Become an
Expressionist!
Growing Independence and Fluency
Rationale:
The goal of
reading is comprehension. In order for a reader to read for
comprehension they
must be fluent. A key indicator of a fluent reader is the ability
to read
with expression. Reading with expression makes the text being read come
alive!
Students should be able to read expressively aloud and silently. In
this lesson
students will recognize and demonstrate expression in a read aloud and
through
writing enabling students to apply knowledge learned from reading to
writing.
One copy of
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss,
white board and markers, sentence strips with sentences from made-up
story to
be used for practice read aloud with expression. (See story
within
procedures below), cut-outs of punctuation marks to use with sentences,
copy of
poem ("If We Didn't Have Birthdays" by Dr. Seuss), for each student,
checklist below for
each student to be used for partner reading:
- Does your partner's voice go high or
low as he or she is reading?
- Does your partner change his or her
voice to loud or soft?
- Does your partner's voice change
reflect the end punctuation mark?
- Does your partner's voice stay the
same as he or she is reading
Primary paper and
pencil for writing activity, and Checklist below for each child to be
used by
teacher for writing assessment:
- Does the student's writing show
understanding of punctuation?
- Does student demonstrate ability to
connect expression to punctuation?
- Does student use punctuation
appropriately?
Procedures:
1.
"Today, we are going to work on reading expressively. Expression
is the way your voice naturally moves
up and down when you talk. Reading with
expression means that we use our voice to make the text being read come
alive
for our audience and ourselves. We are going to have our own chance to
read
expressively today, so let's get started!"
2.
Ask students: "Have you ever heard someone read a story to you and you
felt like you were really there with the characters? Maybe the
character was angry
and you felt angry because the person reading the story read it like
they were
angry too. They were reading expressively! Maybe you have also heard a
person
read the same story but it did not make you feel angry because the
person reading
the story was not reading expressively. Let me show you the
difference"
(model for students by reading a sentence without using expression, and
then read
the same sentence using expression. Read this sentence first with a
monotone
voice. "I just ate 20 cookies". Then read
it and emphasis the number 20. Say: "I
just ate 20 cookies!!!"). "Now, can you tell me what was different
about the second time I read the sentence? I want everyone to repeat
after me
acting as if they are shocked or surprised that they just ate 20
cookies".
(Allow time for students to repeat this two times.)
3.
"Now let's look at some sentences that tell a story and pay attention
to
the punctuation marks. The punctuation mark in a sentence tells us how
to read
that sentence. If we see an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence
we may
read it as if we are excited or surprised". (Example story to be
written on sentence strips (note that each slash = end of sentence
strip and beginning
of a new one): Jill woke up and looked outside. / "Oh no," she
thought to herself, "it's raining again!" / It had been raining for
days. / All Jill wanted to do was go play outside. / She asked her
mother: "is
it going to rain all day?"/ Her mother told her that the weather was
supposed to clear up by the afternoon. / That news cheered Jill up a
lot.).
"Now we are going to read a story and I would like you to listen as I
read
with expression. Another way to think about expression is reading with
your
emotions like happy, sad, mad, or excited".
4.
Introduce Green Eggs and Ham with a
book talk. "Have you ever had someone ask you to try a food that seemed
really gross? Well, that is exactly how
Sam's friend feels when Sam asks him to try green eggs and ham. Sam keeps pestering his friend to try them in
all sorts of places. Do you think he
will give in? We'll have to read to find
out!" Remind students to listen for
expression as you model.
5.
"Since you have had a chance to hear expressive reading, I want you to
work with a partner to read a poem expressively. We are going to work
on this
poem for a couple of days to memorize it and read it from memory to our
partner
using expression. Today is the first day we are looking at this poem.
You will
not know it from memory today". Read the poem to the students first,
and
then as a class. Model how to decode
words like "birthday" by showing students how to break the word into
chunks. Afterwards, break students up into
pairs;
hand out checklists for students to use when listening to their
partner.
Explain checklist to students. Hand out poem "If We Didn't Have
Birthdays"
By Dr. Seuss. Students will read it silently twice to themselves, then
take
turns reading to each other using checklists for peer assessment). Remember that reading with expression can mean
reading with our emotions. Listen for changes in your partner's voice.
Does it
get higher or lower as they read at certain parts? Softer or louder?
6.
After students read aloud expressively in pairs, introduce using
expression in
writing. Students will use primary paper and a pencil to write at least
three
sentences on their paper showing emotion. (Model on chart with primary
paper
and cut out punctuation marks. For example: We get to have an extra 10
minutes
of recess!) Write the sentence on the primary chart paper and then have
students decide what punctuation mark should be used. Students will
work on
this task independently. Remind students that punctuation marks tell us
about
the emotion or expression that should be used to read a sentence.
7.
For assessment, students will be assessed on the checklist from the
paired
reading of the poem. See materials for checklist. The second part of
the
assessment will be examining students writing. I will use a checklist
also
listed in the materials section to evaluate their written work, as well
as have
the students read the poem to me individually to make sure they can
read with
expression.
Reference:
Cummings, Amanda. "Reading
Fluency" 2007.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/cummingsgf.html