Getting Up to Speed with The Six Minute Solution

1. Getting Up to Speed with TheSix Minute Solution • A research-based reading fluency program by: • Gail N. Adams and Sheron M. Brown • Available in three levels : • Primary K-2 • Intermediate 3-6 • Secondary 7-9

2. The Six Minute Solution • Based on the repeated reading and peer assisted learning research. • Takes only 6 minutes of the instructional period once students are trained in the procedure. • Partners read a passage or fluency building sheet to each other • Get peer feedback • Record timings

3. THE SIX-MINUTE SOLUTION, PRIMARY LEVEL • Primary Level—for kindergarten through second grade students. • Intervention students- 3rd • Includes assessment tools, reproducible charts, high-frequency word lists, fluency building sheets for common phonic elements necessary for teaching young children to read as well as 95 passages ( 25 at at each grade level first through third grade and well as 20 decodable passages to reinforce phonetic elements.

4. Example Passage • Primary

7. THE SIX-MINUTE SOLUTION, INTERMEDIATE LEVEL • Intermediate Level—for third through sixth grade students. • Intervention students in grades 5-8 • Includes assessment tools,reproducible charts, high frequency word lists, fluency building sheets for prefixes, suffixes and vowel combinations as well as 150 passages(25 at each grade level first through sixth)

8. Inter-mediate

12. THE SIX-MINUTE SOLUTION, SECONDARY LEVEL • Secondary Level—for sixth through ninth grade students. • Intervention students in grades 6-12 • Includes assessment tools,reproducible charts, high frequency word lists, fluency building sheets for prefixes, suffixes and vowel combinations as well as 150 passages(25 at each grade level fourth through ninth)

13. Secondary

14. What is reading fluency?

15. Fluency is the ability to read text • accurately, • quickly, and • with expression.

16. Why should we focus on helping our students increase their reading fluency?

17. Five Key Instructional Components of Reading Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Strategies National Reading Panel (2000)

18. Fluency is directly related to reading comprehension. independent reading. work completion.

19. Oral Reading Fluency Correlates Highly with Reading Comprehension Measure Validity Coefficients .70 .72 .82 .91 Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins. SSR. 2001

20. Fluent readers… recognize words and comprehend at the same time. Fluency and Comprehension Samuels, Schermer & Reinking, 1992

21. Fluent readers… generally find reading to be a pleasurable activity and read more as a result. Fluency and Independent Reading Stanovich, 1986

22. Fluent readers will be better able to complete both class assignments and homework. • This is significant considering the amount of reading assigned to middle and high school students.

23. Measuring Reading Fluency the number of words in text read correctly per minute (wcpm) or… letters, sounds, words

24. Finding Students Who Need Fluency Intervention • Assess Correct Words per Minute • Compare to Oral Reading Fluency Norms

25. Assess: Correct Words per Minute • Use a grade level text • Time student for one minute • Mark all errors • Provide the word after 3-5 seconds of hesitation • Count total number of words read • Subtract errors to obtain correct words read per minute (cwpm) • Total words read – errors = cwpm

26. Curriculum-Based Norms in Oral Reading Fluency *WCPM = Words Correct Per Minute Hasbrouck, J. & Tindal, G. (2005). Oral Reading Fluency: 90 Years of Measurement (Tech. Rep. No. 33). Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon, College of Education, Behavioral Research and Teaching.

27. Who needs fluency instruction & practice? • Most elementary school students • Struggling readers at the higher grades • Good readers can also benefit from practice on challenging text.

28. How Can Fluency Be Increased? • Practice • Practice • Practice • PRACTICE !

30. Accuracy # of words read correctly/total # of words read Independent97-100% (+ good/excellent comprehension) Instructional96-91% (+ good/satisfactory comprehension) Frustration90% & below (+ satisfactory/fair/poor comp)

31. Utilize Repeated Reading Activities The Report of the National Reading Panel found that the following techniques to be highly effective in developing reading fluency: Having students read and reread text three to five times or until a certain level of fluency is reached. Using audiotapes, tutors or peers for repeated reading practice. Giving feedback to guide the reader’s performance

32. Time Materials Procedures 1 minute • Timer for the teacher • 1 portfolio for each set of student partners that contains : • 2 copies of the same level of grade level passages in plastic sleeves or laminated • 2 copies of the fluency record or fluency graph • 1 marking pen & cloth in a plastic bag • Get Ready • Teacher announces it is time for fluency practice. • Student partners remove fluency materials from the partnership’s portfolio. • Partners record date on their respective record sheets • Teacher monitors to ensure students are ready to begin their timings 1 minute • Partner 1 Reads • Teacher sets timer & says, “Begin” • Partner 1 reads until the timer sounds. • Partner 2 marks Partner 1 reading errors and stopping point on his/her copy of the Practice Passage. Six Minute Solution Instructional Format

33. 1 minute • Partner 2 Gives Feedback • Partner 2 tells Partner 1 how many words he/she read the number of errors he/she made and does the error-correction procedure., • Partner 1 records the numbers on his/her record sheet • Partner 2 wipes off the marking on his/her passage & gives marking pen to Partner 1. 1 minute • Partner 2 Reads • Teacher again sets timer & says, “Begin.” • Partner 2 reads the same passage to Partner 1. Partner 1 records errors & stopping point on his/her copy of passage. 1 minute • Partner 1 Gives Feedback • Partner 1 tells Partner 2 how many words he/she read, the number of errors he/she made, and does the error error correction procedure. • Partner 2 records the numbers on his/her record sheet • Partner 1 wipes off the markings on his/her passage & returns the marking pen & cloth to the plastic bag. 1 minute • Students Put Away Materials • One partner returns the copies of the passages, recording sheets, dry-erase marker and erasing cloth in the zipper lock plastic bag to the partner portfolio.

