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When I started this project, I asked the four students who participated what they believed fluency means. This student replied that it meant reading fast by reading and turning the pages quickly.
“It is important to stress that repetition does, indeed, help students develop their automaticity- as well as their prosody; this, in turn, helps ensure learners become fluent readers.” L.B. Gambrell |
Fluency Instruction
1st: ModelFirst my PBI partner and I modeled what a non-fluent reader sounded like. We read extremely slow and extremely fast for our nonexamples. Students then discussed what makes a fluent reader. How do you know that a reader is fluent?
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2nd: ExplainWe discussed that fluent readers need to read with: accuracy, expression and good rate of speed.
We then chorally read the same text as we modeled with. The students were able to hear the differences between fluent and nonfluent reading. |
3. PracticeOver the next three weeks, students would use VoiceChanger in order to record themselves reading three different texts. The app allowed the students to hear their mistakes and allow them to reflect on their reading before the next recording.
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Growth |
Challenges |
The successes of our students were noticed with an increase of words per minute (WPM). We used the DORF progress monitoring tool in order to compare student growth from the beginning of the project to the end of the project. Out of the group of four students that received this lesson, three students experienced growth of 5 to 11 words per minute.
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Time: In order to model the procedure students were going to use, we needed to take additional time away from whole and small group instruction. It also took time for the students to learn how to use the technology we were integrating. Many students had not used iPads and none of the students had used VoiceChanger.
Memory: The lack of memory on the iPad was a challenge because students were recording up to 10 minutes each on the iPad. Our devices already have apps loaded onto them that take up space. We frequently had to move files from the iPad to the computer to make room for new recordings. |
After the project was completed, students were asked what they liked and disliked about the process and the app. The student to the right explained that he liked that he could hear his mistakes to fix them. He disliked how long the app took to download his recordings so that he could hear them.
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Findings:
After looking at these students' DIBELS Words Correct Per Minute, I determined that fluency instruction is important to help students who are English Language Learners become better readers. I wish that I would have recorded if these particular students showed improvements in accuracy as well as wcpm. While they were hearing themselves read, they used their metacognition. They were thinking about how fluently they were reading while they were doing the tasks. This encouraged students to perform better so they would be able to positively analyze their reading fluency. Students were aware of how they were doing while they were reading and were conscientious of their reading behaviors.