Fluency is the ability to read most
words in context quickly and accurately and with appropriate expression.
(Cunningham p. 49) The beginning activity with reading the words that were all
stuck together really introduced this concept well. I was reading the words, but I had to pause
and really look at them very closely to read them. Therefore, I was having a
hard time really understanding what the summary was. I knew most of it, but I
didn’t know a lot of detail about it.
There are several things mentioned in the text that can be
done for struggling readers that I found really informative. One being, having
a “After lunch bunch” reading club. This is simply just having five or six
students come read with you some just plain fun books. You make sure and include
all the readers and least once a week but include struggling readers several
days.
There are three components to fluency.
- speed
- Prosody
- Accuracy
a
Developing fluency should be a huge goal in our classrooms
with the students.
I agree with Allington when he mentions the three reasons
why some students struggle with fluency.
- · Struggling readers are given material too difficult for them to read
o When
I was in school, our teachers had all of us read the same book no matter what
are reading level was. It was more of a class wide reading level so therefore
you should be reading where everyone else in 4th grade was which for
me was not the case. I was as struggling reader growing up and this never
helped me with anything.
- · Struggling readers read much less than more capable readers
o I
was never a strong reader when I was a kid, so I never enjoyed reading and that
lead to me not reading as much to those students who were good at reading and
enjoyed it.
- · Teachers call on the struggling readers a lot to read aloud and quickly interrupt them to correct their errors.
o I
always got so much anxiety as a kid when I got called on to read. If anything,
it worsened my reading along with my confidence to read better.
- 1. What contributes to making a fluent reader?
- 2. What are some things in your opinion that can encourage fluency with your students?
I think that a fluent reader is a child that not only reads smoothly and with out hitches but also comprehends what they are reading and can tell you what they read. I think to encourage students to be fluent readers you can do some of the instructional activites that we talked about in class. Some examples would be Choral Reading, Reader's Theatre, Shared Reading, Wide Reading and so on.
ReplyDeleteI really like reading about your own experience as a child and how that affected your desire to read which then probably effected your fluency. I think a major aspect of fluency is confidence when reading, exposing children to a lot of reading broadens their vocabulary and fluency. When having children read aloud to the class I think you could minimize anxiety by letting them read something they enjoy and are familiar with. this way they can work on inflection and comprehension. Reading shouldn't be dreaded. It is our job as educators to make it common, relaxing, exciting and enjoyable. This can be time consuming and mean different things for different students but will definitely pay off.
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