Week 7: Fluency and Word Study Assignment #2

  How can you ensure that your struggling readers have access to texts that they can easily read? One of the most important things I took away from the video was a creation of a class library. Giving students access to a variety of texts helps them to find their “just right” books that will help them practice reading successfully before they move on to be challenged. By matching students level of reading proficiency to the books they can choose from, you are ensuring they will not struggle during reading but will get practice to improve fluency and comprehension. Our school district uses a system called IRLA where a running record is taken to determine a student’s reading level, and books are divided into colored bins based on that level. Students may then choose any book from their reading level or color to practice successful reading.

  How can you foster a learning environment in which students have many opportunities to practice reading? Instead of focusing primarily on whole group instruction, if a school day is broken up into whole group instruction, small groups, and side by side teaching or coaching, students have time throughout the day to practice those skills in different ways. Small groups and side by side allows for individualized attention for the students. Also, by having books that tie into different content areas, such as social studies and science, and encouraging students to read during down times or in between lessons, not only can students practice reading skills but can also be engaged and make connections to other topics that may interest them.

Describe ways in which you can model fluent reading in your classroom throughout the day: One way to model fluent reading in a classroom is to perform read alouds for the students. In one part of the video, the teacher read a part of a story with no expression and the students could recognize right away what he was missing. When you point out good and bad qualities of reading while modeling for students, they are more likely to notice these things in their own reading. For students who do not get an opportunity to hear fluent reading, this also provides a great example. While students are reading, it is best for teachers to take a non-interruptive approach which allows students to self-regulate their reading. If students are constantly stopped after each mistake, they miss out on the opportunity to understand sentences as a whole and to see where they made a mistake and how it changed the meaning of the sentence. It also appeared to be a good strategy in the video to point out strategies that students were successful at. One of the teachers commented on how well one of the students chunked the word to figure out what it was. If children are being given positive reinforcement they will be more likely to repeat that behavior.