My students are just clicking through the lessons. What should I do?

Problem: My students are rushing through Garbanzo lessons without really reading.

When you assign a Garbanzo lesson, you hope students will take their time, read carefully, and try to answer the questions right the first time. However, this is not always the case! Many students will click through quickly, guess at the answers, and keep trying until they get it right or run out of tries. They finish the lesson quickly, but they didn't actually read anything and their lesson score is very low.

Here are some teacher-tested strategies that work, shared by teachers in the Teaching with Garbanzo App Facebook group.

1. Require Audio at the Beginning of the Year

If your students have access to audio, require them to use it during the first few weeks of using Garbanzo. Hearing the language forces them to slow down and process what they’re reading—and it supports listening comprehension, too!

2. Create a Garbanzo “100s Club”

Motivate students to aim for accuracy by celebrating success! Each time you assign a story, recognize students who score 100%. You might:

• Display their names on a classroom slide
• Give them a shoutout during class
• Offer a small reward like extra credit or a piece of candy

3. Make it About Mastery, Not Just Completion

If your goal is for students to really learn from the lesson, consider assigning it for accuracy rather than completion. You can put the lesson in the Biblioteca and allow students to redo it as many times as they’d like until they reach a grade they’re proud of. This helps shift the focus from “getting it done” to “doing it well.”

4. Start with Partner Reading

When introducing Garbanzo, try volleyball reading for the first few weeks. Pair students up and have them share one device. They take turns reading each sentence aloud, like passing a volleyball back and forth. This builds strong reading habits and ensures they experience the story fully before working independently. Once students have formed the habit of thoughtful reading, they’re more likely to stick with it, even when they move on to solo work.

5. Set a Minimum Accuracy Goal

Another way to encourage careful reading is to set a required score—such as 85%—for lesson completion. When students know they need to meet a specific threshold, they’re more likely to slow down and pay attention to the text.