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Eye on Leadership
The
Journey
Readers'
Workshop
It's
all in the Planning
Vocabulary
Fair
Small
Wonders
Bulletin
Board |
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Spotlight
on Literacy
Fluency
Snapshot
by
Rebecca McKay
Director, Literacy and Professional Development
As promised in
the last Spotlight on Literacy, I will continue the discussion
on interferences to comprehension. Fluency is the connecting skill
between surface and deep structure reading, therefore the lack of fluency
can potentially pose an interference to understanding. As a skill,
fluency is often the most neglected of the surface structure interferences.
Today as I walk through a Cornerstone school, I seek examples of fluency
instruction to increase students’ comprehension and achievement.
While I search for research based instructional practices, these are
student behaviors I am “looking for” in relation to fluency:
- Students reading with good
expression and enthusiasm throughout text along with varied expression
and volume to match interpretation of the passage.
- Students reading with good
phrasing, mostly in clause and sentence units with adequate attention
to expression.
- Students reading smoothly
with some breaks, all the while exhibiting the ability to resolve
word and structure difficulties quickly through self-correction.
- Students reading at conversational
pace and appropriate rate throughout reading.
Welcome to a Cornerstone school
that has embraced fluency instruction as a school wide focus. Follow
my narration in the form of vignettes as we drop in on several classes
to see the results of careful planning by a Cornerstone Literacy Leadership
team.
Partner Reading Vignette
A dull hum of voices permeates the room. First-graders’ motivation
to read is spread out as evenly and beautifully as the small rugs that adorn
20 “reading spots”. The reading spots are just the right size for
partner readers, one a third-grader, the other a first-grader, their bag of books
with nonfiction texts, fluency notebooks, and wiggle room for happiness. It
is obvious that these children value reading, see themselves as readers, and
respect each other as readers. The light flicks momentarily. The first-grade
teacher quietly reminds the partner readers to review their Book Buddy checklist,
reflect together on how they perform as partner readers, and record their new
learning in reading logs.
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