Read
With Speed
Rationale: In order to
help children gain confidence and fluency in reading, there are many
approaches that can be taken. You should work with a fifty to
one-hundred word passage, choose a passage at the students’
instructional level, and have them read this same text over and over
until they have mastered it by becoming a faster reader. It’s
also important for you as the teacher to emphasize the importance of
re-reading as well as reading expressively and speedily. The fluency
formula is this: students should read and reread decodable words in
connected text. There is no room for guessing using context when
students are able to decode the words.
Materials:
Procedures:
1) “Let’s
review how to blend words that we don’t recognize by sight. If I see
the letters b r u s h, but I cannot read the word, I first look
at the vowel sound. In this word, u says /u/. Next I go to the beginning
sounds. Br says /bbbb/ /rrrrr/. If I add the vowel
sound at the end, I have “bbrrrrruuuu.” Finally, I look at the last
sound. It is /sh/. So, now I can combine all three sounds to read
“bbbbrrrruuuush.” “Brush!” When you see any words you don’t know today,
you should use this vowel-first method to figure it out.”
2) “Have you ever wanted to read your favorite
books a little faster? Well today we’re going to learn how to practice
reading so we can get a little bit faster. When we read books faster,
we can also read with more expression. We can make parts happy, sad,
suspensful, or really exciting! I would like you to go to the
shelf and pick a book with the colored dot that represents your own
reading level.” (Teacher needs to have a book ready so he/she can model
next.)
3) After students return to their seats, show
them your book. “When I first picked up this book, there were some
words I did not know. First, I read the book once and used the
vowel-first method we talked about to figure those words out. Then, I
read the book again. Do you know why? Because the more times we read a
book, the easier it gets to read!”
4) “Let me show you how I read this book the
first time.” Out loud, read a few sentences from your selected book
very slowly and use the vowel-first method to decode some words (out
loud so children can hear you). Then read again a little bit faster.
“Since I decoded the first time, now I know all the words so I can
concentrate on reading faster.” Finally, read the sentences at
conversation speed. “See how I got a bit faster each time I read?
That’s what happens!”
5) “Now I’d like you to read the book you chose
at your desk. Keep reading until I say stop. When you finish reading it
once, read it again so it will get easier. Remember to use our
vowel-first method!”
6) After about 10 minutes, say, “STOP!”
7) Now have students partner up and read to each
other. The student who is not reading should time the other with a
stopwatch and record the time it took for their partner to read. Switch
accordingly. Have each student read their text two times and record
both times.
8) After all students have read to a partner,
say, “Now let’s chart our results and see how we read just a bit faster
the second time we read!”
9) “You may
take your book home to read to your family. Show them how fast and how
well you can read the story! Be sure to use expression so your family
will enjoy the book as much as you do. I’m so proud of all of you.
Isn’t it fun to read books a bit faster? All it takes is reading the
book a few times over and over, and you’ll become speedy readers!”
Assessment: By having the
children read with speed, timing each child ( or having their partner
time them) and then charting out the time, I will be able to assess
each child’s speed.
Source:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/onealgf.html
Meg Miller. Speedy Readers. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/begin/millermgf.html
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