How to Teach Fluency in Reading
Fluency is the ability to read smoothly with expression at a rate of speed that lends itself to comprehension. Accuracy is also important. Students cannot read fluently if they take excessive time sounding out words. Teaching fluency involves several processes. Students need to hear fluent reading and read daily in the classroom in a variety of methods. Teachers also need to demonstrate strategies for fluent reading and reinforce these in whole and small-group activities.
Instructions
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Model fluent reading for students. Read aloud to the class frequently using a smooth tone of voice and pausing for punctuation. When you encounter unfamiliar words, demonstrate decoding (sounding out) techniques and using context clues to determine the meaning.
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Help students build fluency with repeated readings. Reading Rockets and Education.com recommend this activity for the entire class or small groups of students. Make transparencies of poems and passages from stories and display them on the overhead projector. Have kids read these aloud at least three times a week for two weeks or until the majority of the class can read them without difficulty.
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Listen to fluent reading with your class. Play books on CD or download audio stories online. Narrators use excellent storytelling voices with prosody and smoothness. This provides kids with excellent examples to emulate.
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Facilitate activities that reinforce fluency skills like Reader's Theater. Kids read familiar stories that are written as a play with several parts. Group your students appropriately, then have one read while the rest of the class listens. Rotate groups so that all students get a chance to participate. You can download scripts from educational sites, such as The Teaching Heart, at no cost.
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- Photo Credit Teenagers reading book image by Monika 3 Steps Ahead from Fotolia.com
