| Literacy Training: Reading Fluency |
Context: |
| Many times tutors have the wonderful opportunity to work one-on-one with children. This is a good time to work on children's ability to read fluently. Reading fluency is often thought of as the rate of words per minute as well as accuracy, or the number of words read correctly. Accuracy does not mean reading perfectly. When fluent readers make mistakes, they have the skills to detect and correct the mistake if meaning is interrupted. Fluency also refers to the ability to read with expression. |
Goals: |
- To understand the concept of fluency
- To finds ways to encourage children to reread for fluency
- To model how to use partner reading when tutoring children
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Materials/Preparation: |
| Simple, easy-to-read books |
Activity: |
| Children develop fluency by practicing reading with a high degree of success. Explain to tutors that children become fluent readers by reading books that are manageable and not so hard that they struggle to decode words. If children struggle to read individual words, they often lose comprehension. Reading books that are below the level their teachers are using for instruction is a good way to help children practice reading with confidence and expression.
Talk with tutors about their role as models of fluent reading. By listening to good readers, children learn how and when to change pitch, which words to stress, when to pause, and at what pace to read. Reading aloud provides children with a model of fluency.
Another way to support children's fluency is partner reading. Here tutor and child take turns reading pages or selected passages. During partner reading, the tutor's role is to provide children with a model of fluent reading, as well as support and feedback. Invite pairs of tutors to practice this together, taking turns playing the role of the child. Using an easy-to-read text, the pair should take turns reading and the tutor should model and support the child's reading behavior. |
Key Questions and Points to Remember: |
Talk with tutors about their ideas about fluency and how to support its development. Discussion points can include the following:
- The importance of repeated reading
- The need to read aloud to children
- Ways to provide children with text they can manage with relative ease
- The important role tutors can play in developing fluency
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Developed by LEARNS, a partnership of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (1-800-361-7890) and Bank Street College of Education (1-800-930-5664). For additional activities or assistance, please call. |
