Practical Fluency: Classroom Perspectives, Grades K-6

Front Cover
Stenhouse Publishers, 2006 - Education - 118 pages

All teachers know helping students become fluent in reading and writing involves more than measuring reading rates. Growth in fluency comes when teachers balance regular, systematic instruction with short bursts of teaching targeted to individual needs. But what does this look like in practice? And how can teachers integrate more fluency instruction into already packed literacy schedules?

Max and Gayle Brand have worked together with students and colleagues over many years to discover the most effective whole-class, small-group, and individual strategies and activities for building both reading and writing fluency. They link all this work to the most current research on fluency, taking readers into the daily routines of their classrooms.

Practical Fluency includes: twenty-two sample lessons adapted to both primary and intermediate grades;detailed portraits of whole-class lessons and discussion;examples of how to differentiate fluency instruction;a research base for fluency linked to specific teaching strategies;fluency prompts and assessment rubrics.

Readers will be reassured by the many suggestions for integrating fluency into existing reading and writing workshop routines. In addition, this compact guide contains a wealth of suggestions for maximizing fluency instruction during transition periods, small-group instruction, and read-aloud sessions.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Acknowledgments
Note to Readers
Introduction
Talk and Text Demonstrations
Chapter 3 Rereading
Chapter 4 Short Bursts for Building Stamina
Chapter 5 Ongoing Assessment for Targeted Instruction
Appendix
Bibliography

Common terms and phrases

References to this book

About the author (2006)

Max became a teacher because he loves to learn and teaching gives him the chance to learn a ton every day."Each day is a new experience. No matter what you plan for, the kids take ownership and extend thinking/understanding to fantastic heights."Max is a graduate of Ohio State University, and he most recently taught fifth grade at Eli Pinney Elementary School outside Columbus, Ohio. Max is now retired, though he still tutors students, specializing in word work and learning through discussion. He enjoys birding, walking, and helping to conserve the environment.