2. Presentation By Katherine Barrood Marie Murray Katherine Rydzy Book by Timothy V. Rasinski

3. What do you think of when we mention the word fluency? Step 1: Write a word that comes to mind when you think about fluency on each post it note. Step 2: Place your post-it note under one of the headings on the board.

4. Overview of the Text Purpose The goal of Tim Rasinski’s book is to help teachers improve student’s reading comprehension and overall reading proficiency through fluency instruction. (p. 175)

5. Overview of the Text Summary – Begins with a theoretical and historical look at oral reading – Offers a rationale as to why teachers should practice oral reading in the classroom – Presents the latest research on fluency, offers teaching strategies based on that research and shares effective fluency practices – Explains how fluency instruction can be integrated into the regular reading curriculum – Provides step-by step teaching guides, teaching tips and source lists – Includes a variety of methods to assess fluency

6. Overview of the Text Audience – the author states that the strategies presented in the book are for use with grades 1-8 – for teachers who want to develop fluent readers and want to enhance comprehension – provides strategies for improving word recognition, fluency, and comprehension through oral reading practices – teaching strategies described in the book are appropriate for all students, including those who have very poor reading skills

7. Partner Poems Why are partner poems a great tool for building fluency? – Poems improve reading fluency – Partner makes reading aloud less terrifying – Learning essential reading skills while learning to appreciate poetry – Messages are simple and kids can relate to them – Authentic and engaging “real” literature

8. Fluency Strategies to Use with Partner Poems Model fluent reading Repeated reading Choral reading Paired reading Recorded reading Read it like the character Lucky listener Harvesting words

9. Choral Reading Groups of children read the same text aloud, in unison. Maximizes the amount of reading per child. Builds a community in the classroom. Particularly effective for struggling readers.

10. Types of Choral Reading – Refrain – Line-a-Child – Let’s Give It A Try – Dialogue – Antiphonal Reading – Call and Response – Echo Choral Reading – Cumulative Choral Reading – Choral Singing

11. Oral Recitation Lesson An instructional procedure involving modeling, support & coaching, repeated reading, & performance. Steps Read story aloud to students Collaborate with students to construct a story map. Use the story map to write a summary. Select a part of the story to reread. Model fluent reading of the selected part. Have students practice the selection alone, in pairs, and/or chorally. Have the students perform the selection.

12. More Ideas for Promoting Fluency Read Alouds Neurological Impress Method Paired Reading Audio Recorded Reading Buddy Reading Repeated Reading Radio Reading Mumble Reading Performance Reading

13. Readers Theater Script Reading No Props or Staging Script Can Be Pre-packaged or Student Written Requires Practice Over Several Days Culminates in a Performance for a Particular Audience Rasinski offers numerous sources for Readers Theater scripts in The Fluent Reader.

14. Critique Strengths Comprehensive view of fluency development, including a historical perspective, implications and applications for classroom instruction, and assessing student fluency Offers multiple ideas/strategies for teaching fluency with a rationale for each, much like a menu of best practices Provides reproducible pages necessary for implementing strategies After reading the text, we felt confident in our ability to implement the strategies with students, especially when following the classroom vignettes Great list of web references, especially for reader’s theater. Easy to read

15. Critique Weaknesses More attention could have been paid to implementation at different grade levels and specific examples of children’s literature that teachers could use as a starting point for the activities. It was difficult to see how this instruction would fit into a scripted curriculum/anthology based program It would take too much time out of the reading block to fully implement all of the suggested activities Webinars are tricky to get to play Repetitive

16. A Critical Note: (It’s not quite a strength nor a weakness) The book doesn’t go far above and beyond other resources that are out there, but it does take all of the popular oral reading strategies and package them in one easy to use resource.

17. References Rasinski, Timothy V. (2010). The Fluent Reader, (2nd Edition). Scholastic. Rasinski, Timothy V., Harrison, David L., Fawcett, Gay. (2009). Partner Poems for Building Fluency, Grades 4-6. Scholastic.