Danielle Griffin
Final: RE5100
April 13, 2006
Question #1: What is fluency in reading? Why is it important? Discuss some ways that fluency could be developed in achieving second graders or above?
Fluency in reading is the ability to read unfamiliar and familiar text accurately and with speed. To read accurately means to recognize sight vocabulary in a text automatically. To read with speed is more than just reading quickly. It also implies that you read with the appropriate intonation while being able to phrase words correctly at a quick pace. A child is not fluent because he can read a familiar text at the expected rate. He is a fluent when he can apply this same skill to unfamiliar text. When a child has achieved fluency in reading his reading sounds smooth and natural as if he was speaking, but when readers have not developed fluency, as is the case with most struggling readers, they read in a slow, word-by-word manner. Their reading is often choppy and they tread wearily along trying to read the text.
Fluency in reading is important because it frees students to understand what they read.
When a child has not developed fluency he exerts so much mental energy on decoding words he do not attend to what the text means. Based on the article, “Developing Good Readers” by R. Barr, “Fluent reading is achieved through coordination of print and contextual information, with more attention to meaning than to print. When readers must split their attention between print and meaning, both comprehension and word identification suffers.” This is why developing fluency in reading is important. When a child develops fluency in reading, he can decode word automatically and attend to the meaning of the text at the same time.
Several strategies can be used to help develop fluency in achieving second graders and above. The best way to teach children to read fluently is to select appropriate text for children to practice reading, model fluent reading yourself, and provide practice with repeated reading.
One effective strategy that has been proven to build fluency is repeated readings. Repeated reading is a strategy that gives students the opportunity to practice oral reading. Children reread a short, interesting passage several times until an acceptable level of fluency
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is reached. They should read the passage at least three times. Afterwards the strategy is done with a new passage. Repeated readings are forced practice that builds word recognition and fluency. Progress is charted which can motivate children by seeing the gains they have made in fluency. According to the article, “The Method of Repeated Readings”, an important function of repeated reading is that it provides the practice needed to become automatic. Once this is done, more attention can be given to comprehension.
Many activities can be done to practice repeated reading. Some of these include tape echo reading, partner reading, and readers’ theatre to name a few.
Tape echo reading helps build decoding and fluency. This can be done by the teacher recording a passage in a record-stop-record fashion. Then the child reads the same passage, stop, and read again. A child is able to listen to the tape at home and get extra practice with oral reading.
Partner reading can be done by having the child read with the teacher or some other fluent reader. Through partner reading the teacher can model how fluent reading is done. This also provides help with word recognition, decoding, and finger-pointing. The teacher is able to model this as he/she reads.
Another way to do repeated reading is readers’ theatre, where children in small groups rehearse and read a play or script from a book. Then the students are able to perform the play in front of students or others. Rehearsing the play or book provides numerous opportunities for the child to reread the text and practice fluency.
Correct phrasing is also important to reading fluently. Student can practice this by reading high frequency words in phrases. This will help improve their recognition of sight words moreover, build fluency.
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Danielle Griffin
Final: RE5100
April 13, 2006
Question #3: Discuss the role that imitation can play in helping children master elements of story writing and storytelling. How can this be used in a classroom? Why is this an effective teaching/learning strategy?
It is often said, “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” This has been the case over the years with writers. Many writers borrow the styles of writing of others and make it into their own. This same thing holds true for children who are learning to write. As a teacher, I did not agree with this when my students imitated my work or each other’s. As a resource teacher, I work with students with emerging and developing writing skills. If they were to copy my work or the work of their peers, I would often say they were stealing their ideas or copying their peer’s work. It was not until discussing imitation in class that I understood how useful it could be.
Imitation plays a significant role in helping children master the elements of writing. When children imitate what has been read or written by others they can use the same basic theme, plot, or sentence structure in their writing by making it their own. In the process of reading someone else’s writing, children get the process of how to write a story with a beginning, middle, and end. It is not always easy to teach a child how to write by just teaching a writing lesson. Imitation is an excellent way to model how a child should write. By sharing writing with vivid descriptions and many details, students can pattern their writing after these authors. Not only does imitation help with content it also help them learn how to use language. Children sometimes lack the language skills to develop good writing. The words they use lack emotion and creativity. Children who do not have a large vocabulary often use the same words repeatedly. Many times words are dull and do not help the reader see what the child is trying to describe in his writing. Imitation can infuse children with a sense of language and structure that would not come if they had to do it on their own. I have seen this happen in my class. Before I gave a writing assignment, I read a book to the children that used many vivid descriptions and a lot of language. Afterwards I had the students to make up their own page to the book by
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patterning their writing after the author. I noticed that when this was done the students were able to gather their thoughts and elaborate on what they were writing about with more ease and confidence. If I had given them the paper and told them, I needed you to write on a specific topic their writings would have lacked elaboration and coherence.
Imitation can be used in the classroom to help develop and extend writing skills. Reading good literature to children can help them develop into good writers. A good way to do this is through story grammar. It is a strategy were the teacher lays out a model and asks children to imitate. The teacher reads a story to the children; afterwards she asks them certain questions related to the story such as main character, where the story takes place, how story begins, etc. After they discuss these answers, the students make up their own stories using the questions and modeling what they have read.
In addition, it can be used in the classroom by having teachers read to children. Reading to children is a useful way to expose them to language and help them learn to write. Children who have had exposure to many different kinds of literary models reproduce these models in their writing. Reading aloud helps spark children imagination and ideas for writing. Teachers often think about reading aloud to teach reading and model how to read fluently, but not to teach writing. Or should I say I never though of using books to teach writing.
Imitation is an effective teaching strategy because it provides a good model for children to follow. It is an effective strategy because it teaches children the elements of writing and helps them become more creative in the writing process. It helps students produce a better quality of writing that they would not be able to produce on their own. Imitating other’s work does not
destroy originality or restrict the creative process. In fact, it can encourage it.
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