Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Fluency Through Poetry

This school year, Marlin students are working on becoming more fluent readers.  Students are building their fluency by reading poems—lots and lots of poems.  Classrooms are using Dr. Tim Rasinski’s Fluency Development Lesson to focus on fluency, adding word work and comprehension to the lesson.

Reasons for using the Fluency Development Lesson:
·      Is an instructional routine.

·     Combines elements of effective word decoding and fluency instruction.

·      Relatively quick and easy to administer.

·      Allows for school and home reading.

·      Allows for students to read more challenging materials.

·      Allows students to develop a sense of accomplishment through the mastery of a text.

·      Is research-based.

Fluency Development Lesson:

Time Requirement:  15-25 minutes per day.

Texts:    A brief text (poem, song, story segment).   Make two copies for each student.  Make a display copy for whole class reading. 
PART 1       
1.     The teacher introduces a new short text and reads it to the students two or three times while the students follow along silently.   The text can be read by the teacher in a variety of ways and voices.

2.     The teacher and students discuss the nature and content of the passage as well as the quality of teacher’s reading of the passage.

3.     Teacher and students read the passage chorally several times.   Reading variations are used to create variety and maintain engagement.

4.     The teacher organizes student into pairs or trios.  Each student practices the passage three times while his or her partner listens and provides support and encouragement.

5.     Individuals and groups of students perform their reading for the class or other audience such as another class, a parent visitor, the school principal, or another teacher.

PART 2
6.     The students and their teacher then choose 4 to 5 interesting words from the text to add to the individual students’ word banks and/or the classroom word wall.

7.      Students engage in 5-10 minutes of word study activities (e.g. word sorts with word bank words, word walls, flash card practice, defining words, word games, etc.)

PART 3
8.     The students take a copy of the passage home to practice with parents and other family members.

9.     The following day/week students read the passage from the previous day/week to the teacher or a fellow student for accuracy and fluency.   Words from the previous day/week are also read, reread, grouped, and sorted by students and groups of students.  Students may also read the passage to the teacher or a partner who checks for fluency and accuracy.

10.   The instructional routine then begins again with part #1 using a new passage.