Chapter 10 - Fluency and Automaticity

This was a particularly meaningful chapter for me. As part of an assignment from another class, I had the opportunity to work with a 7^th grade student who struggled with fluency. I saw first hand the frustration that these students feel. My main focus was building my students confidence (when I started working with her, she considered herself a ‘bad’ reader.) She wanted to be a better reader and was embarrassed that she didn’t read as well as her friends.

Repeated reading was a key part of our work together and really gave her the confidence that she really was a good reader. Becoming familiar with the text through repeated reading resulted in a more fluid reading pattern. We practiced with Fry’s Hundred Word lists, most of which she knew with automaticity. If not, we added them to her Word List. We did Echo Reading and taped reading practice so that she could hear herself read.

In my research, I discovered that fluency is an area that many middle school and secondary school students struggle with. Simple decoding instruction is not necessarily the best approach to improving fluency with these students. Beers gives us five great strategies we can use to help teach older readers who struggle with fluency and automaticity.

From a special education prospective, I think it’s critical for the general education teachers to recognize that many students struggle in this area and need additional help. Don’t just assume they are “bad” readers…give them some tools they can use to improve. Give them a chance to learn!

Report Card: My student improved from approximately 85WPM to approximately 103WPM and her confidence level improved 100%. Even with my limited experience, I think I helped!!!