Engaging the Reluctant Reader

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Engaging the Reluctant Reader

• Reading Fluency
• Module
• by ReLeah A. Lent

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Are You a Fluent Reader?

• With colleagues at your table, discuss a time
  when you may have had difficulty reading
  something fluently, such as while reading a tax
  document or insurance policy.

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Barriers to Fluent Reading

• Decoding A reader should be able to decode text
  with an accuracy rate of 90-95 (from Rashinski,
  The Fluent Reader, p. 35).
• Unfamiliarity with Text Structure
• Word Recognition Technical or subject specific
  vocabulary
• Lack of text chunking or phrasing, demonstrated
  by word-by-word reading
• Lack of prosody intonation, expression
• Difficulty with punctuation

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What Does a Fluent Reader Sound Like?

• Fluent readers. . .are able to read words
  accurately and effortlessly. They recognize
  words and phases instantly on sight. Very little
  cognitive energy is expended in decoding the
  words. This means, then, that the maximum amount
  of cognitive energy can be directed to the
  all-important task of making sense of the text.
• Timothy Rasinski, The Fluent Reader, p. 26

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Oral Reading Improves Fluency

• Oral reading can, indeed, foster comprehension.
  For example, one study (Cohen, 1968) found that,
  by listening to their teacher read aloud to them
  over the course of a school year, students
  achieved better vocabulary and comprehension
  skills than students who had not been read to
  regularly by the teacher.
• Timothy Rasinski, The Fluent Reader, p. 34.

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Examples of Read-Aloud Text

• Discuss Appendices
• Poetry
• Newspaper /Magazine Articles
• Student Writing
• Letters to the Editor
• Columns, Op-Ed Pieces
• Short Stories
• One-Minute Mysteries or Brain Teasers
• Internet articles or emails
• Non-fiction related to content area study
• Fiction related to content area study
• Jokes

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Who is the Better Reader?

• Why was it easier for the second partner to read
  the passage?

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Keys to Fluent Reading

• Phrasing
• Punctuation
• Prosody
• Practice

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Simple Sentences

• The poor people inner cities.
• That is a man eating tiger.

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The Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag

• I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
  States of America and to the republic for which
  it stands one nation under God with liberty and
  justice for all.

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Definition of Prosody

• Prosody is intonation, rhythm, and vocal stress
  in speech.

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What Happened to Lani Garver

• We dont talk about the drowning around the
  island.
• --By Carol Plum-Ucci

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Repeated Readings

• While the science of teaching tells us that
  repeated reading can be an effective
  instructional practice, the art of teaching
  challenges us to make repeated reading engaging
  for all students.
• Rasinski, T. The Fluent Reader p. 102

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Fluency in a Nutshell

• Students lacking fluency read slowly, a word at a
  time, often pausing between words or phrases
  they make frequent mistakes, ignore punctuation
  marks, and read in a monotone. Fluent readers
  know the words automatically, and therefore move
  easily from word to word, spending their
  cognitive energy on constructing meaning.
• --taken from Beers, K. When Kids Cant Read,
  What Teachers Can Do, pg. 205