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The Question:
After meeting with my teacher, Miss. McInvale, we decided that working with
higher-level readers and concentrating on their fluency would be the best choice for my
action research. I was able to meet with both Student A and Student J to observe their
reading and fluency skills. After observing the student I saw that they are both very string
reader already, and that they did need to be instructed in fluency. Being in such a big
class, the teacher could not always give them the proper time for further instruction, so I
Action Research
was able to take them out of class and work with them in a group. Through this process, I
should be able to answer the question; what are the best strategies for helping students
improve on their fluency?
Timeline:
Date:
September 22, 2014
September 30, 2014
October 7, 2014
Plan:
Observe the class dynamic and students.
Meet with teacher to discuss students and
topics for action research.
This day, I assessed Student A and Student
J in fluency and interest inventories to
understand the students and their reading
habits.
On this day, we started by learning what
fluency meant. I explained this to the
students, and then we all participated in a
choral reading. After the choral reading the
students then read aloud the passage
separately.
On this day, I had Student A and Student J
read aloud and recorded their reading. They
then had the opportunity to listen to their
reading and hear their fluency. They
discussed what they needed to work on and
how we could improve.
On this day, Student A and Student J came
in separately and read their read aloud
books to me. I then modeled how fluency
should sound and had them read aloud
again to me.
Today, I brought in a readers theater of the
Action Research
October 22, 2014
October 23, 2014
December 2, 2014
Action Research
gave the passage his best effort. I can tell that he tries very hard and wants to improve. He
had a great attitude throughout the whole process even when he was struggling.
Student J:
Student J started out reading well. However, he needed to work on a few things.
Through the four assessments I gave him, I learned that he did not like to read by himself.
He liked to read with others and when others read to him. He believed he was a good
reader and showed confident when he read. His goal was to start reading chapter books
soon, and he was excited to read longer and harder books. When I gave him an oral
fluency reading assessment assessing his words per minute, he was able to read 85 words
of 120 with only two errors. He did very well with this assessment however; he was not a
motivated student. He did not want to improve, and thought that he was already a reader.
Action Research
Assessments:
Reading Habits
Assessment
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Assessments:
Interest Survey
Assessment
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Student A:
Date:
Strategy
Description
Anecdotal Observation
Reflection
10-714
Assessments
Explain to them
fluency and
model what
fluent reading
sounds like.
1015-14
Modeling,
choral
reading, read
aloud.
1016-14
Read aloud
and record.
Readers Theater
1021-14
Readers
Theater
1022-14
Choral
Reading
10-
Modeling
Model fluency
again for better
understanding.
Midterm
Student A was so
happy to do the
readers theater and
tried his best. He
does not give up
on words he
sounds them out
until he can figure
out the word.
He soaked in what
I had to say and
listened very
carefully while I
was reading aloud.
He was very
Action Research
23-14
with a poem
assessment
attentive and
listened well when
I was reading.
1028-14
Midterm
assessment
Record and
listen again.
Record and
read aloud
Final
Assessment
Final
Assessment
None.
He did so much
better than the first
time and is really
improving.
Student A
improved greatly
from his first
recording and was
proud of himself
for the work he
had accomplished
during this time.
Student A has
come so far since
the first time we
met.
1118-14
12-214
Student J:
Date:
Strategy
Description
Anecdotal Observation
Reflection
10-714
Assessments
Explain to them
fluency and model
what fluent reading
sounds like.
Student J did
an excellent
job on his
first
assessment. I
can tell that
he works very
hard, and
understands
far more than
his peers.
10-1514
Modeling,
choral
reading, read
aloud.
He read well
today, but
often got
frustrated
when Student
A took too
long, in his
Action Research
10-1614
Read aloud
and record.
Readers Theater
10-2114
Readers
Theater
10-2214
Choral
Reading
10-2314
Modeling
with a poem
Midterm assessment
9
opinion, with
the reading
we were
doing.
He did a good
job reading,
but had a hard
time figuring
out what he
needed to
work on next
after listening
to his
recording. He
also got upset
when I made
suggestions
for him to
work on with
fluency.
Student J did
a great job
with the
readers
theater, he
sounded great
and used a lot
of expression
in his voice.
He seemed
bored while I
was rereading
the passage,
but when it
came to his
turn to read
he did a great
job, and I can
tell his
fluency has
improved
already.
He helped me
explain what
do when we
came to
Action Research
10-2814
Midterm
assessment
11-1814
Record and
read aloud
Final Assessment
12-214
Final
Assessment
None.
10
certain
punctuation,
but seemed
distracted and
bored while I
was reading
to him.
He felt like he
did not do
well on the
mid term
assessment.
Student J got
the
opportunity to
listen to how
much his
fluency has
improved. I
think this
really helped
him see where
he started and
where he
finished. He
was able to
tell how much
he had
improved
over the time
meeting
together.
Student J has
improved so
much since
we have
started
working. I
think he really
saw how
much he has
improved
over the last
few times we
have met.
Action Research
Strategies Used:
Readers Theater
Passage previewing
Guided reading
Recorded reading
Modeling poems and passages
Words per minutes assessment
Choral reading
Lessons/Assessments Used:
11
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12
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13
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14
15
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Date:
Baseline Data:
Assessment
and results
10-7-14
10-7-14
Date:
On the WPM
assessment the
student scored
a 34%
Student J took 10-28-14
reading habits,
and interest
inventories as
well as a WPM
assessment.
