Express Yourself! Maggie
Saye
Growing Independence and Fluency Plan
Rationale: Fluency
is a skill that is vital for students to become successful
readers. Fluency has a few components: reading quickly (faster
than beginning readers), reading with accuracy and automaticity, being
able to read silently, being able to read voluntarily, reading
smoothly, and reading with expression. My lesson focuses on reading
with expression. This is a very important part of fluency and makes the
language of a book come alive to the reader because it actually sounds
how we would speak it. My students will learn to use expression in
their reading by listening for expression in text, practicing how to
use expression in sentences, and by practicing using expression in
reading a book.
Materials: The
book, The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss, sentence strips with the
following sample sentences: "I don't want to go to
school today!"�, "Do
we have to do that?", "Leave me alone!", "What would you like to do?",
"Can we please go now?", "I can't wait
to go to the concert tonight!",
dry erase board and markers to write differently punctuated sentences
on, Stu's Tune by
Educational
Insights and an assessment checklist with the following questions:
___Did the student change his/her voice from high to low when needed?
___Did the student change his/her voice from loud to soft when needed?
___Did the student recognize the punctuation mark present at the end of
each sentence and read it accordingly?
___Did the student consistently read with expression throughout the
story?
___Did the student respond well to peer or teacher suggestions when
reading?
Procedures:
1) First, I will explain to the students that we will learn
more about reading with expression today. I will tell students that
when we read with expression books come alive and sound like real
language and how we would actually talk. I will also tell them that
when we read with expression, we don't just read the words but
think of
how we would say them if we were that character. We wouldn't
say our
words without any emotion, and neither would our characters. If they
are happy, sad, excited, scared, or angry, we have to express that to
those we are reading to. We can express the emotions of our characters
by making our voice higher, lower, softer, or louder. I will tell the
students that we will practice listening for expression with the book,
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.
2) Next, I will tell the students that as I read the book, The Cat in
the Hat by Dr. Seuss, I want them to listen for my use of expression.
Before we read the whole book, we will work through the first page
together. I will read a sentence at a time and verbally discuss how I
know if it was read with expression or not. I might say, "It
was a very
good day" very flatly. Then I would say to the class, "That was kind of
boring and just sounded like the words. Lets see if I can do better
with my expression. I will have to focus on what I'm reading and think
about how the character would be feeling. Then I will put an emphasis
on the words that show the expression of what is being said in the
sentence". Then I would read, "It was a very good
day" with expression
and say to the class, "That was much more emotional and showed
how I
felt, huh? It had much more expression than the first time I read
it".
I will then explain to the students, "When you hear me use
expression
in the story, I want you to show me a thumbs up. If you think I am
reading without emotion and just saying the words, show me a thumbs
down". As I read the story to the students I will make sure to
change
how I am reading throughout the story by reading with expression and
without expression so that students will have to pay attention and
really listen to know whether to give me a thumbs up or thumbs
down.
3) After the completion of the story I will ask the students, "How did
you know when I was reading with expression? Can you show me an example
sentence in the book where I used expression and say it how I did? How
did you know when I didn't use expression? Can you show me an
example
sentence in the book where I didn't use expression and say it
how I
did? What can you hear in the two sentences we have just read that are
different?"
4) I will say to students, "Now that you have been able to hear
the
difference in my use of expression in the book we read, I want to show
you me how to read sentences with and without expression to show the
class the difference. I will do one first and then you guys will do
them in pairs". I will hold the sentence strip with "I
don't want to go
to school today!" to the class. I will first read it plainly, "I don't
want to go to school today". I will say, "Was that read
with or without
expression? (Wait for student response) Good! It was read without
expression. Now let's see if I can read it with expression! "I don't
want to go to school today!" That time I emphasized important
words and
showed the character's emotion that they really didn't
want to go to
school that day". I will then ask for volunteers in pairs of
two to
come to the front of the class. I will give each pair one sentence
strip one of the following sentences on it: "Do we have to do
that?", "Leave me alone!", "What would you like to
do?", "Can we please go
now?", "I can't wait to go to the concert
tonight!". Each pair will
read their sentence to the class. One of them will read the sentence
with no expression and the other will read the sentence with
expression. After each pair reads their sentence both ways, the class
will talk about which student read with expression, which
didn't, and
the difference in how the sentences were read.
5) I will then ask the students, "How can punctuation marks
change how
we read a sentence with expression? If a sentence ends in a question
mark, we would say it differently than if it ended in a period, right?
For example (writing on the board) if I asked, "What did you
eat for
breakfast today?" I would say that differently than if it ended
in a
period like "I ate toast for breakfast today." Or if the same
sentence, "I ate toast for breakfast today" ended in an
exclamation point, I
would say it differently. I would then say "I ate toast for
breakfast
today!" Do you think the person who said the sentence that
ended with a
period or with an exclamation point was excited about having toast for
breakfast? How can you tell?" Then I would ask, "Can
any of you think
of how punctuation changes the way you read or say things?" I
would
wait for student examples. If none are provided, I would give a few
more examples and then discuss them.
6) I will then say to the students: "Now that we have listened
to find
expression in sentences, shown how the same sentences could be read
with and without expression, and how punctuation marks effect
expression, we are going to read books individually and then with
partners using expression." I will give each student a copy of
Stu's
Tune by Educational Insights. I will give the following booktalk, This
book is about a boy named Stu who likes a tune (which is another word
for song). He sings it a lot and listens to it on his tape player. It
seems like everywhere he goes someone else is singing it too. His
friend Lu plays it on the jukebox. His mom hums it while cooking. His
dad plays it on an instrument, and the tune is even on TV when he turns
it on! Do you think Stu will get tired of this song after hearing it so
much? Do you think it will remain his favorite? We will have to read
and find out!"
7) I will then tell students to read Stu's Tune silently until
I say to
stop. If they finish it before I say stop, they may go back and read it
again. When I say stop, I will put them in pairs. With their partner,
they will alternate reading the pages aloud to one another. I will walk
around and use the following checklist to assess the students'
use of
expression when reading:
___Did the student change his/her voice from high to low when needed?
___Did the student change his/her voice from loud to soft when needed?
___Did the student recognize the punctuation mark present at the end of
each sentence and read it accordingly?
___Did the student consistently read with expression throughout the
story?
___Did the student respond well to peer or teacher suggestions when
reading?
