Growing Independence and Fluency
Laura
Slocum
Rationale:
In order to help children gain
confidence and fluency in reading, there are many approaches that can
be taken.
You should work with a fifty to one-hundred word passage, choose a
passage at
the students’ instructional level, and have them read this same text
over and
over until they have mastered it by becoming a faster reader.
It’s also
important for you as the teacher to emphasize the importance of
re-reading as well
as reading expressively and speedily. The fluency formula is this:
students
should read and reread decodable words in connected text. There is no
room for
guessing using context when students are able to decode the words.
Materials:
Procedures:
1) “Let’s review how to
blend words that we
don’t recognize by sight. If I see the letters c r u s h, but I
cannot
read the word, I first look at the vowel sound. In this word, u
says
/u/. Next I go to the beginning sounds. Cr says /cccc/ /rrrrr/.
If I add
the vowel sound at the end, I have “ccrrrrruuuu.”
Finally, I look at the last
sound. It is /sh/. So, now I can combine all three sounds to read
“ccccrrrruuuush.” “Crush!” When you see any words you
don’t know today, you
should use this vowel-first method to figure it out.”
2) “Have you ever wanted
to read your
favorite books a little faster? Well today we’re going to learn how to
practice
reading so we can get a little bit faster. When we read books faster,
we can
also read with more expression. We can make parts happy, sad,
suspensful, or
really exciting! I would like you to go to the shelf and pick a
book with
the colored dot that represents your own reading level.” (Teacher needs
to have
a book ready so he/she can model next.)
3) After students return
to their seats, show
them your book. “When I first picked up this book, there were some
words I did
not know. First, I read the book once and used the vowel-first method
we talked
about to figure those words out. Then, I read the book again. Do you
know why?
Because the more times we read a book, the easier it gets to read!”
4) “Let me show you how I
read this book the
first time.” Out loud, read a few sentences from your selected book
very slowly
and use the vowel-first method to decode some words (out loud
so
children can hear you). Then read again a little bit faster. “Since I
decoded
the first time, now I know all the words so I can concentrate on
reading
faster.” Finally, read the sentences at conversation speed. “See how I
got a
bit faster each time I read? That’s what happens!”
5) “Now I’d like you to
read the book you
chose at your desk. Keep reading until I say stop. When you finish
reading it
once, read it again so it will get easier. Remember to use our
vowel-first
method!”
6) After about 10 minutes,
say, “STOP!”
7) Now have students
partner up and read to
each other. The student who is not reading should time the other with a
stopwatch and record the time it took for their partner to read. Switch
accordingly. Have each student read their text two times and record
both times.
8) After all students have
read to a partner,
say, “Now let’s chart our results and see how we read just a bit faster
the
second time we read!”
9) “You may take your book
home to read to
your family. Show them how fast and how well you can read the story! Be
sure to
use expression so your family will enjoy the book as much as you do.
I’m so
proud of all of you. Isn’t it fun to read books a bit faster? All it
takes is
reading the book a few times over and over, and you’ll become speedy
readers!”
Assessment: By
having the children read with speed, timing each child ( r having their
partner
time them) and then charting out the time, I will be able to assess
each
child’s speed.
References:
Tidwell, Casey. Read with Speed at: http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/explor/tidwellgf.html
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