Week 6-Assignment 2

Assignment#2 On your blog, discuss in details on (a) what you’ve learned about “reading fluency,” (b) how you can apply “fluency assessment” in you classroom, and (c) how you will plan your “fluency instruction.”

a. Reading fluency is the step beyond reading accuracy and reading comprehension. To read fluently means that the reader is able to dedicate the majority of his thinking power towards understanding the material as opposed to decoding. When a child is unable to read fluently, his mind is occupied with the technical details of trying to decode the words while ignoring the bigger picture of understanding. That is why teaching reading fluency is so important.

b. Applying "fluency assessment is now a must in every classroom as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act which requires all teachers accountable for what their students are supposed to be learning. The fluency assessment tests how many words per minute a student can read accurately. To increase a child's fluency, teachers can have the child reread the material thereby improving the child's reading each time. The repetition can be done in a variety of ways. For instance through choral reading where the teacher reads aloud then the students repeat is one way for students to repeat the material. Through choral reading students are given a model of what the words should sound like then they are given the opportunity to copy it. Other ways is through script playing when students need to act out a script. This helps with fluency since this activity requires students to practice the material until it is mastered. Reading should be read in a way that is as fluent as a person speaks. Therefore, doing activities as mentioned above will be sure to increase students' fluency in no time.

c. My fluency instruction would be similar to what was mentioned above. The first step would be to introduce a story and discuss some main points about the story with the class before hand. For instance if the story was about butterflies the class would talk about different things having to do with butterflies. Next I would have the class follow along with the words of the story as I read each line aloud. Following my reading the class will be expected to repeat each line together (choral reading). This way the students are repeating the story twice which will increase their fluency. The next step would be to break up the class into heterogeneous partners where strong readers are matched with weaker ones and have them take turns reading to each other. At this time the partners should be providing feedback to each other on their reading. Next the students will have to do an acting activity based on the storyline. Students will have to practice their parts repeatedly before their lines are perfected then they will have to present the play to the class.