Saturday, October 11, 2014

Fluency: It's more than just words on a page

Throughout the reading a metaphor kept popping in my head about fluency. Fluency is a lot like watching a movie you don't completely understand when you are a kid and then rewatching it as an adult. How many jokes or important plot twist go unnoticed because all your trying to do is unerstand the movie well enough to get through it? One of the most important points in the reading was that it's not just a teachers job to decide whether students had problems with frequency but why and what parts. It talked about how fluency has different parts and one minute assessments and other traditional methods aren't cutting it. It's difficult sometimes to make so many factors fit into one assignment and limited time in the classroom. As the readings discussed using interesting, easier to read texts to practice fluency with I thought it might be really fun to do with music and found a really excellent example of a teacher blog on Pinterest that does just that:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2012/12/using-music-improve-reading-fluency

I'm all about alternative methods to teaching ideas and I feel like this is a really good way to practice fluency. Students can hear what it's supposed to sound like and the inflection(prosody), practice speed(rate of speed), and try to understand what the text is saying without too much effort(accuracy and comprehension). I also really like that she points out how songs build vocabulary. Wanting my ELL credit makes me wander what awesome cultural exposure children could get by bringing in their own music. I can also see this having a high level interest and it it building student's confidence. How much easier is it to read a song or poem in front of the class if you've been exposed to it. Student's will grow more confident and teachers will raise expectations which will lead to more success. 

Questions of the day: Do you think that music would be a good way to implement fluency practice in the classroom?
What other aspects of reading could be improved this way?




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