Class Assignment for Today: Read 2 articles and a book chapter on the same topic, Fluency. Then . . . . blog about it.
Ok well here we go.
Theresa Deeney challenges educators to go beyond the one-minute timed fluency test. According to the article, fluency consists of 4 components: accuracy, rate, prosody, and comprehension. Denney questions how can timing a child one minute and making them name as many words as possible in that time truly address the components of comprehension? I agree with this proposed question. This type of test causes stress, anxiety, and nerves; which all make up inaccurate results since children are not performing to the best of their ability. Denney goes on to tell teachers ways to go deeper like rereading books, providing a variety of interesting books for the class, and involving parents. I liked this article, I enjoy reading things that give me practical ideas I can apply to my classroom one day in the near future.
Timothy Rasinski has one fewer but similar compartments to fluency. He sees it in three dimensions. One, accuracy in word decoding; two, automatic processing, and three prosodic reading. This article basically tells educators not to expect students to be fluent readers, unless they themselves are creating an atmosphere in which students can see first hand how to think aloud, and where do go for information, and what questions to ask when you are stuck and do not know what to do. I think that modeling to students is crucial, as their teacher, they are watching everything that you do and waiting to see they best way to get things done. This is another article, that give teachers ideas and resources, which I always enjoy reading.
Chapter 5 in the book addresses the same components to fluency as Deeney does in her article. this chapter talks a lot about utilizing what you have in the classroom so that fluency is not a specific thing to students like a one minute test that causes all sorts of frustration. I have always seen word walls and heard my teachers talk about them. But I never really understood how beneficial they could be and all the activities that could be done with them until reading this article.
I agree with you about the word wall. I learned a great deal more about them than what I had previously thought they were used for. I now realize that they can be used for more than just introducing new words to students, they can help students fluency by repeated viewing of the words and constant recognition will eventually result in fluent reading. I also agree with your idea about modeling. The article did a great job explaining the importance of teacher's displaying the correct way to read, as well as what should be comprehended after a reading.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Shonna. I like how you brought up that teachers can't expect their students to be fluent unless they have modeled the behavior and created an appropriate environment. I think teachers need to be very reflective about their practice and ask themselves if their teaching practices are benefitting students.
ReplyDeleteWord walls can be fantastic when teachers actually use them. I have been in several classrooms where teachers have word walls in areas of the classroom that are very difficult to see and they almost never reference them. They had just been told that word walls are great, so they stick them up on the board. The point of things like word walls is to engage and surround students with words. Therefore, teachers need to really spend time engaging students in word wall activities, and make the words very accessible to all students.