fluency

Look on reading bb. There have been several discussions recently with lots of good ideas.

Beth

Hi, Beth is right that I started a long thread on fluency on the reading board. But I just want to say that I think part of the problem is that some curriculums move the kids into regular books too fast. They need more time in decodable books to gain some initial fluency using those new decoding skills before moving into regular “guided reading” books.

Janis

What’s the big rush, and where’s the fire?

If the kids are progressing well in decoding skills, are comprehending what they read, and are getting positive feedback about reading, you’re doing fine in Grade 2.

If you simply back up off the instructional level — which is defined as being difficult, that’s why you use it to stretch to new skills not already mastered — and go to a level that has been pretty well mastered, then fluency usually grows by itself. Find some nice storybooks at about a 1.5 to 1.8 level, some sort of a “First Reader” (since your kids are at 2.2 right now) and have the kids practice reading aloud out of them. They will find them “easy” and will in most cases just take off. You work a little more with the few who don’t.
Personally I greatly prefer reading many different books at the same level to re-reading the same thing over and over and over; it’s far more motivating and more productive of real reading behaviour in the long run to be interested in the content of your reading and not in just beating the clock. To get many books at appropriate levels (1.5 to 3 or more for a Grade 2 classroom) you can search school book closets — often a gold mine; patronize used book stores, another gold mine; and try amazon, also including the auctions and z-shops for used books.

The other book gold-mine: Ebay. You would not believe the deals I have gotten on readers and other instructional materials!

Janis

Probably the best method is using Neurological Impress Method NIM or Repeated Reading. With both of these methods the text needs to be at instructional level if not an easy level. The focus is oral production based on the skilled teacher/ volunteers voice ,pacing and phrasing and not on meaning and comprehension.
10-15 minutes per day with a n ocassional taped session so that the student can check progress. Using a graph of words per minute and error rate for the child is also easy to administer and motivating.

Personally I greatly prefer reading many different books at the same level to re-reading the same thing over and over and over; it’s far more motivating and more productive of real reading behaviour in the long run to be interested in the content of your reading and not in just beating the clock.

One minute a day of fluency work will do wonders to “train” the brain. Those of us using timers - teacher and student - are not playing “beat the clock.” In all sincerity, Ken Campbell, a lover and user of varied literature.

Ken Campbell