There are many approaches that are effective in assessing
the three components of fluency, which are accuracy, reading speed, and
prosody. In assessing fluency, I
think testing high frequency words is very important. There are many ways to assess students’ awareness of high
frequency words. Giving students a list of words to read off as efficiently as
possible is an important assessment to use within in the classroom, because
often, high-frequency words are known as sight words. This means that students will see these words often in
different activities they do throughout their lives. “Through repeated reading and writing experiences, students
develop automaticity, the ability to quickly to quickly recognize words they
read…” (Tompkins, pg. 189) This is
a great description explained by Tompkins in the text when talking about high
frequency words.
Another
effective approach for assessing fluency would be improving reader’s reading
speed. If students are able to
read the same excerpt or reading selection multiple times through at a fast
pace, then they may be able to recognize words used in other texts. Tompkins also mentions the ability to
chunk sentences into meaningful units, guided reading, and choral reading as a
few ways to help students with reading fluency. There are many ways to enhance students’ reading
fluency. As teachers, we need to
be aware of these many methods, so we can try and improve each and every
student’s fluency.
In
my field placement, I have noticed my teacher uses a high frequency word
assessment. She has the students
read to her a list of high frequency words, and either checks if the students
know the word in a quick fashion or a slash if the students had to sound out
the word/did not read the word right away/skips the word. My teacher said this assessment gives
her an idea of who happens to be on track with the curriculum and who may need
more reading instruction. From the
beginning of the year until now, I have seen a big change in my student’s
ability to recognize high frequency words. In order to scaffold students to get to this certain point,
my teacher has used different techniques in the classroom. Many of the techniques come from
scripted units called Reading Street. My teacher reads from a script and
creates lessons based on what the book calls for. Some of the activities included in the book are guided
reading, read out loud, spelling tests, etc. Some of these activities seem to be working to get students
to recognize a variety of words in text.
A
mini-lesson that could be used to teach fluency regarding The Bread Winner would be having the students create their
own glossary of words that are not normally read in everyday reading. Students will have sustained silent
reading for approximately 20-30 minutes, and will compile a list of words they
do not understand. Students will
include the page number from the word they did not understand and the passage
the word was found from. The
teacher will bring the students back together and talk about what words they
had trouble decoding and reading in context. Words, such as: militia, burqas, chador, and looters, could
be words students found in the first two chapters to discuss further. Students would write the word down and
what they think the word might mean.
They will use contextual clues in order to try and find out a
definition. As students read off
the words they had trouble reading and understanding, the teacher will have
them read the passage included with the word. Students will have a discussion related to what the word
might mean, then will research the words and find out the actual
definitions. The teacher will post
the definitions in the classroom somewhere, so while students are reading the
rest of the book, they will be able to continually be as fluent as possible. This type of mini-lesson can happen
throughout the entire book to make sure students understand what they are
reading!
^^ This would be a good place for children to do their reading, so they can be as comfy as possible :)
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteFirst off - your picture looks like a great place to read especially because of the big giraffe pillow!!
You did a great job reviewing the components of fluency. It had been a while since I have thought about them. I agree with what you were saying about high frequency words – that these are often the most important. Improving prosody, or reading with inflection, is important because it goes hand-in-hand with being a fluid reader. (And often it is overlooked as important by standardized tests.) The part about fluency that always confuses me, and one that you mentioned in your post, is about a readers speed. I completely agree speed is an important part of fluency and we want our students to be good quick readers and not struggle over words – BUT I question it if it is on its own. What I mean is that if we only focus on the reading speed of our students, obviously that doesn’t make a good reader. It is more about paring speed with comprehension. Anyone can read fast, but how many of us can read fast and understand it. I think if it is not clearly explained to students why they are timing their reading or counting their WPM, they lose focus of the point of reading – the main reason/purpose.
Your lesson sounded great. I remember doing something similar when we would do lit circles in elementary school. I think the role was “vocabulaizer.” We would read our pages, and circle any words that were confusing and then look them up. I really liked how you had the students practice making an inference or try to figure out the meaning based on context and that you have them discuss it in a group. I liked that idea a lot. This way, students can learn from one another not only about the definition, but how other students try to figure out what the word means. That is a really helpful skill in reading. Something you could add to your lesson might be to have students draw a picture of the definition of the word. I have seen this done in my ELL class and it seems to be really effective and helpful for the students.
When I was reading your post about fluency, I went back to my literacy 301 project which is online and found some really great tips I came up with for helping students to develop fluency: take a look!
http://allaboutliteracy.weebly.com/fluency.html
ReplyDeleteWays to Help Students Develop Fluency:
• Repeated reading of texts
• Feedback and guidance from teachers and family
• Teachers must match students’ reading levels to their instructional materials (students should not be reading at a frustration level).
• Teachers should model fluent and expressive reading every day in their read aloud materials.
• Teachers should provide amply opportunities for students to participate in guided, oral reading.
• Teachers should provide opportunities for students to read easy materials independently every day.
• Language Experience Approach (LEA) involves writing down what students say, then reading and rereading it with them to develop knowledge of letter-sound associations, sight words, prosody, and language.
• Readers Theater is a presentation of a text read aloud expressively and dramatically by two or more readers.
• Echo Reading involves the student immediately echoing or imitating the performance of a more skilled reader.
• Choral reading involves students reading text in unison.
• Phrase Boundaries involves clustering reading into appropriate phrases, rather than reading word by word.
• Paired Reading involves a more capable reader supporting a tutee in reading materials that are generally more difficult than those read independently.
• Neurological Impress Method involves the teacher and the student reading aloud simultaneously from the same book. The teacher reads slightly faster than the student to keep the reading fluent. The teacher usually sits next to the student and focuses his voice near the ear of the student.
• Repeated Reading involves students reading text while the teacher records the student’s fluency and accuracy. The student practices reading the passage orally or silently several times. After practicing, the teacher listens to the student read and again records the time and accuracy. The teacher and student compare pre and post results and graph growth using a chart.
• Computer Based or Tape Assisted Reading involves using computer or tape recorded text to assist and model reading for students.
The ability to recognize words on a page quickly is directly related to fluency, and helping kids practice their sight words can go a long way. My placement has the same literacy program in place as Lindsay's, and every week I test my students on their sight words. Like she mentioned in her post, I have also seen tremendous improvements in my students' fluency throughout the course of the year. Although it's not comprehension, it's a step towards literacy for these students. An emphasis on sight word testing can be the gateway to improvement in other areas of literacy as well, so improvement in this area can only be a good thing!
ReplyDeleteLindsay, I really liked your mini-lesson idea. Having the students prepare lists of words they don't recognize gives them ownership of their learning, which our class has talked about all year as being SO important, especially for motivation! I like how the students in the lesson have discussions about what they think the word might mean based on the passage's context clues. It helps students develop the habit of searching for answers instead of just asking for answers, which is common practice for some students. In this lesson, students are not only developing their basic literacy skills, but they are also developing their other literacies, such as social literacy (by having an appropriate learning discussion) and their cultural literacy! Last week we all talked in our blog posts about how important knowing and teaching different literacies are, and here is a perfect example of a simple way to apply it to the classroom!