While further researching why fluency was so important in a strong reader Dr. Timothy
Rasinksi provided me with much clarification on this question. His article, “CreatingFluent Readers” discusses the 3 Dimensions of Reading Fluency:
- Accuracy-being able to sound out words within a text with minimal areas
- Automatic processing-using little effort to decode so that they are able to use their cognitive abilities to make meaning
- Prosody-utilizing punctuation and expression to make meaning of the text
He then emphasized how fluency feeds into comprehension and
comprehension is our “final goal” as we read. It was this notion that guided me
in my action research. I knew I needed to teach my students what these three
facets of fluency meant, what they looked like and how to achieve them as
readers. If I could do this I hoped to increase their comprehension as well.
Another article that sparked some change in my classroom
research was Lara Beth Clementi’s “Readers Theater: A Motivating Method toImprove Reading Fluency.” In this article she discusses the importance of
motivation in creating fluent readers and how using Reader’s Theater can enhance
that level of motivation. At the time I was already “dabbling” in some action
research and could see that my students were getting a little bored with the
repeated reading aspect of improving their fluency. Other than being able to
record themselves, they really had no reason
to reread the passage or book multiple times to become fluent. When I
introduced the concept of reader’s theater to my students and the fact that
they’d get to PERFORM to their classmates they were ecstatic! They immediately grew excited about the “play”
we were reading and were even willing to practice every part, multiple times
without being asked, because they weren’t aware what part they’d be given.
Their expression improved as they listened to each other and themselves and on
the day of their performances they took it very
seriously. When my other groups saw how much fun this group was having with
reader’s theater they practically begged to do it as well! This article definitely
opened my eyes to a fun and effective way to teach multiple facets of fluency!
Overall these articles had a huge impact on my action
research “path” and on the students in my classroom. Due to the information I
gathered and implemented in my classroom I was very pleased to see the growth
of fluency amongst all students, not
just my selected group. I will absolutely take this new knowledge and these
strategies with me as I continue with them in 3rd grade!
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