3.

FLUENCY
a. In a ½-2 page response, please respond to the following prompt. . .

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/11364759/the-foundations-of-word-recognition-vocabu

How do you currently support the development of fluency in your classroom? What are the
state/Common Core Standards for reading fluency for students at the grade level(s) that you
teach (select one grade level represented in your classroom if you currently teach students in a
number of different grade levels)?

Ccsd curriculum
How do you select texts that help students from the different reading levels represented in
your class to succeed?
One study that really stands out as really underscoring how important text selection is is a study
by
Jim Hoffman and his colleagues. What they found was that the characteristics of the texts that
were in
classrooms, particularly their quality, their sheer quantity, and also the types of texts in
classrooms, was
related to students’ reading comprehension growth. So teachers who had greater quality,
greater quantity,
and a greater range of types of text in their classrooms did actually have kids who grew more in
their
reading comprehension in those primary grade years.
When a teacher’s selecting a text for reading comprehension lessons, there are several
different things
she needs to think about. First thing she needs to think about is her readers. So she wants to
select a text
that is not going to be too difficult for them to read or comprehend but is going to give them a
little bit
of challenge, because that little bit of challenge is what’s going to encourage them to work hard
in their
comprehension, apply their strategies, and so on. So first thing she wants to do is match her
readers to the level of the text. She also wants to think about her readers in terms of interest or
engagement. If she can
find texts that are more interesting to her students, that’s clearly going to make reading
comprehension
instruction go more smoothly.
She also wants to think about her curriculum. So for example, if the whole week she has been
doing all of
her read-alouds and all of her small-group reading instruction with literary texts, like stories,
then we want
her to think about, “Today, I am going to use some informational text. I am going to bring in
some expository
text for my students to read today, so that I can balance out my curriculum calls for both
informational and
narrative. I want to make sure I balance that out.”
Another thing we want her to think about is her instructional goals for that lesson: “What am I
trying to
teach here, and what is going to facilitate that best?” For example, when you are first teaching
summarizing
with young children, it works really well to use texts that even already have a summary in them,
for
example, an informational text that ends with a nice concluding paragraph. Or it works very
well to use
stories that have a fairly simple structure, so that you can fairly quickly summarize that. And at
first, that
really helps students to develop that early summarizing skill. And then, of course, over time you
are going to
want to use more sophisticated texts that are more challenging for kids to summarize.
The recommendation to select texts carefully for reading comprehension instruction, this is an
important
recommendation to consider for all the other recommendations within the practice guide,
because every
other recommendation is implemented better when we use appropriate text. For example, it’s
easier to
create engaging environments for students when we select texts that are very engaging. It’s
easier to teach
text structure when we select texts that really clearly depict the text structure we’re teaching.
Similarly,
for comprehension strategy instruction, we really want to select a text for teaching that
strategy where
using that strategy is going to really help you understand the text.
And sometimes I see teachers, particularly newer teachers, make missteps here. For example, I
once had
a pre-service teacher who wanted to teach the prediction strategy, the strategy of predicting,
using The
Cat in the Hat. This is a big mistake, right? Because most students are very familiar with The Cat
in the Hat
story, and so they’re not going to really exercise their prediction muscles when they already
know what
happens. So we really want to select, in the case of predicting, a text where there are many
possible things
that could happen, where the text gives some clues as to what could happen, and where a good
reader
would be really mining those clues to figure out what’s going to happen next.
So it’s all about picking the kind of text that’s going to be the best vehicle really for your
comprehension
instruction.
https://ies.ed.gov
Choosing the Right Text - US Department of Education
Developed at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education

How does your school/district currently assess the development and progress in developing
reading fluency of your students?

2021 bAlanced assessment - https://teachingandlearning.ccsd.net

2020-2021 Clark County School District Balanced Assessment System Framework

Do they use DIBELS? Other assessments? What could you do to improve these practices in
your own classroom?

What is reading fluency?

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression.
Do you know a reader who struggles with fluency?
He. reads. every. word. like. this.
Or maybe you know a reader who trips over words. To her, reading is awkward and painful.
I personally know a reader (right in my own house) who reads automatically and with little
stumbling. But he readslikethiswithoutabreath. I have to remind him to read with expression,
to pay attention to punctuation, and to read with inflection in his voice.

Why is fluency important?

Whether our learners read haltingly, stumble over words, or read without expression,
comprehension suffers.
Better fluency leads to greater understanding.

10 Ways to improve reading fluency

1.  Read aloud to children to provide a model of fluent reading.
It’s common for primary teachers to read aloud to their students. But as students get older,
the treasured Read Aloud becomes something we do “if we have time.”
A regular read aloud period is a must in any elementary classroom. No matter their age or
ability, children need a frequent model of fluent reading. Not sure what to read? My go-to
resource for book lists is What Do We Do All Day.
2. Have children listen and follow along with audio recordings. 

