Consistency Counts: How Instructional Routines Boost Learning
Instructional routines are structured, predictable sequences of teaching practices that teachers use consistently to deliver content and guide student learning
Think of instructional routines as “standard plays” in a classroom! Just as athletes and sports teams rely on familiar plays to stay coordinated and flexible under pressure, instructional routines help students focus on learning, not figuring out what comes next. Rooted in cognitive science, instructional routines reduce cognitive load, freeing working memory for deeper processing of new content.
Establishing classroom routines at the start of the year (like lining up, turning in papers, and managing transitions) requires intentional effort and consistency. However, these routines lay the foundation for a classroom that runs smoothly throughout the year. Equally important are your instructional routines, which provide students with predictable structures for engaging with academic content. Instructional routines are powerful because they make learning more efficient, consistent, and effective.
Here are our tried-and-true, intermediate, instructional routines for all 5 components of reading + morphology.
Structured Literacy Lesson Instructional Routine
The Orton-Gillingham methodology offers a structured lesson framework that systematically incorporates phonological and phonemic awareness, decoding and encoding at the word level focus on phonics patterns, dictation, and connected text reading through explicit instruction and guided practice. This framework is flexible, supporting both emergent readers and more advanced students, while maintaining a consistent lesson structure. As students become familiar with the predictable routines embedded in this methodology, they gain a clear understanding of what to expect in each segment of the lesson, which supports engagement, confidence, and more efficient skill development.
Small, Consistent Steps = Big Learning
In this first-grade lesson, the Orton-Gillingham three-part drill instructional routine is in action. Notice how seamlessly students follow each step of the lesson—they understand what to do and what comes next without needing guidance on materials or procedures. This familiarity allows students to focus entirely on learning the content, maximizing engagement and efficiency.
Similarly, in this structured literacy phonics lesson with third graders, the students demonstrate the power of well-established routines. Even with a teacher who is new to the class, students immediately know the expectations and flow of the lesson. Their familiarity with the routine enables them to engage directly with the content, highlighting how consistent instructional structures support independence and academic success.
Those lessons highlighted phonemic awareness and phonics. Now let’s talk about incorporating morphology.
Morphology Instructional Routine
To promote teacher clarity and student success, each lesson follows this consistent, research-based routine:
1. Engage
Begin with 2–3 familiar words that include the target root or affix. Discuss the words’ meanings and prompt students to predict the morpheme’s meaning.
2. Teach Explicitly
Introduce the new morpheme or pattern through direct instruction using visuals, word sums, and meaningful context. Guide students to break down words by morphology and phonics rules.
3. Analyze & Apply
Use word ladders to explore word families and deepen understanding of root-based vocabulary. Students will then use words in context and apply their new learning with retrieval-based activities.
4. Practice & Extend
Students work with words through fluency practice, dictation, word sorts, and word building. Extend learning into reading and writing tasks.
5. Reflect & Transfer
Encourage students to connect morphemes across subject areas and apply their knowledge independently. A build-as- you-go morphology bulletin board is included for future support and reference.
Fluency Routine with Repeated Readings
A repeated reading routine strengthens fluency by giving students multiple opportunities to practice text, improving accuracy, rate, and expression while reinforcing comprehension.
Read 1 – Accuracy
Teacher models fluent reading of the passage.
Students complete a first read, focusing on decoding each word correctly.
Teacher provides corrective feedback and brief word review if necessary.
Read 2 – Pace & Meaning
Students reread the same passage, this time attending to appropriate rate.
Teacher prompts students to group words into meaningful syntactical chunks to support comprehension.
Discuss how pacing influences understanding.
Read 3 – Phrasing & Punctuation
Students read again, focusing on natural phrasing and attending to punctuation cues (pausing at commas, stopping at periods, inflection with question marks, etc.).
Teacher models and has students echo-read tricky sentences.
Read 4 – Expression
Final reread emphasizes prosody: tone, emphasis, and expression that reflect the meaning of the text.
Students may perform a short read-aloud for a partner, small group, or teacher, practicing reading “like they talk.”
Repeated Text Reading Routine
A structured, five-day instructional routine with a skill-based passage gradually moves students from teacher modeling to independent practice, incorporating repeated readings, pattern identification, partner work, and comprehension discussions to build both decoding and understanding.
