Quote: "Researchers agree that round-robin reading is an outmoded oral reading activity." (Tompkins, 213).
Comment: Something to keep in mind is that each child is completely different. With that in mind, each child has specific, unique needs in their reading and writing development. I absolutely agree then that round robin reading is an outdated activity. Though it was a good way for the teacher to assess the student's fluency, it is not the most effective way. By doing alternative forms of formative assessment such as guided reading the teacher can address the needs of each of the children. These types of assessment, however, require a lot more work on the part of the teacher, not to mention a lot more planning and time. It will definitely be more of a struggle, but I think the benefits will outweigh the costs.
Question: Besides guided reading is there anything else that we as teachers can do to assess and improve the students' fluency?
Today in class we learned that practice makes permanent and about a few practices that can assess and improve a students fluency, they are: shared reading, choral reading, and shared writing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my personal favorite is choral reading because I had lots of personal practice from my TMA 352 class and have seen it work first hand. It's just like shared reading but the roles are in reverse. Students lead/read as the teacher scaffolds their fluency. Ultimately, choral reading helps students improve their reading speed and phrasing. There are a lot of drama activities that I think make choral reading and fluency fun!