34. Weekly Sample Schedule Monday -Partnerships preview new passage for accuracy by whisper reading and underlining unknown words. Teacher monitors and identifies any words unknown to either partner. Option 1 : Use allotted six minutes for partners to preview passages. No timings. Option 2 : Allow for extra time on Mondays ( 10-15 minutes). Partners preview passages for accuracy and practice during allotted six minutes. Tuesday –Friday-Fluency Practice Friday -Partners turn in passages and select new ones Option : Extend time to incorporate comprehension strategies or summary writing using the practiced passage before turning it in and selecting a new one.

35. Six Simple Steps for the Six Minute Solution Partner Fluency Model ProcedureEstimated Time Step 1 - Assess Students. 1-2 hours Step 2- Rank Students /Select Partnerships 1 hour Step 3- Introduce Fluency Concept 20-30 minutes Step 4- Establish Partnership Behavior 10 minutes Step 5- Train Students in Partner Procedures 20-30 minutes Step 6- Train Students in Material Management 10-15minutes Once the six steps are completed, the daily fluency procedure takes only 6 minutes a day !

36. Let’s examine how to introduce and implement The Six-Minute Solution program materials.

37. Step One- Assess Students • Procedures : Administer two assessments • 1. Administer a one-minute fluency timing on a grade level passage to determine how many correct words per minute each student reads. • 2. Administer a reading assessment to determine independent and/or instructional reading level of each student.

38. Step One- Assess Students • Materials Required for Oral Reading Fluency • Two copies of a grade level passage - one for the student to read from and another for the teacher to use to record total words read and errors. Note: Every student must read the same passage for the purpose of assessment. • The teacher could have a laminated copy on which to record errors and stopping point with a water based marking pen. The teacher would then erase between students. Or the teacher could run multiple copies of the same passage and use a separate one to record errors and stopping point for each student. • Data sheet for the teacher to record correct words per minute and timer

40. Procedures for Conducting a One Minute Fluency Assessment 1. Use 2 copies of the text- one for the student to read and one on which to record errors and stopping point. 2. Explain the purpose of the timing to the student using age appropriate language. 3. Indicate that you would like to hear the student real aloud, quickly and carefully. 4. Tell the student the title of the passage. 5. Set the timer for one minute and direct the student’s attention to the beginning of the passage. 6. Tell the student to begin reading when he/she is ready and then you will start the timer. Don’t say “ ready, set, go”.

41. Procedures for Conducting a One Minute Fluency Assessment As the student reads, follow along and record errors . When timer sounds, put a mark after the last word the student read. Count each word beginning with the number to the left of the line on which the student stopped reading to determine the total number of words read. Subtract errors from total to determine correct words read in one minute. Guidelines for counting words : Abbreviations such as “Mr.” count as a word. A number written as a numeral ( 1984) counts as a word. Hyphenated words count as individual words- twelve-year-old would count as three words.

42. Oral Reading Fluency Errors • Mispronunciations/Dropped endings • Substitutions • Hesitations/No attempt • Omissions • Transpositions (out of sequence) • Repeated errors count each time

43. DO NOT COUNT as Errors • Errors made, then self-corrected • Repeated words read correctly • Punctuation errors • Dialect or speech problems • Insertions

44. Step One- Assess Students • Materials Required for Determining Instructional Reading level • San Diego Quick Test of Sight Word Recognition included in the Six Minute Solution. • San Diego Quick Record Form for each student. Or one copy that is laminated on which the teacher would record errors with a water based pen. The teacher would then erase between students and record their instructional reading level on a different sheet of paper.

49. Step Two- Rank Students and Select Partnerships • Materials Required: • Data for each student - a fluency score and an independent/instructional reading level score • Ranking sheet or computer spreadsheet programs

50. Step Two- Rank Students and • Select Partnerships • Procedures : • Using a class roster, list students in order of fluency score first and then by reading level. • Assign partners based on ranking. For example, if using a spread sheet program, after sorting first for fluency and then for reading level, students ranked as #1 and # 2 could be partners, students ranked as #3 and #4 would be partners and so on. Partners must be closely matched. • Once partnerships are selected, label each partner in the partnership #1 and the other #2. Partner 1 should be the stronger of the two partners. As an example, two sixth grade students each with an instructional level of 4th grade are partners. Partner 1 has a fluency rate of 72 correct words per minute and partner 2 has a fluency rate of 68 correct words per minute. Note: Students must be assigned practice passages timings at their independent or instructional grade level.