Fluency

1. Fluency The Turtle or The Hare Mia Johnson, Curriculum Specialist 2011

2. What is Fluency? • Fluency means “to read expressively, meaningfully, in appropriate syntactic units at appropriate rates and without word recognition difficulty.” Harris, T.L. & Hodges, R. (1995). The Literacy Dictionary Rasinski, Timothy V. & Padak, Nancy D. (2008) From Phonics to Fluency

3. Why is Fluency so important? • “Studies have found that significant numbers of students are not fluent readers. The large-scale National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) study…concluded that nearly half of U.S. fourth graders read below minimally acceptable fluency levels. From these results, we can assume fluency difficulties among approximately half of the primary level population. We can also assume that nearly all primary-level students will benefit from fluency instruction.” Rasinski, Timothy V. & Padak, Nancy D. (2008) From Phonics to Fluency

4. What does the research say? • Letter naming fluency uniquely predicts 1st grade oral reading fluency – more so than does letter-sound fluency. Stage, S., Sheppard, J., Davidson, M. M., & Browning, M. M. (2001). Prediction of first-graders’ growth in oral reading fluency using kindergarten letter fluency. Journal of School Psychology, 39 (3), 225-237.

5. More research… • Skilled readers can read words in context three times faster and read words in lists two times faster than can struggling readers. • With this distribution of fluency in a classroom whole class instruction and singular approaches will not be likely to meet the needs of all children. Jenkins, J.R., Fuchs, L. S., Van den Broek, P., Espin, C., & Deno. S. L. (2003) Accuracy and fluency in list and context reading of skilled and RD groups: Absolute and relative performance levels. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 18 (4), 237-245.

6. Components of Fluency: • Accuracy and Automaticity of Decoding Processes Readers decode words accurately Readers decode words effortlessly • Reading Speed or Rate Readers read with an age or grade level appropriate rate (desk reference) Reading speed is adjusted for purpose and text difficulty • Expression and Prosody Readers read with smoothness, phrasing, and inflection. • Comprehension Readers comprehend important ideas in text

7. How do I get my students to take off? Fluency Tasks: Fluent letter recognition Fluent word recognition Fluent word decoding Fluent reading of connected text

8. Fluent Letter Recognition Can they name their letters? Can they produce their letters? Can they distinguish between one another? a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Remember that fluent letter recognition predicts early reading achievement!

9. Fluent Word Recognition Can they recognize high frequency words? *Children must correctly pronounce words 5-10 times before they become “sight words.”J. Torgesen, 2003 Can they produce high frequency words? Can they distinguish between them? and, the, a, can, go, he, come, like,……… Focus on highly used word patterns! CV, CVC, CVCE, CVVC

10. Fluent Reading A fluent reader is one who reads and understands what he or she is reading quickly and with minimum of effort. Can the student…. • read what is on the page with 90% accuracy? • vary the speed of their reading by the genre of the text and purpose for reading? • make oral reading interesting by reading with appropriate volume, expression, phrasing, and smoothness? • retell what they’ve read remembering important idea?

11. Selecting Supportive Text Controlled texts that attend to the repetition of words are important to support fluency acquisition in the early grades

12. How do I teach fluency? • Explanations – explicit teaching of the terms and components of fluency • Modeling – teacher demonstrations of fluent and non-fluent reading characteristics. • Scaffolding- Teacher, Student and Teacher, Student Easier texts to more difficult Charts, visuals, diagrams to convict you of teaching fluency terms, concepts, and fluency fix-up strategies

13. Quick Dash… Use your Letterland Cards!

14. Word Study/Word Sorts: Jelly on a plate, jelly on a plate Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble Jelly on a plate. Sausage in a pan, sausage in a pan Frizzle, frazzle, frizzle, frazzle Sausage in a pan. How might you use this?

15. Sentence strips: Jelly on a plate. Jelly on a plate, jelly on a plate Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble Cut up sentences: Jelly on a plate. plate. Jelly on a

16. Repeated Readings • Give students a choice of text to ensure interest and prior knowledge. • Text must be at appropriate level: 95% accuracy and 50-200 words • Repeat readings 3-4 times to see benefit. • Should use text from a variety of genres, such as stories, nonfiction, poetry…

17. Repeated Readings What do I say when my students say… “Why do I have to read it again?” Set a purpose:The first time we are going to read to find out what the text is about. The second time we are going to read to find out one important fact about turtles. The third time we are going read to figure out what I could teach a friend about what I read… Say It Like the Character: The first time we are going to read to find out the main idea of the story. The second time we are going to read it like the characters by using different voices.

18. Keeping track of progress… Informally Have your students keep a record of how they feel they did on their repeated readings… Accurate reading: Did I read all the words correctly? Speed: Did I read at an appropriate pace? Expression: Did I read with expression? Comprehension: Can I retell what I read?

19. Keeping track of progress… Formally

20. More ideas to use in the classroom… Choral Reading Echo Reading Reader’s Theater Mumble Reading Poetry Café Teacher Read Alouds

21. We have looked at: Accuracy and Automaticity of Decoding Processes Sight Word Practice Cut up sentences Reading Speed or Rate Repeated Readings What About: Expression and Prosody Readers read with smoothness, phrasing, and inflection. Comprehension Readers comprehend what they read!

22. Bottom line… • Students must be exposed to appropriate and inappropriate models of fluent reading. • Students must have explicit instruction, feedback, and ample opportunity to practice. • Students must practice using a variety of genres. Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R.B. (2003). Strategies for reading instruction and assessment: Every child a successful reader. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

23. So the Turtle or the Hare? Slow and steady wins the race!!! If we speed through like the Hare, all comprehension is lost!