Nachman Elementary School working on ‘Expressive Reading’

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - Fifth-grade students at Nachman Elementary are taking reading to the next level by learning to be expressive.

Traci Thompson, a music teacher at the school, said they’re trying to increase fluency because it’s something all students need to be successful. So, they’re making learning how to read expressively and practicing reading into something fun.

Ross Schexnayder, with Lagniappe Theatre Company, has been sharing some of his acting skills with the students to help them with their expressive reading.

“It’s not important enough just to read, but if you want people to be interested in what you’re saying you have to give life to those words. And so, what we like to tell them to do is when they read expressively to read the words the way that they mean,” said Schexnayder.

Once a week, a fifth-grade student is selected to read a story for something called “Nachman Knight Tales”. The student is recorded on camera doing their best to give an expressive reading of a story to be posted on different online platforms used by the school for students in younger grades to watch, in hopes of encouraging younger students to continuously practice reading.

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