Monday, October 6, 2014

Fluency: Accuracy and Speed

The first article was about one minute fluency test.  I know that from experience this can be daunting tests.  You are given a passage that you have never seen before and are expected to read it aloud to your teacher and while you do she sits and write on her clipboard.
That was probably the most stressful part about it because you have no clue what she is writing so it only makes you more nervous than you were before.  She is also timing you to see how quickly you read the passage which is also something that can make you nervous.  So you just read the story as fast as you can and don't really comprehend anything that you are reading.  At the end sometimes the teacher asks you questions on the basic theme or summary of the text and students sometimes as a hard time remembering what they were because they were reading so quickly.  I think that instead of timing students you just should allow them to read and see what they know.  I also think that a teacher shouldn't scribble while you are reading and should remember what the student messed up.  By having the teacher engage with you while you are reading the passage may make it less nerve wrecking and anxious.  I think another thing to help students is by making a chart so they are able to see how much they are improving because that could help with the confidence of the reader too.
The second article talked about ways to judge fluency and how to create a more fluent reader.  They also stated just because you are a fast reader does not mean that you are a fluent reader.  It is so much more than how fast you can read.  It is about how you read, the smoothness of your reading and the pace at which you read.  If you can be fluent in your reading you are more likely to comprehend what you are reading rather than just worrying about the words on the page.  If you know the words and signals you are able to think about their meanings.  This is something that is a building block for later learning and it is not learned over night.  


Questions:
1) What are other ways besides one minute fluency tests that can test a child's fluency?

2) Do you think that fluency and comprehension go hand in hand?

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2 comments:

  1. Becca TherrienOctober 6, 2014 at 4:43 PM

    I always dread having to give students the "one-minute fluency test" because they are never truly accurate and students feel pressured when reading. I like the idea of just reading one-on-one with a kid and working with them to read through a book and correct the errors they have. I believe this is a more personal way to make them feel more comfortable. I do think fluency and comprehension go together and students will get better at both as they become better readers.

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  2. ElizabethOctober 11, 2014 at 10:41 AM

    I think a big part of the problem with with traditional methods like one-minute fluency tests is that they are so stressful for the students. The classroom environment isn't even fun for the teacher if all the students are worried about passing the next assessment. The text talks about how these assessments are necessary though to determine some aspects of fluency. I think that teachers could really reduce the stress associated with these assessments by being better communicators. Tell your students that the assessment is to help them. Say you just want to see where they are so you can do your job and help them perform even better. Tell them that it is important but if they relax and do their best only good things will come out of it.

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