Brittany Foss

READ 436

Fluency Minilesson

For my fluency minilesson I planned a fluency minilesson with the objective being faster

reading. I had 5 students but I completed the activity with them all independently. I introduced

the lesson by explaining that we would be working on faster reading and that we would be

reading through a passage twice. I also explained that I was not grading them. I planned the

lesson with my cooperating teacher, so I knew the passage I had the students reading at was an

independent level for them. She showed me their PAL scores and explained how they were

reading at a third grade level based off of those scores. My cooperating teacher wanted me to

work with these students for my fluency minilesson while also getting a base line of their correct

words per minute for her data. This lead me to do a repeated reading with the student re reading

the passage she gave me to collect their correct words per minute. After the first time of reading

the passage with marked errors I told them their time it took to read through the whole passage, I

explained how the point of reading the second passage was to try to read it faster than the first

one. I told the students that it was like a game to beat their time for the first reading time. I

noticed immediate differences in the students reading of the passage for the first time versus the

repeated reading. Matthew went from 2:02 to 1:32, Elizabeth went from 2:32 to 1:48, Annarose

went from 2:19 to 1:55, Jaiden went from 2:04 to 1:41, and Tyler went from 2:15 to 1:33. The

students responded well to the concept that it was a game to beat their score from the first time,

which I think helped them read faster. The only issue I believe was the passage elf owl. I used

this passage for my repeated reading because my CT felt strongly about using a passage that she

had in her binder of used passages. The students didnt react well to having to read the passage a

second time because it wasnt very interesting content. The passage was non-fiction and
contained facts about elf owls. They seemed unhappy with having to read that same passage

again, which is very understandable. This leads me into what I would do differently next time if I

didnt have to make adaptions for my practicum classroom considerations. If I was working on

improving speed, then I would use more engaging material. This may include tongue twisters,

mad libs, etc. Anything that seems more like a game of beating your time, and less like being

forced to reread a boring passage over and over again. I want my students to be laughing and

enjoying their fluency instruction, especially if I am trying to show them how fun reading can be.

I will incorporate fluency instruction into my own classroom in a variety of ways. I will need to

collect an assortment assessment data through Running Records, DSA, and PALs. Throughout

these assessment collection process I will be looking for words recognized in context, word

recognized independently, and fluency ratings. I want to best meet my student educational needs.

In order to accomplish this goal, I want to group students according to ability in fluency.

Minimally, I would want 3 group so meet students where they are at: below grade level, on grade

level, and above grade level. Each grouping would differ for the individual needs of the students.

For example, if there is a below grade level group but there are 3 students are two grades below

for fluency then I would form a different group for them. For fluency instruction I want to have a

variety of fluency materials in my classroom such as mad libs, readers theater, tongue twisters,

levels passages, etc. I would want at least 30 days of fluency instruction each day in my class

even if it is whether it is incorporated through other subject, or by direct instruction in their small

groups.
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