Spotlight on Literacy
Fluency Snapshot

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. Evidence that the criteria for reading motivation are in place is palpable.  As small quiet gasps shower the room, the protest from the partner readers reaches a peak in “Oh is it time? Just one more page, please!”. The quiet little rebellion goes around the room just as a “wave” does at a sporting event.  The third-grade readers alongside their younger Book Buddies signal their displeasure with having the magic trance of the nonfiction reading world broken by the flickering light. The teacher holds firm knowing that she has the readers in her grasp and she plays it for all it’s worth. “Now let me see, today at reflection, Mrs. Jones and I will be “ferreting” out readers who gain new content knowledge.” Another small ooh went up as the first-grade teacher moves to the Word Wizard wall and places a tally mark by ferret. The two teachers exchange knowing glances as they circle the room and settle in with Book Buddies who are pouring over a book on fish. Reading through the first-grader’s reading log, the teachers nod and point to a response. They ask the young reader if she would turn and talk to her Book Buddy about her response and then share her new science learning at reflection. This is a transcript of her reflection:

“A fish lives in water and breathes with gills. It has a backbone, scales, fins and is cold-blooded. (The third-grade Book Buddy holds up the illustrated book to assist his first-grade reader.).  Fish can live in salt water and other water like our lake water. They lay eggs. There is a fish called a salmon that goes back to its birthday place to lay its eggs….”

Reader’s Theatre Vignette
A neat row of second-graders stands at attention in front of a board housing a semantic map of an author study on Nikki Grimes.

The children hold yellow books labeled: Fluency Notebook. The books must contain something magic. The students’ eyes are glued to a typed text. The magic is in a Reader’s Theater script from Eve Merriam’s picture book, The Wise Woman and Her Secret. A small struggling read rubs his chin as he reads the words of the Old Man from the script. Another neighboring boy changes his voice to represent the feminine voice of the Wise Woman, his favorite character. No one laughs. This is their third practice session and they know they are good and getting better. What they are reading is beyond their text level but they seem determined to practice until they are perfectly fluent. All the while building motivation and disposition to do hard reading work, the second-graders are “in love” with the story and theater! I flip through one of the yellow books and a rich variety of texts flutter through my fingers.  As I view the notebook I see materials that look easy, just right, and challenging for second-graders.

Behind the students rests a portable chart labeled Snippets: Words, Phrases, and Language to Tickle the Ear.  This collection of beautiful words that the second-grade class keeps close to their hearts, minds, and hands draws my eye from top to bottom. The chart grows as a result of the desire of the classroom teacher, Dianne Nicholson. This teacher believes that integration, repetition, and meaningful use are essential to developing vocabulary that stays with her children. I am told that the class often adds to the chart as they read in fluency notebooks and their bag of books, or from the daily read alouds that the teacher conducts while teaching comprehension strategies. I walk away just as the boy who played the part of the Wise Woman places a sticky note on the chart that reads:

“ She had long, dark hair that was streaked with white like patches of snow on the muddy ground.”

Poetry Reading Vignette
It is approaching early afternoon as I pass down the fifth-grade hall. Music pours from the first room on the left drawing me in like the pull felt when you know you are entering a curious, special place. Peering into the filtered light, I watch three girls delivering an acapella rendition from their fluency notebooks. The music is Stevie Wonder’s Village Ghetto. I am told that the class has adopted this music as their theme song. Across the room, another group recites Eloise Greenfield’s “Honey I Love” replete with motions and a rhythm beaten by hand. Their audience follows along with their own print copy. I think how odd that these twelve-year-olds are so engrossed. No one looks up as I enter so I move over to a group clustered in the living room area. I notice a stack of picture books by Nancy White Carlstrom and typed text of these same books. The typed texts are neatly bound in colorful folders labeled Fluency Author Study: Descriptive Language. Six students face each other in a circle doing a call and response performance of Raven and River. One tall girl with a bob hairdo and a spunky attitude calls out: “Raven and River by Nancy White Carlstrom” and she continues:

“Raven
Knowing
Swoops out of winter into spring,”

The circle of students responds:

“Circling, Circling.
He gurgles and burbles,
Like a river flowing.”

The classroom bursts with sounds, words, rhythm, and motion. It is hard to pull away but the teacher is calling the students to reflection and reminding them that they will use their fluency practice as a stimulus for interesting phrases in composing meaning for the day’s writing lesson. I spoke out loud to myself as I walked out of the room, “Amazing, utterly amazing!”

Thanks for taking the time to checkout this special place. Unfortunately, not all schools choose the path to rich fluency instruction that impacts comprehension in an authentic manner. There are many practices that are not so full and vibrant and child centered. I consciously choose to dwell on this positive snapshot to share a special place that is doing what’s best for children. This is what I think makes the vignette’s special and worthy of emulation:

• First, they are true, true to children as well as practice.
• Second, the vignettes are based on balanced literacy and fluency instructional activities grounded in research. This school is mandated to monitor children’s reading with timed reading passages. They use the test for what it is, a test. The test is not the fluency curriculum. Their instruction is grounded in rich literacy experiences that revolve around vocabulary and comprehension development.
• Third, the literacy leadership team organized fluency instruction around school wide fluency notebooks, good literature, and reading practice that motivates children. This organization insures that the students see and feel each other becoming fluent readers who tackle texts with prosody, automaticity, and accuracy. The leadership paid their dues in professional development, book studies, and hours of faculty collaboration to do what’s best for children.
• Fourth, all the fluency vignettes feature vocabulary development and comprehension alongside the fluency practice.

As promised, I have continued the conversation on interferences to reading comprehension started on Friday, February 2 at our 2007 Winter Conference. Now what will we do about it?