Growing Independence and Fluency
Carrie Norris
 "Learning to be a Super Speedy Reader"
1.  Rationale:
Students need to be able to read fluently and accurately.  This may be difficult for slow readers.  If a student is a slow reader, he or she is more likely to become embarrassed to read. we were going to improve the speed of our reading.  We are going to do that by reading the same  book several times.  Therefore, lots of practice is needed to become a fluent, skilled reader.

Materials:
Liz is Six  book.  Writing paper for the students to write  down what they remember from what they read, graph for students to record their reading and class set of Lester, Julius.  (1999). John Henry. (Picture Puffins).  Here is an example of the graph:
 
 




Procedures:
2. Today we are going to work on fluency.  We all need to be able to read smoothly and fluently.  To do that we need lots of practice.  So let's begin.  Let's begin with reviewing some things.  Let's review the steps we follow when we come to a word we do not know.  (The students will take out their booksmarks with the steps to help them when they get stuck on a word.)  Let's review the steps.  The first step is to cover up the word, but uncover the first letter.  Slowly sound out the letter and uncover the other letters one at a time. (Model for the students.)  Does everyone see how I have the word covered up, revealing each letter and sounding out the rest of the letters one at a time.  The first letter is /c/.  The next is /o/. (Continue until the whole word is revealed.  The word is consideration.)
Review: Let's review blending.  Does anyone remember what body coda means?  Well, the body is everything up to the vowel, and the coda is the vowel and the rest of the words.  Here is an example:  body (/tr/) and the coda (/ap/).
3. I am going to read silently for one minute.  I want you all to time me.  When my time is up tell me to stop so I can count the number of words that I read in a minute.  I want you all to watch the clock on the wall.  When I tell you to start pay attention to the clock.  When the minute is up everyone say stop!  I can't believe it!  I read three pages in that one minute.  Now it is your turn only this time you will have five minutes. (Model how to use the graph.)
4. (Pass out the graphs to the students.)   Now I am going to pass out the graphs that we will be using.  You will be using these graphs to record your success each time you read. Graphs will be already labeled. Although the graph provides you with enough room to track the book twenty times, we are only going to read the book four times today.  I'm going to give you five minutes each time you read.  When I say time is up, I want you to graph how many pages you read corresponding with what trial you are on.
5.  (Pass out books.)  Now I am passing out the books that you will use during the timed reading.  Please do not open your book until I say to do so.  Thank you.  When I say begin, everyone open up their book and begin to read.  But when I tell you to stop at the end of five minutes, please close your book and put your hands in your lap so I will know who followed directions and who did not.
6. Start timing the students and begin.
Okay class now begin reading. (Time for five minutes.)
Time is up.  Please close your book and put your hands in your lap just like I asked you to do.  Thank you for doing just what I asked you to do.
7.  (Ask the students to graph the number of pages that they read in the five minutes.)      Now I want you to take your graph and put a dot by the number of pages you read on line one because this is your first trial.
Demonstrate this on the board for the students because this will be confusing to them if they have never used a graph.  This will also be a great math lesson for the students teaching them how to use a graph.
8.  (So you will know that the students actually read and did not just flip through the pages have them write down something that they remember from the book.  For eample, the characters' names or a situation in the book or phrase.)  Now get out your paper and write down everything that you remember from what you just read.
9.  (Repeat the steps three times or so.) After students have finished their fourth trial show them how to connect their dots so they can get a true graph.  Hopefully all of their graphs are going up hill.  Show them how their graph should look if they were improving each time.  Go around the room and look at the students graphs so you can see how they are doing.  You may want to take the graphs up and put in their files for a record that you can refer back to.  Through out the year you may want to do this activity again.  You can use the same graph paper for up to twenty trials.  Also, take up their writings so you can compare them later as well.  After you have finished connect the dots.  If your reading improved then you should have a line that goes up towards the sky.  Your reading may not have reached towards the sky this time, but we are going to do this many more times this year so don't worry.  You will have plenty more chances to improve your reading.  I will come by and take up your graphs and your readings so make sure your name is on both the graph and the writing that you did.

References: Reading Genie website http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/breakthroughs/mcinnishgf.html titled Learning to Read With Superman Speed

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