A large listening library is ideal. If your school’s budget doesn’t allow it, borrow audio books
from the library and place them in your listening center. Some teachers even record
themselves as they read aloud to their class – then they place the recording in the listening
center.
3. Practice sight words using playful activities.
When children know many words by sight, they’re less likely to be awkward, choppy
readers. I prefer games over flash cards. Thankfully, This Reading Mama and I have many
ideas and printables to help you out!
4. Let children perform a reader’s theater.
Reader’s theater requires no set or costumes and is a fantastic way to improve fluency.
Children take turns reading their parts from a script and bring the text alive through their
voices.
To create a script, create an original play with speaking parts or adapt a familiar story by
typing it up into several speaking parts.
Looking for free done-for-you scripts? Get them here!
1. Free reader’s theater scripts from Dr. Chase Young
2. Reader’s theater scripts from Teaching Heart
5. Do paired reading.
Some teachers have made paired reading (also called “buddy reading”) a daily practice
within their literacy block.
To do paired reading, put students in pairs and have them read to each other. Pair more
fluent readers with less fluent readers, but be careful not to make the ability gap too great.
Children can take turns reading by sentence, paragraph, or page.
In a one-on-one situation, the adult and child can take turns reading.
Also read: How to use paired reading
6. Try echo reading.
With echo reading, the teacher displays an enlarged text so that students can follow along.
This might be a Big Book or a text displayed on an interactive white board. The teachers
often points to words as she reads a sentence or short paragraph. Then she points to the
words again as students echo her reading.
When I was in graduate school I tutored a (very) tall sixteen-year-old who was reading at a
second grade level. In his spare time he would much rather listen to rap than open a book.
I brought a book of Shel Silverstein poetry to our session, and together we did an echo
reading of a funny poem. As he felt his reading grow stronger, this towering football
player began enjoying himself. “This is tight!”
7. Do choral reading.
With choral reading the teacher reads an enlarged text several times until students are
familiar with it. Then the class joins her as they read the text together. Nursery rhymes,
songs, and funny poems are fantastic for choral reading.
8.  Do repeated reading.
Echo reading and choral reading are both forms of repeated reading. Repeated reading
is also something that students can do individually.
Choose a short passage of 100-200 words. Students can read the same passage multiple
times. Have them time their reading and graph their results to see a visual record of
improvement.  A variation is to set a timer for 1-2 minutes and have students record how
many words they read during each reading. Again, use a graph to chart progress.
9. Practice “scooping” phrases.
While we encourage beginning readers to point to each word as they read, this is something
we want our readers to grow out of. Enter scooping phrases! Simply write a short passage
on paper. Then guide your learner as he reads the passage and draws curved lines under
each phrase. I highly recommend This Reading Mama’s done-for-you pack! 
10. Have your students do a lot of reading – at a level they can read independently.
The more we practice, the better at something we get. Make sure your readers are reading
at their independent reading level, and give them at least 20 minutes each school day to
read on their own.
CCSD CURRICULUM-
https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://ccsd.net/parents/resources/pdf/curriculum-
overview/ccsd-curriculum-overview-k-2-english-2011-
2012.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj5ob2TvqXpAhUVhZQKHS6yBmwQFjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVa
w1BGaKGbmQCsrywfAP-Svu7
 2:
WHAT INSTRUCTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ARE NECESSARY TO SUPPORT SUCCESSFUL
READERS?
Instructional opportunities encompass more than teaching—curriculum, instructional materials, and other elements are
also important—but the opportunities that teachers can provide are our focus. We again begin with the consensus
reports. Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children describes the kinds of instruction that help students become
successful readers (National Research Council, 1998). They include instruction in the various uses and functions of
written language and an appreciation and command of them; the use of the alphabetic principle in reading and writing;
and language and metacognitive skills to meet the demands of understanding printed texts. Specifically, the report finds
that adequate reading instruction for young children provides them with opportunities to:
3. use reading to obtain meaning from print,
4. have frequent and intensive opportunities to read,
5. be exposed to frequent, regular spelling-sound relationships,
6. learn about the nature of the alphabetic writing system, and
7. understand the structure of spoken words.
As noted above, the NRP report (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000) builds on NRC’s
conclusions, and it identifies instruction in the five foundational skills as the learning experiences with the strongest basis
in empirical research. The report addresses alphabetics
https://www.nap.edu/read/12882/chapter/7#82

b. Develop a lesson/instructional sequence that. . .

(i) Includes instructional practices that are supported by research (i.e. scientifically-
based instructional practices).

(ii) Incorporates texts at your students’ independent, instructional, and frustration text
levels.

(iii) Includes instructional practices that promote fluency development by providing

opportunities for students to develop fluency through core reading instruction, such as
reading independently in appropriate text, reading aloud with a peer partner, and
rereading a text for different purposes.