Week 7 Assignment 2: Teaching Fluency

1. It is important for struggling readers to gain confidence in their reading by having easy access to texts on their level. One way of doing so is by setting up a classroom library of books of various genres, topics and levels. This way the struggling readers also have the opportunity to choose books on their level and of interest to them. Students should learn how to determine which books are just right for them, which books are too easy and those that are challenging for them to read. This will help them select the appropriate books that they can accurately read.
2. Practice is the key to improve one’s fluency in reading. A teacher should find appropriate texts that match her students’ level of reading proficiency and conceptual development. This way, her students will have an interest in what they are reading. Teachers should include guided reading, shared reading and independent reading in her lesson, so her students have many opportunities to practice fluent reading.
3. Modeling fluent reading is a great way to show students what their reading should look like. A teacher can gather her students on the rug for a read-aloud activity where she models fluent reading with expression. A teacher should teach her students the three elements of fluent reading- expressive, fluent and correct, and have them say which element she omitted when reading aloud. Also, by not correcting a student when he/she makes a mistake while reading is giving the student the ability to self-monitor his/her own reading, and avoiding the terrible habit of “traffic checking”.