• Day 1: Introduce skill-based passage by reading aloud (I DO)
• Day 2: Highlight pattern in skill-based passage and re-read chorally (We Do)
• Day 3: Re-read skill-based passage with partner, find pattern words and scoops on the back (We Do)
• Day 4: Re-read skill-based passage and answer comprehension questions (We Do/ You Do)
• Day 5: Final read of skill-based passage independently and final comprehension strategy question/discussion (You Do)
Direct Instruction Vocabulary Routine
This structured vocabulary routine is used to explicitly teach students new, tier 2 words. It is called the POSSUM technique and guides students through pronunciation, spelling, meaning, morphology, and contextual connections, reinforced with synonyms, antonyms, multi-sensory activities, deep processing, and multiple exposures to ensure lasting understanding and mastery.
Teacher pronounces word. Students repeat. (P-phonology)
Spell the word using syllables and sounds. (O-orthography)
Teacher gives definition, context, & part of speech; use morphology when applicable. (S-syntax, S-meaning, M- morphology)
Connection using the word (U- understanding)
Synonym and Antonym
Multi-sensory (act the word out or show an object)
Deep processing (connect personally to the word)
Multiple exposures for mastery
Word-Learning Vocabulary Instructional Routine
Teaching word-learning strategies- deliberate, systematic approaches students use to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words- can help students more than double the number of words they acquire. The Look Inside, Inside, Outside instructional routine guides students to independently figure out the meaning of unknown words.
When you don’t know the meaning of a word:
Look inside the word: Identify any familiar prefixes, roots, or suffixes and see if they give you clues about the meaning.
Look inside the sentence: Examine the sentence and surrounding sentences for definitions, synonyms, or antonyms that give clues.
Look outside the text: Consider your own knowledge or broader context to infer meaning.
Comprehension- Reciprocal Teaching Instructional Routine
A three-day Reciprocal Teaching routine allows students who are already familiar with the strategy to rotate roles in groups, apply all four strategies with partners, and then use them independently with reflection to strengthen comprehension.
Day 1 – Group Reading & Strategy Rotation
Students read a common passage independently or in small groups.
Each student takes on one of the four roles: Predictor, Questioner, Clarifier, Summarizer.
Roles rotate after each section of the text or after each 3 day cycle so every student practices all strategies.
Day 2 – Partner Reading & Strategy Deepening
Students work in pairs with a new passage.
They move through all four strategies together, pausing after each section to record predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries. This allows students to see that these are metacognition strategies that occur naturally and not just one is applicable.
Teacher circulates to confer and press for deeper, text-based evidence.
Day 3 – Independent Reading & Reflection
Students independently apply the four strategies while reading a self-selected or assigned passage.
They record their thinking in a graphic organizer or reading journal.
Reflection: Students share in small groups which strategy helped them most and how it improved their comprehension.
Comprehension- The CSR Routine
This CSR-based routine guides students to identify the genre before reading, monitor their understanding using the Comprehension Salad strategy during reading, and create a concise gist statement afterward to strengthen comprehension and reflection.
Before Reading (Preview/Activate)
1. Identify the Genre: Teacher asks, “What kind of text are we reading today? How do you know?” Students name the genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.) and predict features they might see.
2. Set a Purpose: Students share what they expect to learn or notice based on the genre and preview of text.
During Reading (Monitor/Clarify)
3. Read in Sections: Students read a short chunk of text together or independently.
4. Comprehension Salad: After each section, students “toss in” their thinking by asking a question, making a prediction or inference, or connecting to their own thinking and knowledge.
After Reading (Review/Wrap-up)
5. Create a Gist Statement: Students write 1–2 sentences that summarize what the text was mostly about, using their own words.
6. Share & Reflect: Students compare gist statements in pairs or groups to refine meaning. Teacher leads a brief reflection: “How did identifying the genre and using comprehension salad help you understand the text?”
Instructional routines give students a clear, predictable structure that makes learning smoother and more focused. High-quality instructional routines help students know what to expect, which frees up cognitive resources for learning new content! When routines are consistent, students can spend less time figuring out what to do and more time actually learning, which research shows leads to stronger engagement, better classroom management, and improved academic outcomes.
Find our Instructional Routines Handbook as well as all these lesson resources in the Reading Rev VIP Vault!
Works Cited
Buber, Elif. “The Importance of Routines in Learning.” NovaK Education Blog, 21 September 2023. novakeducation.com
“Teaching Routines: Their Role in Classroom Management.” AERO Explainer, Australian Education Research Organisation, December 2023. edresearch.edu.au+1
Argyropulo-Palmer, Ann-Marie. “Exploring the Evidence Base: The Role of Routines in Creating an Effective Learning Environment.” Chartered College of Teaching, 9 May 2022. My College+1
“Instructional Routines That Support All Learners.” Great Minds Aha! Blog, 7 June 2023. Great Minds
