Fluent Reader Fluency

In a math classroom, the teacher cannot neglect the need for providing a print rich environment. “Word walls are a technique that many classroom teachers use to help students become fluent with the language of mathematics. It is vital that vocabulary be taught as part of a lesson and not be taught as a separate activity” (Draper, 2012). Draper acknowledges the fact that words in mathematics may be confusing for students to study as “words and phrases that mean one thing in the world of mathematics mean another in every day context. For example, the word “similar” means “alike” in everyday usage, whereas in mathematics similar has to have proportionality” (Draper, 2012). Fites (2002) argues that the way a math problem is written drastically will effect a student’s performance, not just in reading the problem, but in solving the math equation as well. There is where the misinterpreting of different word meanings in math comes into play. Fites continues with the importance of understanding vocabulary not just in reading but for math as well with the correlation between improved vocabularies in math yields improvement on verbal problem solving

Comprehension is also an important factor when speaking of literacy. Students should be taught the many strategies that will help them with comprehension and word recognition. In my experience in a first grade classroom I used many of these strategies. Within my lessons I included the activation of prior knowledge to construct meaning, the use of context clues in a sentence, pictures clues, predicting, and drawing inferences about ideas or characters in the text. I always made sure that I modeled the strategy for the student before they set of to do it.

Reading fluency is considered an integral component of the reading process and it has a big presence in the classroom. Its importance became evident since the National Reading Panel (2000) pronounced fluency instruction and assessment an essential and was thus incorporated into the reading First guidelines of No Child Left Behind in 2002 (Shelton, Altwerger, &Jordan, 2009). Reading fluency has been defined in many ways; an outcome of decoding and comprehension, a contributor to both decoding and comprehension, the ability to recognize words rapidly and accurately, the connections

What is Fluency? Fluency is the ability to read smoothly and automatically, with expression and attention to punctuation. Correspondingly, reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency supports overall reading comprehension.

Designing an individual intervention to increase reading fluency requires completion of assessments that will determine the child’s reading strengths and weaknesses. An inaccurate reader needs direct instruction on improving word recognition, which may include sight words and decodable words (which rules is the student not applying) at their instructional level. Once the goals have been established, in this case fluency, the intervention will begin with an introduction on fluency and word recognition.

Grace worked on reading fluency during the tutoring sessions. Through the use of a fluency rubric, Grace was observed on the different parts of reading fluency, which included reading smoothly, reading at a good rate, reading with good phrasing, and reading with appropriate volume and expression. At the beginning of our tutoring sessions, according to the rubric, Grace read quietly, with little expression, and hesitated while reading as she tried to figure out a word. To strengthen these areas of reading, Grace was read to so she could see modeled the different areas of fluency. Grace also read out loud. She read through repeated readings, where she would repeat sentences that had been read to her and she would read aloud in unison with us. Grace would also listen as a book was read to her and then she would re-read the book with the same smoothness, reading rate, phrasing, volume and expression. Grace would read books over and over again until they were read fluently. Poems were also

Fluency: the ability to read and write effortlessly and efficiently; becoming fluent readers and writers in a developmental milestone.

First Mrs. Connors uses an example of her writing to show what she is teaching. She was teaching them how to build tension to make predictions. Her original sentence was very brief and vague and then she wrote something to build suspense in the situation. She then asked the students to use a story they already had and talk about a way to add suspense to their stories. After she sent them off to add clues to their current stories to make people think of predictions. Each student also had a “word wall” in their writing folders but they were mostly sight words and predetermined words. There was no way to add to them which seems counterproductive when it comes to having a word wall. They should be added to and always changing not something

Jeff is a second grader having difficulty with reading. He reads very slowly and doesn’t recognize many words. Because of his lack of word recognition, he spends the majority of this time sounding them out. He has spent so much mental effort trying to read, that he doesn’t have the ability to comprehend what he has read. In order for Jeff to be able to comprehend his reading, he needs to work on his fluency. Once he has accomplished this task, he can focus more on comprehension.

