Reading Fluency

Fluency a key skill that young readers need to develop to enhance their ability to understand and comprehend the text that they are reading. In the article on one-minute measures by Deeney, she states that it's important that we understand that readers struggle and to understand just why they struggle. I completely agree with her view; if we recognize just where or how a reader is struggling the better we, as teachers, can asses why that is and develop tools to improve certain skills. I know that when I was in fourth grade, my teacher told my parents that I struggled with fluency and suggested I go to a learning center to better concentrate on improving my reading skills. The whole experience did not do a thing for me as a reader because I didn't really need the help. My teacher had not properly measured my fluency, I was fast, accurate, understood what I was reading and did it all smoothly. I hated reading out loud cause it made me nervous and self conscious, and she would have been able to tell that if she had tested or looked at my endurance as a reader. Endurance is another key area which Deeney brings attention to that is key in determining a reader's fluency.

What would be some other ways to incorporate one-minute measures and endurance into testing fluency?

These are some pretty cool websites that deal with improving fluency and getting parents involved i the process!

http://www.aacrc.net/readerstheatre.htm

http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/fluency/