Growing Independence and Fluency: Reading with Smoothness and Expression

        Dirty Dan ISN'T Dull! 
     Rationale: A slow reader or "word-by-word" reader may unconsciously take away from the meaning of the text.
Fluent reading and reading expressively makes reading more interesting and fun for the reader and anyone being read to.
Students will learn how to read smoothly and expressively, noticing punctuation and using voice inflection to emphasize
important words and phrases in the text by listening to and rereading a poem in small groups.

Materials:   copies of "The Dirtiest Man in the World" for every student; rubric for evaluating use of expression and
                    fluency while reading (attached to back).
Procedure:  Teacher models the poem for the class… the first two stanzas monotone and then the first two stanzas
                    with fluency and emotion.

Students break into small groups and practice reading an assigned stanza with fluency and emotion.

                    They can also incorporate choral reading ideas into their stanza… i.e. one person reads the first line, two people
                    read the second line… or any way the students would like to do it.

                    Students then perform their stanza aloud to the class, and follow along with the other groups as they perform
                    their stanzas in the order of the poem.

     Finishing the poem, the students will assess their group members with the rubric rating their group members 1-10,
                    1 being the lowest.
 

• Reads smoothly, not "word-by-word"
• Uses expression throughout poem
• Uses correct expression for punctuation (Question marks, pauses for commas, exclamation)
• Appears to decode words quickly, and use context to read all words correctly
• Seems to understand the concept of reading expressively
• Listens to others read expressively and fluently

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