“READY, SET, READ!!”
Growing
Independence & Fluency
By: Nicole
Lawyer
Rationale:
To become a successful reader one must read fluently, accurately, with
expression, and consistently. This
goal of this lesson is to help students with their fluency while reading by
working on their reading speed. The
best way to do this is to transition from decoding to automatic word
recognition. Fluent readers can better comprehend the text they are reading
because they no longer have to concentrate on decoding each individual word and
are able to read at a faster and smoother pace. Students’ reading fluency will
increase through this lesson by charting reading times.
Materials:
Timer/stopwatch (1 per
student)
Reading charts (one
for each student):
Name:_________________________
Date:___________
Time:
After 1st read
_______
After 2nd read
_______
After 3rd read
_______
Repeated Reading Checklist (one for each student
to use with a partner):
Partners' Names___________________________
As
I listened to my partner read, he/she:
After 2nd
After 3rd
1. Remembered more words
_______
_______
2. Read faster
_______
_______
3. Read smoother
_______
_______
4. Read with expression
_______
_______
Class set of
the decodable book: Amelia Bedelia
Procedures:
1)
Introduce the lesson by explaining to students what it means to be a
fluent reader and why it is an important part of learning to read.
“Today we are going to talk about fluency.
Fluency is a reader's ability to read words quickly, smoothly, and with
emotions. Whenever a fluent reader
is reading it sounds like they are having a normal conversation with someone.
So, let’s talk about why it is important for readers to be fluent.
Becoming a fluent reader makes reading more enjoyable and you are able to
concentrate more on the meaning and storyline of the whole text instead of
individual words. Is everyone ready? Great now lets get started!”
2)
Pass out copies of “Amelia Bedelia” to students.
3)
“I bet all of us in the classroom have read a book before that was really
good and very interesting but just weren’t able to read it fast enough to finish
quickly. Well, today we are going
to work on that and practice ways to become fluent readers."
"It is helpful to go back and re-read words until you are able to make it
flow together as if it is normal talk.
This tool is called rereading.
We have discussed rereading in the past as a self-help strategy.
It is the same thing we do whenever we come across unfamiliar words.
Well, rereading can also be used to help with fluency because the more
times you read something the more automatic it comes.”
4)
Model for students. “The
first time you pick up a book there is usually a number of words that are
unfamiliar." Read the first page of
the book. (the first sentences).
"For me, the first time I read through a new book it is difficult to understand
it all because I have to read slow and figure out the unknown words."
Read the sentences again non-fluently. (slow, take pauses, and struggle
on some words.) “Oh, A-m-e-l-ia Amelia
Bed-e-l-ia, your f-i-r-r-s-t fi-rst first day of w-o-rk, and I can’t be
h-e-r-e.” "Did everyone notice how hard it was for me to read some of the
unfamiliar words the first time through?
It was not very smooth and it was hard for me to enjoy reading it.
So, I then read the sentences again for a second time." “Oh, Amel-ia
Bedel-ia, your fi-rst day of w-ork and I can’t
be he-re.” "That time I was able to read a little bit faster because the
unfamiliar words are becoming more familiar and I did not have to slow down to
figure them out as much. Though it
was easier, it still was not smooth.
So I will reread it again."
"Oh, Amelia Bedelia, your first day of work, and I can’t be here." That time it
was smooth but it did not have any emotion in it."
Reread it again with emotion. "I
learned that the more times I read it the easier it got and I eventually
could read the book straight through quickly, smoothly, and with emotions.
I really started to enjoy reading because it wasn’t as difficult.
Now you are all going to try reading the books you chose several times
today so that you get better each time you read the text.”
5)
“Everyone now take this time to read the book, Amelia Bedelia. "
Book talk:
"This book is about a girl named Amelia Bedelia. She is a housekeeper who
upsets the household when she does everything wrong that she is suppose to do.
Will they stay mad at Amelia forever? I guess we’ll have to read to find out!”
6)
Read until I tell you to stop.
If you finish reading your book before I tell you to stop, then start
reading it again from the beginning.
(Give the students seven minutes to read individually.)
When seven minutes is up stop the students and then place them in pairs.
This will give students the opportunity to read the selected text to
individually, building confidence, followed by a time for an informal
assessment.
7)
Instruct students on what to do.
“I want you to work with your partners.
I want one of you to read while the other times you as you read using the
timer that I have given to you.
Then switch roles. Each of you
should read your book three times all the way through and make sure you record
the time for all of the reads on the handout."
8)
After each student has read to a partner instruct him or her, “Now I want
everyone to evaluate their partners to see if they are improving on their
fluency each time they read it.”
9)
In later lessons students will be given one-minute to read a book through
over and over again to chart how many words per minute they are reading. Take
the opportunity to listen to each student individually to assess his or her
improvement. Also assess them to be
sure that there are not other skills they need to improve on first in order to
succeed as a fluent reader. Use the
information gathered from the assessments to plan future lessons.
Reference:
The Reading Genie:
Developing Reading Fluency
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html