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
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