The Literacy Dictionary says accuracy, rate, prosody, and comprehension go into developing a reader's fluency (p. 445). However, Deeny says that a deeper view of accuracy is more than just those four parts. It needs to be broader rather than narrower. We need to look at fluency as a whole rather than just minute by minute.
Rasinski agrees that there are different dimensions of fluency, however it is the whole thing that creates allows a reader to be able to read fluently.
I think this is a great concept of fluency because practice and experience is what gives children fluency not the short choppy assessments.
I know in the first grade class I am in currently, I am not sure how I feel about the leveled readers because the books that are on most of the children's reading levels are not that interesting or entertaining. Instead of working on fluency, which is the point, the children are reading like robots because they are just reading the words without taking in the meaning. It is too boring and dry. The children simply hurry to read two of the leveled readers so that they are able to read a "real" book on the book shelf such as Cat in the Hat.
Do you think it is ok to use "real" books to promote fluency instead of the leveled readers?
Here is a link to a good parent letter to give parents tips for working on fluency at home. This includes a list of high frequency words.
http://blog.maketaketeach.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Oral-Reading-Fluency-Parent.pdf
I agree with you that leveled readers might make kids less excited about reading. My philosophy goes more toward having a large classroom reading library that is an acceptable challenge for the student who are reading. I also think using individual books allows you to have texts about so many different topics, which enables you to diversify the classroom and let any child see themselves in the books they read.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think that leveled readers would be helpful for whole class readings. We talked in class about different instructional tools, and a lot of them included group and whole class reading to improve fluency. Even if the text is not overly fascinating, it is still a good tool to instigate class discussion and reading aloud together.
I thought your thoughts on the level of reading for children in your first grade classroom were very interesting! You made a great point: yes, they practice fluency, but they are also boring to them because the books are so simple. I believe that could be a challenge.
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