The very first new thought to me was that comprehension is much more than what a student can remember. Even though I guess that I have always had some knowledge of this, it was something that really caught my eye as I was reading. Comprehension is more than the ability to remember fact, comprehension is being able to take those facts and gain new learning from them. Second is that guided reading is more than just reading. Guided reading is a process that included many things, some of these things may include the writing or discussing of what they have just read. Lastly is that the thought that fluency is more than just a rate of speed. Fluency can include little things like recognizing that there should be a pause there, or even where to stop. Sadly so many see fluency as a speed which causes them to teach students to read fast which can sometimes cause those students to miss out on comprehending the material they just read. All of the things that I learned while reading this are things that I hope I remember well into my teaching career so that I am a better teacher for my students.

Hugh Mackay States that “Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.” This quote by Hugh Mackay pretty much states what this paper is about. It will elaborate why fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are important to all learners at all levels. As well as providing assessments in the areas of fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, which can be used to assess where learners are so that we can provide them with the interventions needed to become successful readers and learners for a lifetime of learning.

After reading page 330 from the ELA/ELD framework, the author mentions the importance of having children read to practice fluency. Children should read to themselves both quietly and then aloud after they master sounds and words without putting much effort. The teacher can activity partake in forming fluency by reading aloud to the student multiple times a day so student can hear unfamiliar words and sounds. When reading, student should have independent level text specific to their level of reading comprehension. To further the student’s fluency, they should read text over more than once to ensure accurate accuracy, appropriate expression, and rate. If students read a head of time the text over and over they become more familiar with sounds

A skewed view of fluency instruction can limit the possibilities for growth in reading. Educators have altered the definition of fluency, placing an emphasis on accuracy and word recognition. This misconception has led to “a demotion in the perceived importance of fluency in the reading process” (Kunh & Rasinski, 2015, p. 269). Melanie Kuhn and Timothy Rasinski redefine fluency using two key terms, automaticity and prosody. Timothy Rasinski provides four principles for developing effective fluency instruction, including modeled fluent reading, supported oral reading, reading in meaningful phrases, and “ample opportunities to read” (Kunh & Rasinski, 2015, p. 272). The authors provide alternative approaches to fluency instruction in connection to Common Corse State Standards, such as fluency development lessons, fluency-oriented reading instruction, and readers theater. Overall, fluency instruction is a vital part in achieving the ultimate goal of reading instruction, comprehension.

Many students are passed on through the education system without having proper reading skills. These skills consist of fluency, comprehension, and phonemic awareness. Reading skills are foundational building blocks for elementary aged students. Students who lack proper reading skills, such as fluency or the rate in which they read, will ultimately lack comprehension of what they are reading due to the amount of time in which it takes the students to read. This leads to the question, how does fifth grade students lack of fluency affect his or her reading comprehension? Unfortunately, because reading skills taught in kindergarten and first grade focus mainly on phonemic

When data from students who had average accuracy and fluency scores, but lower comprehension scores were compared to data from those with similar accuracy and fluency but average comprehension, the consistent differences were found to be lower oral language and vocabulary skills in the poor comprehenders upon entry into formal schooling. (Nation, Cocksey, Taylor & Bishop) Thousands of dollars each year are spent on intervention, trying to improve the reading of children that show delays. When one reads, the clear goal is comprehension of what is read. Without communication of ideas between the author and reader, decoding texts is pointless. Most intervention programs are focused on phonics and word decoding. Oral language interventions concurrent with vocabulary and comprehension tasks at age eight have been shown to lead to significant improvements in reading comprehension. (Nation, et al., 2010). Reading comprehension is not merely a product of being able to decode words and sentences. How we teach children to process and integrate the ideas found in text can have a large impact on their ability to function in a world of ever expanding knowledge and information.