Teaching Students to Read Fluently

Read Naturally

Simple View of Reading

ComprehensionDecoding

Fluency

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

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).