I personally have not used it, but several teachers in my building use it and love it. (grades 1-5). They attribute their fluency improvements to this program.
Sheila ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Patricia Kimathi [[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 3:00 AM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Fluency Has anyone used PAL. The school is thinking about sending me for training? PatK On Mar 10, 2010, at 9:20 AM, Randal Lichtenwalner wrote: > We're about to begin a new program developed by IBM called Reading > Companion; it is a web-based voice recognition software that allows > a student to read online "books" into a microphone and get instant > feedback as to the accuracy and fluency of their > reading. I think it is designed for lower elementary, but could > prove useful for older strugglers. I think it is only available as > a grant from IBM, but you can check out the website to learn more > (just google "Reading Companion"). > > I think the best thing is to design a program that allows for > teacher-modeled fluent reading through daily read-alouds, low-risk > opportunities to practice fluency through daily shared reading, and > frequent partner reading where students read, re-read and > re-read again short text to one another, using a rubric to assess > improvement from the first reading, to the second reading, to the > third. I have one where students check off boxes if their partner > read faster, read smoother, read with expression, and > read accurately with the second and third try at the same text. > Reader's Theatre, Poetry Slams, etc. are also often helpful as they > are more fun and engaging, and give students an authentic purpose > for attempting/practicing to read fluently. > > It's also important to understand within which component of fluency > the child is more/less successful: is it mostly automaticity, > parsing, or prosody? > > I have to remind people from time to time that we don't teach > fluency just "to improve the number" on fluency assessments, but > because fluency (or actually, the lack of it) can really impact > comprehension. So it isn't just about "faster, louder, > righter", its about what they're trying to say as they read, too. > > Randy Lichtenwalner > Elementary ELA Developer > Public Schools of the Tarrytowns > > _______________________________________________ > 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.
