Courtney Hamby
Growing
~ Expression in Action ~
Rational: This lesson
has been designed to help
students build their ability to read independently and fluently.
The
lesson focus is primarily on fluency. Fluency will enable the students
to
reading faster, smoother, and with more expression. The students
will be
given a text with characters that can be divided up among student
groups of
three. The students will be asked to read various character parts in
the story.
The students will learn to read independently and fluently through
rereading
the script over and over, as they work on expressing the attitude of
their
character.
Materials: Board to
write on, Texts for each student, Fluency check sheets for each
student,
Teacher record of student’s fluency
Suggested Text: The Red Hen by: Judith
Bauer Stamper
Procedures:
1.) Begin the lesson with providing the students
with a poor example of fluent reading. Write the following text up on
the board
and read it first like a beginning reader, then model how to read it
fluently. “I have a
tree..ri..ble some time shooping in the store today. Did that sentence
make any
sense? No, it should be.. I had a troublesome time shopping in
the store
today. One thing to remember when you read is to make sure that
the
sentence makes sense when you read it aloud.” Tell them that
reading fluently
results in reading that is more enjoyable and that today we are going
to work
on becoming fluent readers. Review previous learned strategies of a
good
reader. “When you read out loud you want
to make sure others will want to listen to you.”
2.) Ask the students if they know what the word
expression
means. Call on students and pull together their definitions
to form
the basic idea that expression is how we change the volume, speed, and
tone of
our voices as we read the text. Write the definition of expression on
the
board. The students can refer to it as they continue with the
lesson. Tell the students that today they will be practicing their
reading
skills by trying to make their voices more expressive. “I
want you to pretend that you are the characters in our story. As you
read your parts remember to read the lines as if you were really
speaking them.”
3.) Use a line from the text to provide and
example of
how a character might sound. Explain that the characters will have
different
voices and that they will express their words differently. Students
should be
divided into groups of three and given a copy of the text.
4.) Assign each student in the group a part or a
character’s lines to read. Give them the opportunity to read through
their part
silently before asking them to read out load in their groups. Have the
students
reread the text together in their small groups. Remind them that they
are to
portray their character to their group members. After the students read
the
text together tell them to read it together a second time. “This
time when you read use you voice to
sound just like your character. Remember to be expressive. Don’t read
too fast
or too slow.”
5.) How the students practice reading several
more times,
each time they should become more and more comfortable and fluent with
the
text. Give each group fluency check sheets to track their own fluency
and
expression as they read. Tell them that while they wait to be called on
to read
for the teacher they can take turns checking their own fluency with the
provided sheets. The student should be instructed to take turns reading
and
checking each other to see how fluently their independent reading
develops.
This will help them to feel more confident with the text and ready to
perform
it for the teacher when their turn comes.
6.) Assessment: Tell
them that when they are ready they can come and perform for you. “When you all have your parts ready and
believe that you can read and perform them with true expression then I
will
call you over the show me how well you can fluently read through the
text as a
group.” Call the individual groups and let them read to you as you
take
notes of their progress and struggles. Check the students primarily for
fluency
and expression as they read their parts to you.
References:
Murray, Bruce. “Developing
Smith, Elizabeth. "Use Expression." The
Dean, Lindsay. “Hit a Home Run with Reading Speed.” The
Stamper,
Judith Bauer. The Red Hen. Scholastic.
Teachers
Record of student Performance:
1.) _____
/ 10
Read the words accurately
2.) _____/
10
Read at a steady pace (not too
fast or slow)
3.) _____/
10 Read
lines smoothly without
interruptions
4.) _____/
10 Read
Script with expression
5.) _____/
10 Worked
well together with classmates
6.) _____/
10 Showed actions of the characters
through voice tone
7.)
_____/ 10 Was
ready to read when
the time came
8.) _____/
10 Followed
along with the other students
reading
9.) _____/
10 Read
lines of the story assigned like a
fluent reader
10.)
____ / 10 Show evidence of skills practiced and
learned
through reading and rereading the script.
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