Week 7

Fluency 

Before this week's readings, I knew that I was a fluent reader, but I did not know the exact characteristics that defined a fluent reader, nor did I know specific activities to create fluent readers. Fluency, according to Classrooms that Work is fast, expressive reading. In the article, "Creating Fluent Reading", fluency is comprised of four elements:

1. expression and volume

2. phrasing

3. smoothness

4. pace

To be a fluent reader, one must possess all of these skills PLUS comprehension of whatever was just read. From the readings I chose three activities that I plan to use in my classroom to improve fluency in my students... 

1. I will use poems, dialogues, jokes, and riddles as fun pieces of work to have my students read aloud to their classmates. 

2. Coral reading is something I remember from school. You divide up characters in a book and assign their parts to students in the class. This encourages the children to read creatively using different voices for different characters.

3. Echo reading is a great idea to use with younger-aged children.

 This is an example our text gave as a good book to be used for echo reading.

What I would like to know is...What memories do you have of becoming a fluent reader growing up? Did your teachers have you read poems or be the narrator of the story you were reading as a class?