares students for assessment
Practices in Reading Coach differ from Reading Progress Assignments as they are not official homework assignments and are not tied to a grade. Instead, they provide students with space and time to practice for future assessments, while teachers gain an early insight into where students may require additional support.
Helps with EAL and SEND learning
Reading Coach practices are great for supporting students who are learning English as an additional language, as well as giving confidence to learners with dyslexia. The tool has built-in support from Immersive Reader that provides a number of customisable and visual aids while the student is reading. See our helpful guide on how Reading Coach works with Immersive Reader.
How to create a practice in Reading Coach (Teacher view)
Creating a practice for your students in Reading Coach is easy. Below are the steps on how to create your first practice.
- Navigate to Reading Coach.
- Tap Create practice.
- Give your new practice a title.
- Select a Due Date.
5. Choose Open Reading or Single Passage.
Open Reading
Students choose their content and read towards a time goal.
Single Passage
Students read a passage selected by the teacher or educator.
- Tap Next.
- If you choose Single Passage, select either Select a passage or Create a passage and then Next.
Select a passage
Choose a pre-written passage from the Microsoft Reading Coach Library.
Create a passage
Write your own passage or paste one from somewhere else.
If you choose Select a passage, choose a passage from the library. You can filter the passages by difficulty by selecting levels 1-8 at the top of the screen.
- Tap on a passage to open it up and review it.
- When you’re happy with your selection, hit Next. A Join Code and a link will be created for you to share with students.
- You can copy the link and code to share on Teams or in an email.
- Tap Done when you have shared this with your class.
Quick tip
You can see what your student experiences in Reading Coach by sliding the toggle at the top of the page to Student.
How to complete a practice in Reading Coach (Student view)
For students, it’s straightforward to get started with practices in Reading Coach.
Here’s what they need to do:
- Navigate to the practice session via the link shared by the teacher.
- Alternatively, open Reading Coach and enter the Join Code when prompted.
- Open the practice and tap Start reading.
- Begin reading the practice passage.
5. When the passage has been completed, Reading Coach provides immediate feedback and results, such as pronunciation accuracy, reading time and generates a list of words to practice.
- The student has the option to Read again, Read something else or Practise words.
How to review student progress in Reading Coach (Teacher view)
As your students complete the practices in Reading Coach, you can view their progress in a number of useful ways:
- Navigate to Reading Coach or follow the original link you shared with your class.
- From here, you can see a list of practices currently set for students, and a quick overview of how many students have completed the practice(s).
3. Select a practice session to view how students have performed.
- Tap on the individual student to see their progress, including reading time, practices completed, accuracy and words correct per minute.
- Tap through to bring up progress graphs for each student, so you can see their improvement over time.
The Cloud Design Box team of Microsoft 365 experts specialises in education. We work with schools and MATs across the UK, helping them to streamline teacher workload, improve communication and create a collaborative, productive school culture.
Want to know how we can support your school or trust? Book a call with one of our experts.
