Article Prezi:

 "Drop Everything and Read- But How?

Article Summary

Drop Everything and Read—But How? For Students Who Are Not Yet Fluent, Silent Reading Is Not the Best Use of Classroom Time

Samantha Bransfield

Article Review

“Drop Everything and Read – But How?

For Students Who Are Not Yet Fluent, Silent Reading Is Not The Best Use of Classroom Time” By Jan Hasbrouck

The National Reading Panel defines fluency as the ability to read text with accuracy, appropriate rate, and good expression. Students, who read too slowly, end up with a broken string of words and phrases that they are unable to comprehend. When students aren’t sufficiently fluent in their reading, they won’t have sufficient comprehension. Fluency is a vital reading skill.  This statement is supported by numerous studies. Therefore, schools are searching for ways to help their students become fluent readers. This article explained what strategies not to use in classrooms and what strategies to use in classrooms to help students develop fluency in reading.

            As a result of these studies, schools around the country are spending a significant amount of classroom time on two instructional strategies that actually are not supported by research to improve reading fluency. These two strategies are called silent reading and round robin reading. Educators seem to think that having their students read a lot will make them fluent readers. Programs like “sustained silent reading” (SSR) and “drop everything and read” (DEAR) have become prominent in schools because of these beliefs. Developing fluency takes a lot more guided practice than these strategies can deliver. Jan Hasbrouck explains that if we want children to read lots, we must teach them to read well.

Not all schools were so quick to believe that silent reading could improve fluency because of their students who struggle with basic reading skills needed in order to read. There are some other instructional activities that have been proven to help students become fluent. One idea is to have fluent readers continue to read silently, while the teacher works with struggling readers on skills needed to become fluent readers. Another strategy is to give students opportunities to read aloud, while the teacher provides guidance and feedback. This method is great for the teacher but can be somewhat embarrassing for students who have difficulty reading. To avoid this, the teacher can have their students read aloud away from the rest of the class.

One way to measure a student’s fluency is to measure their oral reading speed and accuracy. This is done by how many words-correct-per-minute (WCPM). The examiner then compares the score to oral reading fluency norms. Next, educators must work to help a struggling reader become a fluent reader. Different strategies work for different stages of readers.

For beginner readers, teachers need to spend time working on basic word recognition and word analysis skills. This can be done by providing daily opportunities for students to read words accurately and by not pushing them to read faster. Teachers should also model fluent reading by reading aloud to their class.

 For readers who are making adequate progress with their reading in higher grades, there are techniques that can be used to maintain and develop their level of fluency. Some of these techniques are choral reading (teacher and students read aloud together), cloze reading (teacher reads orally while students follow along and read occasionally), and partner reading (strong reader paired with a weak reader).

In conclusion, fluency is only one component in reading. Students must be proficient in basic reading skills before they can ever become a fluent reader. Researchers are still working on the most accurate ways to teach fluency to students. Teachers should keep in mind that to help their students become fluent readers, they shouldn’t have their students just read a lot; they should work with them to develop skills to become great readers. These skills will in return help their students become fluent readers.

References

Hasbrouck, J. “Drop Everything and Read – But How?:  For Students Who Are Not Yet

            Fluent, Silent Reading Is Not The Best Use of Classroom Time”. Retrieved from

            http://www.sjcoertac.org/docs/Fluency&SSR-Hasbrouck-892006120140PM.pdf