I agree that there is a correlation with fluency and comprehension. Students need both, especially at the primary grades. My question is about middle school. With a much shorter period for literacy instruction--42 minutes per day for reading, how much fluency is necessary for students reading at grade level. For struggling readers, I know teachers need to do further diagnosis to determine why students are struggling. But I'm at a loss whether I encourage any fluency or oral reading at the junior high. Any suggestions? Thanks, Carol LA Content Specialist, K-8 La Grange, Il
On May 22, 2007, at 8:24 AM, Laura Klug wrote: > I agree with the importance of fluency to comprehension. The problem > that arises is how we work on improving fluency. Testing speed is not > the answer in my opinion.What I see a lot of in reading series and > "programs" is the repetition of text and subsequent testing to record > the rate of reading. Fluency has so much more to do with cadence > intonation , attention to punctuation , etc,. We need to be teaching > srategies for fluid reading the wy we teach strategies for > comprehension. The point is to increase understanding of the text. > > Things like Reader's Theatre and reading poetry do a lot more to > increase fluency because the format of the text forces the reader > to pay > attention to the issues involved in reading fluently. Another > effective > approach is working on studetns' writing to improve fluency. The > writer > knows how he/she wants the piece to sound. The writer as reader > intrinsically understands the importance of fluency to comprehension. > > Forgive my typos -- time presses :) > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave > Middlebrook > Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 8:00 AM > To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Re-replies to my fluency v. comprehension > > This is an interesting thread -- as evidenced in part by the fact that > it > has split a few times into sub-threads. My thoughts: Whether and to > what > degree fluency is important depends upon the text being read and what > the > reader needs to get from that text. Two examples come to mind: poetry > and > contracts. > > Poetry requires a lot of fluency. Lose the fluency and, more often > than > > not, you miss the magic -- and many layers of meaning as well. > > Contracts can -- and are often designed to -- put you to sleep. The > littlest details count. Much can hang on small words like "and" and > "or"; > and where you put the emphasis in a sentence -- which word or > phrase -- > can > often make all the difference in whether a deal will work for you. In > short, if you don''t put some serious fluency into the reading of a > contract, you can get skinned alive. > > Having said all that, I can also think of plenty of texts that don't > require > much fluency -- but even those are richer with fluency. Think "Stop" > signs > and advertising slogans and other such pedestrian texts that are the > wallpaper of our lives. Bottom line: fluency is important sometimes, > and > beneficial most of the time. Some texts make little or no sense > without > it, > and even where it's not necessary it can add richness to our lives. > > I agree with Laura's comments, below. Fluency is a bridge to > comprehension. > Children need to make the connection between fluency and > comprehension. > It > is an important tool. That said, I liked the way Nancy Haggerty > struck > the > balance: > > "...fluency will actually allow for more in-depth reading. We do have > to be > careful to take the entire child into consideration. Yea for the child > who > is exhibiting comprehension using the thinking strategies despite low > fluency, but I would also continue to work on some fluency with that > child. > These are all "pieces" to a complete package." > > Has anybody read "The Joys of Yiddish"? Now there's the argument for > fluency! > > > Dave Middlebrook > The Textmapping Project > A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills > instruction. > www.textmapping.org | Please share this site with your colleagues! > USA: (609) 771-1781 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 7:22 AM > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Re-replies to my fluency v. comprehension > > >> >> In a message dated 5/22/2007 7:19:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >> >> Skip the fluency and work on inference and questioning >> techniques... >> >> >> Hi all. Just weighing in here. Fluency is the "bridge" between > decoding >> and comprehension. >> When we free up brain space by developing fluency that is all the >> more > >> space >> children can devote to the thinking we are asking them to do. It can > not >> and should not be skipped. It also should not just be timed reading >> without >> attention to comprehension. We need to include retelling in our > fluency >> work >> to insure that the children make the connection back to > comprehension. >> >> Laura >> readinglady.com >> >> >> >> >> ************************************** See what's free at >> http://www.aol.com. >> _______________________________________________ >> Mosaic mailing list >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >> > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. >> >> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. >> >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. 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