Fluency

1. Fluency

2. What is Fluency? • The ability to read a text _______, _________, and with proper __________ • _________: ease of reading • _________: ability to read without errors

3. Why is Fluency Important? Research says: Successful readers… • rely primarily on the __________ in the word rather than context or pictures to identify familiar and unfamiliar words. • process virtually every letter. • use ______________________ to identify words. • have a reliable __________ for decoding words. • read words for a sufficient number of times for words to become automatic.

4. Automaticity with Code • Definition: • Reading words with no noticeable cognitive or ____________. It is having mastered word recognition skills to the point of overlearning. Fundamental skills are so “____________” that they do not require conscious attention. • Skills that are automatic: • shifting gears on a car • writing your name • playing a musical instrument

5. Students who are automatic with the code… • Identify ________________________ accurately and quickly. • Identify familiar spelling ________________ to increase decoding efficiency. • Apply maximum resources to the difficult task of blending together isolated phonemes to make words. • Apply knowledge of the ______________ to identify words in isolation and connected text fluently.

6. What do fluent readers look like? • More fluent readers… Need to direct relatively little effort to the act of reading, allowing them to focus active attention on ________ and ________________. • Less fluent readers… Must direct considerable effort to the act of _____________, leaving little attention for reflecting on its meaning and message.

7. How Fluent? • It is not enough for students to simply meet a goal; they must meet the goal by a specified time period so that they can make the necessary progress they need to develop into lifelong readers. • End of 1st grade: ___ cwpm (correct words per minute) or more • End of 2nd grade: ____ cwpm or more • End of 3rd grade: ______ cwpm or more

8. Instructional Approaches • _________________ • Repeated reading procedures • Paired reading • _______________ • Silent reading • Accelerated Reader • Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.) ** Research has not yet confirmed independent silent reading as a means of improving fluency and overall reading achievement

9. Teaching Fluency: Critical features of Fluency instruction

10. Effective Fluency Instruction • Three decisions: • Selecting appropriate __________________(i.e., letter sounds students can produce accurately but not fluently). • Scheduling sufficient ____________ (multiple opportunities per day). • Systematically increasing the ________ of response.

11. Passage Reading • Structured activity in which students can read stories or connected text designed to provide practice and application of ____________ and ________________ skills. Passage reading provides students the ____________ to become accurate and fluent.

12. Levels of Challenge • Independent Level: ____% • Instructional Level: _________% • Frustration Level: _____% or lower For fluency building, materials should be at ________________ level or above. (Modified from Hasbrouck, 1998)

13. How to Determine Appropriate Level Text • Select text that students read with 95% accuracy # of words read correctly total words read Example: 100 words read correctly 125 total words read 80% accuracy ________________ be appropriate for fluency building % accuracy 80% accuracy

14. Fluency programs and materials • What you should look for in materials to build fluency: • Are passages within the learner's decoding range? (95% accuracy or higher) • Is there an ______________ strategy for teaching students to transition from accuracy to fluency? • Is there _____________ opportunity for fluency building? • Is there ____________ in words (i.e., words show up multiple times in different text)? • Are target rates identified?

15. Oral Reading Fluency Programs • Reading Mastery (focus on fluency checkouts) • Individual oral reading fluency checkouts scheduled every 5 lessons beginning at lessons 108, Level 1. • Target rates and error limits are established systematically • Student performance is graphed every 5 lessons documenting whether students reached reading criterion.

16. What is PALS for Beginning Readers? • Peer Assisted Learning Strategies • A ___________________ program to practice beginning reading skills • All students work in _________ several times each week for reading practice activities

17. Purpose of PALS • To develop important ________________ skills for young children • To provide teachers with a practical and effective means of meeting early literacy needs for all students in _________________________

18. PALS • Peer Assisted Learning Strategies • K PALS • 1st grade PALS • 2nd-6th grade PALS • High School Pals • FLUENCY & COMPREHENSION!

19. Important Features of PALS • ______________ (Coaches and Readers) • _______________ activities • _______________ support • More time engaged on task • Includes __________ students • Opportunities for ___________ for all students • Encourages positive ________________ • Practical AND effective • Opportunities to _________ student progress

20. Benefits of PALS • Meets the needs of increasingly diverse population in classrooms • Strengthens general education’s capacity to meet academic needs of broader range of children • Uses empirically validated instructional practices

21. Read Naturally (supplemental fluency building program for grades mid 1-6) • A supplemental tape-recording program that build on three primary practices: model oral reading, repeated readings, and progress monitoring. • Students are place in appropriate level text and practice listening to and reading with tape-recorded passages. • Comprehension questions are included for each passage.