Laura Thompson
RE 5100 Final
April 17, 2007
First Essay: Question 1
Fluency refers to the ability to speak or write smoothly, easily, or readily (Fluency). Simply stated, fluency is how easily and quickly a reader reads. Fluency is extremely important for a student to become an effective and efficient reader. Reading fluency is connected directly to reading comprehension. If a student is unable to read a selection in an appropriate amount of time or has to go back and reread several portions of the material, he mayforget many of the important details and lose the concept of the story. This can lead to frustration and eventually cause the student to give up. It is important to encourage students to become fluent readers. For many students; however, this is not an easy task. Fortunately, there are strategies that will help to improve reading fluency among students.
An adequate level of word recognition is important to becoming a fluent reader. Therefore, continuous practice and review of high frequency words is necessary. The list of high frequency words should increase at each grade level with much repetition included. This provides the reader with a confident base to build on. Knowledge of high frequency words alone; however, is not enough. A student will only become a fluent reader if he is given multiple opportunities to practice.
An effective method of practice that will help improve fluency is repeated readings.Repeated readings is a process in which students reread a short passage multiple times until a “satisfactory level of fluency is reached.” The rates at which the passage is read are charted to show growth(Samuels). In his study, Rasinski found that students’ reading improved on new passages as well as on those they had become familiar with.
There are various forms of repeated readings. One form is radio reading in which the students read the material silently the day before they are to read aloud. They are given time to practice both in class and at home. For read aloud, they are encouraged to read expressively as if they were radio announcers. Say It Like the Character is another form of repeated readings that encourages expressive reading. Another form, mumble reading,gives the students the opportunity to practice reading their passages in a low voice before reading them aloud for the group. In Cooperative Repeated Reading, two students pair up and take turns reading their passage to each other and providing assistance and feedback (Rasinski).
Performance reading strategies such as student-led read aloud, reader’s theater, and reading and performing poetry are ways of enhancing repeated readings. Reader’s theater is an easy way to allow students to perform material for the class. The benefit to reader’s theater is that there are little or no props needed and memorization is not necessary. Practice and repeated readings are required. Fluency and comprehension are both improved during the repeated readings. Reader’s theater gives the repeated reading a purpose and therefore makes it exciting and interesting (Rasinski).
Whichever form is utilized, repeated readings provides students with the necessary practice they need to improve their fluency. By using various forms, the students will not become bored with the process. With each reading, the students’ speed increase and errors decrease. This results in success and builds confidence for the students.
Laura Thompson
RE 5100Final
April 17, 2007
Second Essay: Question 3
Many of us imitate things around us. We imitate styles, phrases and people. These moderate amounts of imitation can prove to be beneficial and helpful to us at times. Students’ writing can also benefit from appropriate imitation. Students, especially beginning writers, are able to improve writing skills when allowed to draw from sources other than their own.
As students progress in age and ability they move through stages of imitation. The first of these stages is close imitation. In close imitation, the student retells verbatim or summarizes something that has been told to him (Cramer). During this stage the student begins to understand the process of story telling and the elements of a story without even realizing it. As the student matures, he moves into loose imitation. “Loose imitation occurs when a child uses basic structures from a story, poem, or other source but adds certain unique contributions not contained in the original source.” This may be done consciously or unconsciously (Cramer). At this stage, the student is able to add to his story with his own ideas and creativity and still maintain a sense of security with the familiar. The third stage of imitation is creative modeling. At this stage the student is the most mature and well developed as a writer and story teller. Although he pulls some elements from other literary works, he produces a story unique to himself (Cramer).
An effective teacher will recognize each of these stages and their importance as her students move through them. In a classroom of beginning readers and writers it is vital that the teacher expose the students to various pieces of literature as often as possible. From this exposure, the students will learn the beginning stages of imitation as the teacher guides them in retelling the stories. The modeling and praise given by the teacher will encourage the students to take the first steps to writing. As the teacher sees her students progressing, she allows them to use the model as much as needed but encourages them to step out and add their own ideas. The teacher also sees students who are capable writers but who need extra support. She provides these students with models to help them get started. This may be having the students rewrite a selection using their own words, write a piece using phrases or words from the model, or write an ending to the model’s beginning.
Imitation can be utilized as an extremely effective teaching and learning strategy. It provides students with a place from which to draw ideas. Many students are hesitant writers because they do not know how to start or what to write. Allowing the student to imitate another person’s writing gives him the jump start he needs. Through the process of imitation, students are exposed to multiple models of excellent writing. In these models, students find examples of how other authors express their ideas and feelings. Students are also provided with examples of how to write in a certain style, discuss a certain topic, or describe a setting or character. Imitation also allows the teacher to focus on a specific element in the students’ writing. For example, the teacher may use imitation to provide students with models of good beginnings to stories or how to make a story more exciting by adding appropriate adjectives and details. Finally, through imitation students learn that the writing process is something that they can do. The students see clearly in the models they use that someone has done it and done it successfully. They can feel confident in their writing because they are not alone.
Laura Thompson
RE 5100 Final
April 17, 2007
Third Essay: Question 4
An effective way to develop reading comprehension in students is to encourage discussion of the material before, during and after reading it. A Directed Reading/Thinking Activity is an appropriate strategy for promoting such discussion. “In a fiction DRTA, children develop critical reading and thinking by predicting possible story events and outcomes, then reading to confirm or disprove their hypotheses.” The structured format of the process requires that the students read efficiently and stop to think about the text, answer questions and make inferences and predictions about it (Gillet & Temple).
The teacher is the guide during the Directed Reading/Thinking Activity but she leads the discussion by asking open-ended questions that require thought from the students. The two “basic” Directed Reading/Thinking Activity questions are: “What do you think will happen? and Why do you think so?” (Gillet & Temple). At the beginning of the story these questions can usually be answered in a variety of ways. The teacher accepts all reasonable responses and encourages the students to find the answers as they read. The students are reading to find out if they are right which gives them a purpose for reading (Gillet & Temple). While reading, the students must rely on their predictions and the reasoning from their predictions to find answers and draw conclusions. Although most of the questions should be open-ended, it is appropriate for the teacher to ask a few closed-ended questions to check the students’ understanding of important details (Gillet & Temple).
As the story progresses and begins to draw to an end, the answers become less diverse. The students are often able to predict the ending accurately. After finishing the story, it is not necessary for the teacher to quiz the students about the content of the story because she has heard their answers throughout the activity and knows whether or not they know and understand what happened. Instead, she is able to focus the post reading discussion on what the story means and the students’ reaction to it.
The key to an effective Directed Reading/Thinking Activity is picking appropriate stopping points. The teacher must preplan where each break will be and the questions that will be asked at it. The breaks must occur at points in the story where something is about to happen and clues are present as to what it might be. The break must encourage students to stop and think about what is happening but also want to read to find out what happens next. Generally, there are more breaks at the beginning of the story than at the end.
A Directed Reading/Thinking Activity can also be done effectively with nonfiction material. The majority of the discussion is conducted prior to reading the selection. The teacher ensures that each student makes a prediction before reading. While reading, the students will determine which of their predictions are accurate and which are inaccurate. Just as with a fiction, Directed Reading/Thinking Activity provides each student with his own purpose for reading. Activating prior knowledge makes it easier for students to acquire new knowledge (Gillet & Temple). In the post reading discussion, the teacher guides the students in identifying the accurate predictions and eliminating or correcting the inaccurate ones.
References:
Essay 1:
Fluency. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved April 13, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: