Are YOU a fluent reader?

Hello followers! It has been a minute since talking about literacy in the classroom! This week's topic focuses on the importance of fluency. As many of you know, fluency is essential because it allows readers to read with automaticity, speed, and prosody (tone). But did you know that most of us became fluent readers by third grade? According to Gail E. Tompkins's book, Literacy for the 21st Century, "Effective teachers ensure that their students are fluent readers and writers by third grade, and they work with older dysfluent students to overcome obstacles to fluency (Tompkins, 2017). This is important because, as educators and parents who care about the future of our students, we need to make sure that we successfully prepare our students to succeed. The question is, however, if we are genuinely helping students achieve performance by enforcing all these fluency requirements and performance levels. How do we help those students who may be struggling to reach the fluent readers and writers level?

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts address reading fluency as an essential foundational skill that students must develop by fifth grade to become proficient readers. The Standards focus on teaching students to use phonics and other word-identification strategies to decode unfamiliar words and on ensuring that students read fluently. This means that students are asked to know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills to decode words, as well as reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. Lastly, students use word-identification strategies to decode unfamiliar words. (Tompkins, 2017). Although it does not seem as much, students from a young age can feel threaten and insecure when they are not able to pass those famous "how many words can you read per minute" tests. I remember these types of tests and reading the words, sometimes going back to the start and rereading it before my time my up. Although I was reading quickly, I was not able to explain what I read back to my teacher. This taught me that although I wanted to read quickly, I had also to make sure I understood what I was reading and using the proper tone with it. Now, as an educator, I see the importance of making sure that students know the appropriate high-frequency words so that they can smoothly read and write the words that they see and would like to say.

Like mentioned earlier, many students become fluent readers by the time they reach third grade. They know the necessary skills to decode words, read them automatically, read words with speed, and with the proper tone. They also learn to use these skills in their writing. But what about those students who need that extra support and are in a fourth-grade class or older? How do educators and parents help their students be able to understand and be classified as fluent readers? Should state assessments be put to the side? The answer to that is for students to practice much and give those students who need that support extra attention. I know it may be difficult at times, but if students get that additional guidance, they will be able to practice and practice until they become more comfortable and eventually become fluent readers. It is essential to not focus too much on the testing but to put a focus on the student being able to understand what they are reading, and being able to correctly say and read words with the proper speed, tone, and automaticity. The tests will always be there, but what matters is getting students to be taught. By providing students with adequate resources, struggling students can become fluent readers and writers. It is also essential to take note of why students are struggling versus only saying they are performing low and not helping them in the long run. Parents can also help their students succeed by providing one on one time, giving students books to read in partners or independently, and connecting with teachers to practice on high-frequency words or writing prompts. All students can achieve fluency proficiently, but it may be that some students need more help getting there. Providing targeted instruction is often necessary to help students overcome those obstacles; however, effective interventions require more than "fix-it" instruction(Tompkins, 2017). This means that as educators and parents, we have to devote our time to helping students achieve fluency truly. It cannot be seen as something to take lightly because fluency is something that students keep with them the rest of their lives. Being fluent readers and writers is a developmental milestone for students.

So next time you read a book, thank a teacher, a parent, a friend- someone who helped you become a fluent reader. Thanks to them or maybe even assessments, you are able to read this now. So take what you know and help others become fluent readers and writers. Read a book, talk, communicate and write.

Thank you for reading!

See you next week!

-Melissa