Teaching Students to Read Fluently Read Naturally

Simple View of Reading Fluency Decoding Comprehension Fluency is the bridge that links decoding or word reading to comprehension.

Key elements of fluency… Accurate reading of connected text At a conversational rate With appropriate prosody or expression

Fluent reading… Is the ability to read text accurately, quickly and effortlessly with expression Is the ability to read like you speak Students in the fall of sixth grade should be reading grade level text at a rate of 127 correct words per minute (cwpm)

Research on fluency… National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) found 44% of nation’s 4th graders were low in fluency Less fluent readers must focus attention primarily on decoding individual words. They have little attention left for comprehending the text. More fluent readers focus their attention on making connections among the ideas in text and between those ideas and their background knowledge More fluent readers are able to focus their attention on comprehension

What is fluency? http://readnaturally.com/howto/v_rn-fluency_lg.html

Using Read Naturally Teacher Modeling Repeated Reading Teach word recognition Teach meaningful context Teach correct phrasing Repeated Reading Read same passage over and over Better understanding Able to read subsequent passages faster Progress Monitoring Provide immediate feedback toward specific goal

Implementing Read Naturally Select a story Read along to learn key words Write a prediction using key words Timed cold score – graph in blue Read along to learn the story Timed practice readings Timed hot score – graph in red Answer questions Write a retell, summary or practice word lists

The Read Naturally Strategy http://readnaturally.com/howto/videos_rn_strategy.htm

Comprehension strategies Students underline text to support responses Students restate open-ended question and support with evidence from text Write summary using summary frame Focus – demonstrate understanding of text

Questions

Sources Ambruster, B.B., Lehr, F., Osborn, J. (2003). Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. Jessup, MD: National Institute for Literacy. National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching Children to Read. Retrieved from website: http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/faq/faq.htm#12 Read Naturally. (2011, November 6). How-To Videos: Read Naturally Basics. Retrieved from http://www.readnaturally.com/howto/videos_rn.htm Read Naturally, Inc. (2006).