Transcript Teaching Phonemic Awareness

Teaching Fluency
in the early grades
http://www.reconnectioncompany.com
Leecy Wise
Today’s Agenda
 Review
 What is fluency?
 Research on fluency
 Tested techniques for teaching fluency
A Focus on Fluency
by Jean Osborn, M.Ed., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Fran Lehr, M.A., Lehr & Associates, Champaign, Illinois, with
Dr. Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Visiting Research Professor, University of California,
Berkeley
Fluency
 Students who do not develop reading
fluency, regardless of how bright they are,
are likely to remain poor readers
throughout their lives (National Reading
Panel, 2000).
Fluency
 This lack of instructional focus may help
explain one of the findings of the National
Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) (Pinnell et al., 1995): Forty-four
percent of American 4th grade students
cannot read fluently, even when they read
grade-level stories aloud under supportive
testing conditions.
Fluency
 According to NRP, fluency is “the ability to
read a text quickly, accurately, and with
proper expression”
Competing Tasks
Word recognition
Comprehension
The more attention readers must give
to identifying words, the less attention
they have left to give to
comprehension (Foorman & Mehta,
2002; LaBerge & Samuels, 1974;
Samuels, 2002).
Fluency
Fluency, it seems, serves as a bridge
between word recognition and
comprehension. Because fluent
readers are able to identify words
accurately and automatically, they
can focus most of their attention on
comprehension.
Fluency
Even when children learn to
recognize many words automatically
and to read grade-level text at a
reasonable rate, their oral reading still
may not sound “natural,” because
they do not yet read with expression –
or prosody.
PROSODY
Prosody is a compilation of spoken
language features that includes stress
or emphasis, pitch variations,
intonation, reading rate, and pausing
(Dowhower, 1987; Schreiber, 1987).
PROSODY
On some reading assessments,
elements of prosody are used to
distinguish fluent from less fluent
reading.
 NAEP’s Integrated Reading Performance Record Oral Reading Fluency
Scale
 Teaching prosody
TWO APPROACHES
NRP
Repeated oral reading
Independent silent reading
Repeated oral reading
Samuels 1979 model – based on
classroom observation
Reading is a skill that needs repeated
practice
Repeated oral reading
Instructional Procedures
 Teacher-student assisted reading using a
teacher feedback technique - Can also be
used with choral and echo reading.
 Readers theater - students rehearse and
perform a play for peers or others.
 Paired reading - a fluent reader –
generally a parent or other adult – reads
with a child who is having difficulty.
Repeated oral reading
Instructional Procedures
Tape-assisted reading (reading while
listening). In tape-assisted reading,
students read along in their books
with an audiotaped fluent reader.
(Outperformed teacher led group in
comprehension)
Repeated oral reading
Instructional Procedures
Computer-assisted reading -
programs use speech recognition
software and immediate feedback as
students read aloud a text presented
on a computer screen.
Repeated oral reading
Instructional Procedures
Partner (or buddy) reading. Paired
students take turns reading aloud to
each other.
Computer-assisted reading programs use speech recognition
software and immediate feedback as
students read aloud a text presented
on a computer screen. Use student
feedback technique.
Repeated oral reading
All techniques…
(1) provide students with many
opportunities to practice reading,
(2) provide students with guidance in
how fluent readers read and with
feedback to help them become aware
of and correct their mistakes.
Independent Silent Reading
 Struggling readers need many more
practice opportunities than repeated
readings in the classroom can provide
Independent Silent Reading
The Mathew Syndrome
 Matthew 25:29 – “unto everyone that hath
shall be given . . . ; but from him that hath
not shall be taken away even that which
he hath.” Or, in more familiar terms, “The
rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”
 Students who are good readers read
more, get more practice, and so become
better readers.
Independent Silent Reading
 Reading ability directly related to how
much a student reads – Reading is a skill
that must be practiced.
Independent Silent Reading
 Teachers have long been encouraged to
use procedures such as free-time reading,
voluntary reading, Sustained Silent
Reading, Uninterrupted Sustained Silent
Reading, and Drop Everything and Read.
 Incentive programs (such as pizza
parties, free books, and class
celebrations) as ways to reward students
for reading a large number of books.
NRP
 National Reading Panel (2000) did not
endorse independent silent reading in the
classroom as a way to build fluency.
However, neither did it reject the practice.
 Why? Limited research and results
Red Flags to Silent Reading
 Unless students are held responsible for
what they read, some may spend
independent reading time daydreaming,
talking, or engaging in other off-task
activities (Kuhn & Stahl, 2003).
Red Flags to Silent Reading
 There is no way for teachers to evaluate
the rate, accuracy, and prosody of their
reading; thus, there is no opportunity for
the teachers to provide constructive
feedback (Shanahan, 2002)
 Use of independent silent reading relies on
students’ ability to improve their reading on
their own – and most struggling readers
simply do not have this ability.
Fact Remains
 Struggling readers are unlikely to make
reading gains unless teachers find ways to
encourage them to read more on their
own, both inside and outside of school.
Indeed, research about the out-of-school
reading habits of students has shown that
even 15 minutes a day of independent
reading can expose students to more than
a million words of text in a year (Anderson,
Wilson, & Fielding, 1988).
What Can Teachers Do to
Encourage Independent Reading?
 Help students learn how to select books at
appropriate reading levels and related to
their interests. Make book selection a part
of the regular reading group activity.
 After silent reading, set aside time for
students to discuss what they read. Have
students recommend books to each other.
 Involve parents and other family members
by giving them tips on how to read with
their children.
NEXT TIME
 General Review of Concepts for teaching
reading in the early grades.
 Models of using technology to teach
reading with assignments for
presentations from each group.
http://www.reconnectioncompany.com
click on the
Literacy Resources Pre-K-5
Teachers
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/units/fluency.htm
 "Tell me and I forget. Teach me
and I remember. Involve me and I
learn." Benjamin Franklin