Speed and Fluency
Activity
Philip Builder
By focussing on the development of speed and
fluency you enable developing readers to strengthen a host of reading
strategies which are vital for ongoing literacy growth.
Because they are focussing on speed reader's
eyes are forced to process less print and rely on memory, prediction,
meaning, and grammar to cope with the demands that speed places upon them.
Children love this activity because they have
specific targets to meet and they are usually able to improve each time they
do it.
- Select a suitable, slightly easy text to
begin with.
- Count out approximately 100 words and
mark the nearest sentence ending as the finishing point. (You might need
to start with 50 words and progress to 100 later for younger readers.)
- Without any preparation, rehearsal, or
discussion, ask the child to read the passage to you and record, in
seconds, how long it took.
- Now set the task. "I want you to
read this passage again, as fast as you can." Demonstrate by reading
the passage quite fast. The child hears this and is immediately prepared a
little more.
- Time the child again and of course their
speed will have improved.
- Use a bar chart to graph the results to
demonstrate the reading speed gains, and draw a line across the chart at
what you consider to be an acceptable reading speed (around 35 seconds for
100 words?).
- Explain this target level of 35 seconds
to the child.
- Read the passage to the child again and
have the child rehearse it over and over until the time on that passage is
acceptable, and the reading is fluent.
- In a 30 minute session a child can
usually manage 4 to five time trials.
- Next day repeat the exercise with a new
passage and graph the results.
- Keep this up until the fluency levels
are well established.
You will see a pattern emerging after a
while. I usually find that each child's first attempt each day is
faster than the previous days first effort. Reaching the elusive
target of 35 seconds can take some time for some children, while others will
reach it quickly.
This works because the reader has to read a
lot more than normal, is able to experience reading at a fast pace, possibly
for the first time, and is in competition with him/herself.
A refinement to this is to record their
reading and have them listen to it later to hear the difference between
their slower and improved readings.
Have fun with this.
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