Foundations of Fluency: Fluidity

Welcome back to another installment of my Foundations of Fluency series! :)  I have posted three other times in this series.  The first post related to comprehension.  Read it HERE.  My second post related to expression.  You can read that by clicking HERE.  My most recent post was on developing rate.  You can get to that from HERE.  I am really excited about this particular post because--similar to rate--this is an area that I think is most misunderstood as it relates to fluency.

Fluidity is the quality or state of being fluid. When a student is reading with fluidity, the words are easily understood and are enjoyable to the listener.  This is a key part of a student's overall fluency.  Students increase in rate dramatically with improved fluidity.

I teach first grade, and usually once a student starts to read about 60-70 words per minute they start to try to read more quickly and they are not as smooth.  You can support their reading with decodable text. 

This is when I start to play with the levels of their reading so that even in practice, I force students to slow down while they are reading.  It's also important to note that most studies indicate that conversational speech is somewhere between 120 on the slow end and 150 on the high end.  When you are reading with younger children, even 80 words per minute is still a really great rate for your student to show fluidity and start to add expression.  

I've had teachers ask me about kids in second grade who read at 250 words per minute and if I have longer passages for them.  The truth of the matter is, once a student is reading faster than a conversational level...they are without a doubt reading TOO QUICKLY.  Remember the end goal of reading is COMPREHENSION.  If they are reading outside the bounds of conversational speech, you need to slow that student down. Increase the passage level until they are reading within the bounds of conversational speech.  They will build stamina and learn to read for meaning rather than to read for speed. 

When students are fluid, that's where the magic happens!  You can do so much more with them when they are able to attack the passage and not worry about the decoding constantly. Especially when it comes to practice, don't be afraid to give students something on a lower level to read so that they are smooth.  They will enjoy reading more and will feel more confident!