How to Strengthen Fluency in Your Classroom

Many children struggle year after year in school because they are not fluent readers. Reading is an essential skill to possess because it is everywhere, and those who are not fluent tend to have difficulty in many areas of life.

Fluency not only includes the ability to read text quickly and accurately, but also the ability to comprehend what is being read, and apply it to other situations. Some children cannot grasp the basic skill of reading text. Others may be able to read at an acceptable pace but have no idea what they are reading about. To them, it is meaningless text.

No matter what aspect of fluency a child is struggling with, there are different activities teachers can incorporate into their class time to improve fluency. These activities will not only help the children struggling with reading, but will also be beneficial to all of the students, not to mention that the kids will love partaking in them!

1. Reader's Theatre - Have groups of students practice and then perform a play based on a written script for the class. The students convey meaning through their expression of the script, so instead of memorizing the script, they learn to interpret text. This helps improve comprehension skills. The act of repeatedly rehearsing the script also allows the kids to recognize and learn words. This activity is fun and the students will develop fluency without realizing they are doing so.

2. Paired Reading - A fluent reader is paired with a less fluent reader and they take turns reading aloud to each other. When the less fluent reader has trouble, the other student helps him or her with word recognition and provides positive feedback and reinforcement. This technique allows students to feel comfortable because it is peer-to-peer, gives students a sense of responsibility, and ultimately leads to increased fluency in the classroom.

3. Choral Reading - Students read along with a teacher as a whole class. The students can either read along with the teacher's big book or follow along in their own books at their desks. Predictable books are best for this exercise because the repetition and easy-to-follow pattern does not intimidate the students, but rather encourages them to join in.

4. Book-On-Tape - Allow the students to read along with a book recorded on tape. The first time around, the students should simply listen and follow along in their books. Then, they should replay the tape and read aloud with it. After awhile, the students should be able to read by themselves without assistance from the tape.

Some of your students may have a difficult time in the fluency department, but try these different activities, and you will most likely see great improvement over time. Success will not take part over night, but as you continue to include these types of sessions into the school day, you will ultimately see great improvement in everyone's fluency skills!