On the WPM
assessment the
student scored
a 69%
Midpoint Data:
Assessments
and results
Date:
Final Data:
Assessments
and Results
Student A
12-2-14
scored a 40% on
the WPM
assessment.
Student A
scored a 68% on
the WPM
assessment.
Student J scored
a 82% on the
WPM
assessment.
Student J scored
a 97% on the
WPM
assessment.
12-2-14
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100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Assessment 1
50%
Assessment 2
40%
Assessment 3
30%
20%
10%
0%
Student J
Student A
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18
Final Reflection:
Beginning this process I was unsure about how to start or instruct the students on
fluency. If I could go back and redo this I would have started out with more fluencybased assessments. I would have also tried to make the whole process exciting for the
students. I would have found fluency games for them to play and practice with while we
were meeting. I feel like the practices I used did help the students improve immensely.
After I modeled good and bad fluency for Student A and Student J, they really
understood what their reading should sound like, and this helped them improve when
they read the passage after me. The best strategy I used with the students was letting them
record their readings and having them listen to it. Not only did they enjoy it, but they also
were able to hear how they sounded, and hear what they need to work on to master
fluency. They both showed great improvement by the final assessment, and I was so
proud of how far they had been able to come!
Action Research
Abstract
19
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20
Fluency is a critical part of reading instruction. Students need to be fluent so they can
comprehend the texts they are reading. Being proficient in fluency is critical to students
education further down the road. In the past, fluency was overlooked by a lot of teachers,
but now we understand the importance of it. Studies have shown that repeated readings,
oral reading, choral reading, and having constructive feedback from teachers, guardians,
and peers is beneficial
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22
textbook, this involves more than three-repeated reading of a certain passage. Students
also need to receive feedback from their instructors, whether that is their teacher or
parents, and their peers. This is more effective early on in education than practicing
reading at home (Cooter and Reutzel, 2015).
Students need the opportunity to practice reading daily. This will improve greatly
on their fluency. Fluency is an indicator of better comprehension and expression
continuing into adult years. Teachers need to model what fluent reading sounds like to
students so they will know what their reading needs to sound like. Teachers need to
model what fluent reading sounds like to students so they will understand how to read
correctly. Teachers should not only model what fluent reading sounds like, but also what
non-fluent reading sounds like. This is another important way of modeling fluency for the
students. They need to have guidance, monitoring, interaction, and feedback (Reutzel
and Cooter, 2015). In order to become masters of fluency students need to practice it
more often in the classroom. The more students practice this they can become aware of
how to read fluently with or without feedback from teachers or peers (Reutzel and
Cooter, 2015).
Teachers should include oral repeated reading with students because it leads to
automaticity- fast, accurate, and effortless word recognition (Reutzel and Cooter, 2015).
Wide reading is also important for learning fluency. Students need to read a wide range
of genres such as fantasy, fairy tales, myths, science fiction, historical fiction, series
books, autobiographies, diaries, journals, logs, essays, encyclopedia entries, and
information books (Reutzel and Cooter, 2015). Studies show that this use of wide range
of genres can be as effective as repeated readings. Choral reading has also shown to be a
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best practice according to our textbook. Students should read along with the teacher in
unison or echo read after the teacher reads a line. Partnered reading can also be effective
when pairing struggling students with students who are excelling in fluency (Reutzel and
Cooter, 2015).
Fluency is imperative to master because it helps the students comprehend texts.
Reading fluently helps free working memory so children can focus on the meaning of
text instead of laboriously figuring out individual words, (Calo, Woodson-Ferguson, and
Koitz 2013). Fluency Idol is a strategy that incorporates repeated readings, practice,
supportive feedback, and oral performance (Calo, Woodson-Ferguson, and Koitz 2013).
This is a practice where the students get to perform poems picked by their teacher. The
students are selected to perform the poem and their classmates secretly judge them. The
criteria for the winner was that their reading was easy to understand, and that the students
enjoyed listening to the reader (Calo, Woodson-Ferguson, and Koitz 2013). This is a fun
way to get students excited about reading and learning fluency.
Studies have shown that teachers who value and practice reading in their homes
are better at teaching reading practices to their students. Teachers who show they value
reading will encourage their students to want to independently read on their own as well.
This encourages and gives the students opportunities to become more fluent readers.
Teachers who read often on their own have a better grasp on the fluency and how to
relate it better to students in a way they can fully understand (Burgess, S.R., Sargent, S.,
Smith, M., Hill, N., & Morrison, S. 2011). It is important for teachers to understand that
to have their students fully understand fluency, the teachers must model for the students
and demonstrate it in their everyday life.
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References
Begeny, J. C., & Martens, B. K. (2006). Assisting Low-Performing Readers with a
Group-Based Reading Fluency Intervention. School Psychology Review, 35(1),
91-107.
Burgess, S. R., Sargent, S., Smith, M., Hill, N., & Morrison, S. (2011). Teachers' Leisure
Reading Habits and Knowledge of Children's Books: Do They Relate to the
Teaching Practices of Elementary School Teachers?. Reading
Improvement, 48(2), 88-102.
Calo, K. M., Woolard-Ferguson, T., & Koitz, E. (2013). Fluency Idol: Using Pop Culture
to Engage Students and Boost Fluency Skills. Reading Teacher, 66(6), 454-458.
Reutzel, D.R., & Hollingsworth, P.M. (2015). Strategies for reading assessment and
instruction: Helping every child succeed (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Education