When I am explaining fluency, I help by using the understanding that fluency is how we sound when we read. What do we use to hear? Our ears! E (expression, A (accuracy), and R (rate). This helps to ensure that the instruction is focused on a specific skill to improve fluency.

I also have assessment rubrics for fluency (I'll link in the resources) that I use to pinpoint areas for skill instruction.

I'd like to support teachers to increase the structure of partner reading paragraph shrinking. I also really liked the Me We Reading strategy from Archer and will share that with the teachers I support with fluency work.

My higher level reading group will choral read, and partner read the text and complete a series of activities to show knowledge of the text.

However, I do like the posters that are a part of the text Setting Expectations, which I never considered to ensure students are following through and holding a level of accountability for all parties, including teacher. Also like to guidelines for partner reading, if, then scenarios. I believe these principles can help my higher level kids become accountable and clear with expectations.

Our school also had Read Naturally and Word Warm Ups (Rapid Reading Lists) to access for fluency practice.  These were self-guided and used in centers in my classroom.  I also used a strategy from Magic Rimes called smile phrases which is similar to Kemeny’s scoop phrases.   This resource was helpful for my third graders were were beginning to read affixes too!    Reader’s Theaters were also something that was built into our curriculum.   Students loved them and I liked that the topics were related to content areas like science, math, and social studies.  

For my intervention program, one of the levels uses an oral reading fluency procedure in every unit. Three students are chosen to read aloud for one minute each. The other students are marking errors in their book. Student graph and track their progress each week. The ultimate goal for the program is for students to be reading at 98% accuracy for better. For the lower level programs, students are asked to read phrases and sentences that practice the skill that was learned that week. I often use a random name wheel to decide who is going to read the next sentence. It keeps students from the issues discussed in the round robyn reading and the students love to see who the wheel will land on next.

One idea I would like to incorporate is the read, model, read again. This gives students the opportunity to try on their own, have a model to correct any errors and practice again. I also really like the idea of giving students the option of reading alone or with their partner when partner reading (me or we). Students love having choices! I would like to use the repeated timed readings with my tutoring students. They often struggle with prosody and stamina.

Like Lindsay, I find that much of this work happens in small groups and 1:1. I’m also looking forward to coaching one of my associates on repeated reading and phrasing feedback. I use choral reading so students don’t feel singled out, but I’ve identified several who will benefit from more intensive support. Having an associate will allow us to provide additional repeated and echo reading practice, especially as we move into vowel teams and r-controlled syllables. The partner reading guidelines on pages 120–121 will be helpful for teaching cueing strategies rather than giving students the word. I also appreciate the repeated reading procedures on pages 125–126; they are clear, accessible, and easy for both associates and students to follow. While students last year enjoyed tracking their own data during timed partner reading, the profiles of this year’s group suggest that an adult partner will provide more emotional support and set them up for success.

I also tried using the partner reading in other parts of our day, primarily Science and Social Studies. I paired the students together and gave them texts to read and summarize. Moving forward, I plan on reassessing my students individually to restructure their pairings, but overall found this to be incredibly effective and helpful for my students with lower phonics and reading skills. Additionally, we aim for one Readers’ Theater performance every month to make fluency practice even more meaningful by having an audience. We have invited other classes to watch our performances and students thrive in the repetitive practice of reading.

I do a similar timed progress monitoring with goal setting in math and that found interesting when done in the reading realm. I would be interested in trying this with a few of my students who I know get lost when reading and struggling with reading for meaning/understanding. I think this could be a two-fold approach to helping them build confidence in reading and applying meaning while also practicing fluency.

In small group instruction, students whisper read a page. This allows me to provide direct instruction for temporary irregular words. I rotate around the table listening to students. Then, we choral read the same page together. Similar to the Neurological Impress Method, I read slightly louder and faster than students. Since implementing this strategy my students have already shown an increase in cwpm.

In the past, I had students chart their fluency but recording accuracy data, fluency data and comprehension data was overwhelming, so I focused on IEP goal related tracking. After reading, we reflect on three questions:

1. Did I read the words correctly?

2. Did I read with a smooth voice or a bumpy voice?

3. Did I read with expression?

With that being said, I want to increase opportunities to increase fluency practice. I love the idea of increasing moments of partner reading. I want to work with my co-teachers to set up a system that would benefit all learners. I want to try reading paragraph shrinking.