I teach at a middle school and we do fluency for the first few minutes of class. Kids are paired off and it takes about 3-5 minutes. The book we use is SIX MINUTE SOLUTIONS. It's great for fluency.
The problem with discussing fluency is that many people put the cart before the horse. We aren't testing for fluency, but ultimately for COMPREHENSION. Fluency only helps. Too many kids can't read at fluent levels, but they can understand someone speaking at 200 words a minute. If they can comprehend spoken language at 200 wpm, they should be able to read and comprehend at 200 wpm since it is the same language only the words are "spoken" in their heads. Other factors such as decoding skills come into play, but we have too many teachers telling students to slow down, when, in fact, they should be reading faster. Many of my students find that reading faster helps their comprehension. If it doesn't help, then we address background knowledge and decoding skills.... Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carol Carlson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 12:51 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Re-replies to my fluency v. comprehension >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 _______________________________________________ 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.
