An educator’s guide to Reading Coach

Reading Coach, a standalone Learning Accelerator, helps students improve reading skills through personalized learning practice. Designed to support both independent and guided learning, Reading Coach uses AI-generated stories with customizable characters to engage students and focus them on reading practice to strengthen reading fluency. Follow this guide to learn how to use Reading Coach to help build literacy skills.

With tools for tailoring reading instruction and extending learning beyond the classroom, Reading Coach empowers students to practice reading at their own pace. Explore how you can integrate Reading Coach into your classroom or have students use it at home. 

Educator benefits:

• Personalize reading practice to meet individual student needs.
• Create an inclusive learning experience with Immersive Reader—a feature that helps to improve reading skills for people of nearly all ages and abilities—with practice passages in 81 languages.

Student benefits:

• Improve literacy with engaging AI-generated stories featuring customizable characters and settings.
• Focus on specific words to overcome fluency challenges.
• Celebrate progress with badges and motivational rewards.
• Independent practice and learn at their own pace.
• Easy access for students at school or home.

How to access Reading Coach

Reading Coach is available for free and can be accessed with school-issued credentials (Microsoft Entra ID) or any personal Microsoft account. To use the web app, follow these steps:

1. Go to coach.microsoft.com
2. Select Get started.
3. Sign in with your Microsoft school account or with your personal Microsoft account.
4. Choose a reading passage mode, then explore, practice, and enjoy!

You can also find the Reading Coach app in Microsoft 365 or download the Windows app.

If this is the first time using Reading Coach on a device, a pop-up will appear asking for microphone access so you may need to enable your web pop-up blocker. Select Allow to continue. After reading, students can easily review results, including pronunciation accuracy, reading time, and words to practice.

Tip: When students finish a reading passage, they’ll see the option to Keep reading or Read something else on their results page. If they don’t finish the passage, they’ll see the option to Read again.

Explore reading modes

Reading Coach offers three flexible ways for students to engage more deeply with their reading. By providing supportive, interactive formats, it helps students build confidence, improve comprehension, and strengthen fluency. Explore these three engaging modes to personalize their reading experience.

“Create a story” mode

With “Create a Story” mode, students can generate interactive, AI-powered stories by choosing characters, settings, and reading levels in 14 languages. Students decide what happens in each chapter, exploring practice words tailored to their needs to keep learning focused on each student’s interests and abilities. This mode fosters creativity and personalized learning, making reading engaging and fun. It also ensures AI-generated story content is moderated for age appropriateness and aligns with the Microsoft Responsible AI Standard.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Select Create a story using AI.
2. Choose a main character and a setting for the story.
3. Select a reading level.
4. Select Create my story!
5. Select Start reading to begin and select the red Stop reading button to end the recording.

When students finish reading, a pop-up will appear with choices for the next chapter of the story. They can select a choice to continue or See results to finish reading.

“Read a passage” mode

“Read a passage” mode provides students with a digital library from ReadWorks, featuring over 110-leveled texts organized by Lexile level, genre, and word count. This digital library supports students’ diverse reading abilities with topics including science, famous figures, nature, and more to provide engaging, educational content that aligns with students’ interests.

To get started in this mode:

1. Select Read a passage.
2. Choose a reading level and select a passage.
3. Select Start reading to begin and select the red Stop reading button to end the recording.

When students finish reading, a results page will appear and they can choose to read the passage again, read something else, or practice more challenging words.

“Add a passage” mode

“Add a passage” mode allows students to personalize their reading by uploading custom passages, like assigned articles, textbook excerpts, or their own writing. This mode supports individual learning needs and specific objectives, making practice more targeted and meaningful.

To upload your own passage:

1. Select Add a passage.
2. Enter a title in the text field.
3. Paste or type the passage into the text field.
4. Select Start reading to begin and select the red Stop reading button to end the recording.

When students finish reading, the results page will appear and they can choose to read the passage again, read something else, or practice more challenging words.

Tip: Encourage students to keep a reading log with their reading materials or device to track their reading level and progress, helping them stay motivated and see their improvement over time.

Support accessibility

Immersive Reader is embedded in Reading Coach to support inclusive learning for all students. When students select “Start reading,” they unlock a set of powerful accessibility tools that can help boost comprehension and keep them engaged.

• Text preferences: Adjust text size, spacing, font, and colors for easier reading.
• Grammar support: Break down syllables and highlight parts of speech to improve understanding.
• Reading scaffolds: Focus on one line at a time or use the Picture Dictionary in Immersive Reader for extra support.
• Word pronunciation: Select a word to hear its pronunciation and practice saying it correctly.

Tip: Before students dive in, take a moment to show them how Immersive Reader works. Let them explore the tools to figure out what works best for them to give them time to help them feel confident and maintain their focus.

Student progress and practicing challenging words

Each time students read a passage, they can see insights on their progress like accuracy, time spent reading, and words they should practice. They can also track progress toward unlocking new story elements or earning badges. Over time, the Achievements page gives a summary of their total reading time, number of reading sessions, average pronunciation accuracy, and average words per minute as well as any badges earned and characters or story settings they’ve unlocked.

After reading, students can focus on the words they found most challenging with the Word Practice feature. It’s personalized based on their progress, so they’re working on exactly what they need to improve their reading skills.

Here’s how it works:

1. After reading a passage, select Practice words in the results box.
2. Reading Coach will highlight five challenging words. Choose one to practice.
3. Break the word in syllables or listen to it being read aloud to hear the pronunciation.
4. Select the microphone to practice reading the word aloud.
5. The word and star fill level will change based on improvement. Keep practicing until both turn green.
6. Select Next word to practice the others.

When all the words are correct, a pop-up will appear. Select Close to continue or select I’m done to finish practicing.

Tip: Encourage students to take ownership of their learning by celebrating small wins. After practicing challenging words, have them reflect on their progress—what words were tricky, what strategies helped, and how their accuracy improved. This builds confidence and reinforces a growth mindset.

Earn badges and unlock story elements

Reading Coach motivates and rewards students throughout their reading journey. They can celebrate their progress by earning badges and unlocking characters or settings, providing a tangible representation of their hard work and accomplishments.

• Badges: As students progress, they earn badges for reaching milestones and accomplishments. These badges are visual symbols of success, such as reading with high accuracy or maintaining a consistent reading habit.
• Story elements: Each time a student spends 20 minutes reading with Reading Coach, they unlock a new character or story setting to use in AI-powered stories. They can choose to keep the unlocked element or swap it for another. And they can see all their story elements in “Create a story” mode or on their Achievements page.

Reading Coach is a free, powerful Learning Accelerator that supports personalized, engaging, and inclusive reading practice for students. Integrate it into your classroom or encourage families to use it at home to help students improve fluency, build confidence, and celebrate progress.