“Go,
Go Speed Reader!”
Growing
Independence and Fluency
Rationale:
For students to learn how
to read quickly, effortlessly, and using expression they must become
fluent
readers. Fluent reading is a student’s
ability to read words correctly and automatically.
Word recognition also must be automatic in
order for students to comprehend text and become fluent readers. In order for students to achieve word
recognition automatically, reading and re-reading decodable text must
happen. Fluent reading is accomplished
through repeated readings, timed reading, and one-minute reads. This lesson takes step by step instructions
on how to help students develop and learn how to read quickly,
automatically,
and expressively. Students will practice
and be aided in strengthening their ability to read fluently.
Materials:
*A stopwatch for each two students
(partners);
*A copy of “Clifford the Big Red Dog” for each
student;
*Fluency chart for each student: the chart will have on one side of the
paper a column going up to the top where a big dog bone will be, along
the
column will be numbers counting up, and at the bottom of the chart
there will
be “Clifford” the dog from the story.;
*Red, blue, and yellow crayons for every
two students;
*White board;
*Dry erase markers
Procedures:
1. Start the
lesson off by explaining to the
students that in order to become a successful reader you have to be
able to
read fluently. “Fluent reading is when
you are able to read so fast that you do not have to stop to sound out
each
word. It is when you recognize words
automatically without even trying.” When
students become fluent readers they begin to really enjoy text because
it makes
sense to them. “One way that all of us
can improve our fluency is by reading a text more than one time, or
called
rereading. Each time you reread one
certain text you read it faster and faster because you start to become
more and
more familiar with that text. We are all
going to try this strategy and see how we can improve our reading
fluency.”
2. Write a
sentence on the board about a
cat. “I have a big fat cat that is very
fluffy and has a long tail.” Next review
and explain the steps in decoding. “What
if I do not know a word, what will I do first? Right I will use the
cover-up
method. Remember a while back when we
learned this method? We are all going to
try using it together. We are going to
practice with the word cat. Notice the
word cat in the sentence on the board.” Using
the white board write the following steps down on the board as showing
an
example; “First we would find the vowel which is the letter a, and we
would
have everything covered up except the vowel.
The letter a makes the /a/ sound.
Then we would uncover the letter c which makes the /c/ sound and
say out
loud by blending the /ca/ together. Then
we would uncover the letter t which makes the /t/ sound and blend all
the sounds
together to read the word, cat.” Then we
would read the sentence on the board that contains the word cat in it
to see if
it makes sense and if our cover-up and blending strategy worked.
3. “Next I am
going to read a sentence that I will
write on the board to you. The first
time I am going to read the sentence without fluency and then I will
read the
sentence fluently.” (Write on the board I
had fun at the park.) Then the teacher
will demonstrate by reading slowly “I h-a-d f-u-n a-t th-e p-a-r-k. Did you notice how I got stuck on some
words? Didn’t everyone have a difficult
time
understanding me? Yes, you are
right. This happens a lot when we read,
but the more we read the same words, the better we become at
recognizing
them. Now I am going to read the
sentence again in another way, not getting stuck on any of the words. (This time I will read it fast and with
fluency.) I had fun at the park. Which time sounded better?
Which reading was faster and more fluent the
first or second time? You are correct, the second one.
The second time I could understand the
sentence better because I did not have to focus on figuring out how to
say the
words. The second time I could focus on
what the text was saying.
4. Partner
students into small groups of
two. Hand out all of the books “Clifford
the Big Red Dog” to every
student. “First tell the students that
you will read the first two pages three times to demonstrate what they
will do. Explain to the class that each
time you read
a passage you become familiar with it and can read it better and
better.” Then read the first two pages. The first time reading read the text slowly
and make it difficult for the students to understand.
Then the second time read it better and on
the third time read it fluently and with expression.
“Tell them that after they read the whole story
through together with their partner then they will reread the story. Explain to them that they are to read to
their partner. One student will be
partner 1 and the other student will be partner 2.
The first time they read the story to each
other partner 1 will read every other page and then partner 2 will read
the
other pages that partner 1 does not read.
They will swap up every other page.”
5. Then they
will each take turns reading to
each other so both partners become familiar with the book.
The teacher should walk around observing the
students while they are reading and taking notes. If
some students are done before the teacher
is able to listen and observe students reading then the teacher should
ask the
students to reread some of the story again.
6. Next pass
out one stop watch to each group,
the charts with the dog and dog bone on them, and the crayons. We are going to play a fun game that I bet
you have never played before so I need everyone to listen very closely. I want one person in the group at a time read
the story for one minute. The other
partner will be timing the person using the stop watch and then when
the timer
goes off the reader will stop reading immediately right where they are. Then I want the partner that was the time
tracker to count how many words their partner read and graph them on
the chart
with the dog and dog bone I handed out.
Then the other partner should do this.
The teacher should demonstrate in the front of the classroom how
to
graph the one-minute reads using the chart given with the dog and dog
bone. Every student should do the
one-minute reads about two or three times and only for one-minute each
time. Explain to the students that each
time they do a new one-minute read that the 1st time the track it in
red
crayon, 2nd time in blue, and 3rd time in yellow
crayon. If any students are done early
the teacher should have them continuing reading the book for more
practice.
7. For
assessment, the teacher will collect all
of the graph sheets and calculate each of the student’s words they read
per
minute. The teacher will make a chart
for each student with the information collected on it from the lesson
just
completed and with the new calculated score for them to have and work
on to
improve their score even more. The
teacher will have each student come up and ask questions about the book
to see
if they understood and comprehended the text while improving their
reading
fluency.
References:
Gainor, Brandi.
“Go Speed Racer!”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/begin/gainorgf.html
Bridwell, Norman. “Clifford
the Big Red Dog.” Scholastic: 1988. pp.32.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/begin/durhamgf.html.
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