Fluency is a critical aspect of our students' development as readers, and we cannot assume that they will develop it on their own. Many children will require careful teaching in whole-group, small-group, and individual contexts; the lens of fluency can be applied to all three. Here are 12 suggestions for supporting fluent reading through whole-class instruction:
- Provide consistent, daily demonstrations of fluent phrased reading.
- Draw students' attention to aspects of fluency as you have demonstrated them in each interactive read-aloud.
- Focus on the meaning of the text, and reflect the meaning with your voice.
- Demonstrate rereading to gain fuller understanding.
- Draw attention to language that evokes images or has a poetic quality.
- Use shared reading of a common enlarged text.
- Teach students to use partner reading.
- Use readers' theater to help students find the "voice" in dialogue.
- Engage the whole class in choral reading of poems and longer texts.
- Have students select some poems to memorize.
- Provide many easy books in the classroom library that students can "sail through" for pleasure.
- Create a listening center with audio books.
Adapted from Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (c) 2006 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.