Fluency: Don't Be A Jet or A Turtle!

I don't know about your students, but we always have some kiddos that just haven't clicked with fluent reading.  We intervene with this skill a lot in RtI.  I find that some have a misconception about what fluent reading really is though.  Fluency is about being able to read in a manner that improves your comprehension.  So I teach students not to try to read super fast like a jet plane, but not to be super slow like a turtle either!

If you have not read Timothy Rasinski's book, The Fluent Reader, you need to get a copy!  He lays out a lot of different ways for building your students' fluency to help build their comprehension.  One idea that he gives about modeled reading is a staple of mine.  I use it all the time!  I model how a paragraph should sound to my reading group and then send them off to different corners of the room to practice that same paragraph out loud 3 times to try to sound like me.  When they are finished practicing, they come back to me and read that paragraph trying to sound like I did when I modeled it for them.  It has been the best way that I have found to improve their fluency.  It works wonderfully!  I do also teach students on phonics skills and how to attack multi-syllabic words that they are missing along with the modeled reading practice.  Both must be done to make good gains.

A really fun way to get in this modeled reading practice is with task cards that you can use in your small groups or at a literacy center.  

Students roll the voice cube and then practice reading the fluency task card in the voice they rolled!  They might use a booming Santa voice, sweet Mrs. Claus voice or even a squeaky elf voice!  After they practice reading their card in 3 different voices, they then do a quick sketch of what the card was about to demonstrate comprehension of what they read.

Helping students to be aware of what they need to improve helps them to know what they should be working on to improve.  Rubrics help them with this skill.

If you are interested in these task cards, you can click on any of the pictures above or click here to see it.  It is such a fun way for students to practice on their fluency!