Fostering Fluency

What Exactly is Fluency?

For those of us who are unaware of the variable 

components of fluency, myself included, they are as follows:

1) Accuracy 

2) Rate or Speed

3) Prosody

all of which combine to influence:

4) Comprehension (Deeney)

Although the menagerie of assessments available for determining "fluency" often focus simply on accuracy and rate only, we as teachers need to remember that:

"Although such quick assessments may not be definitive, they do provide teachers and school administrators with a method for screening new students tracking sstudents' ongoing progress in the various dimensions of reading fluency, and identifying the students who may require additional assessment and instruction." (Rasinski 47)

The tests themselves may not determine fluency, but they surely aid in developing a knowledge base of what type of reader a student is, which is valuable as an aid for drafting future lesson plans.

 Prior to being able to TEACH anything, a teacher must first LEARN about their students and their various learning styles. 

The following website offers a lot of helpful activities for fostering fluency, 

ranging from individualized to whole-classroom instruction:

http://www.readingresource.net/readingfluency.html

How apparent do you think this shifting viewpoint (or shifting common knowledge) of fluency is going to affect one-minute assessments and other similar activities and their use in the classroom?

How important is using a word wall for fostering fluency in your future classroom? 

Allington, Richard and Patricia Cunningham. Fostering Fluency: Classrooms that Work: They Can All Read and Write. 
Deeney, Theresa. One Minute Fluency Measures: Mixed Messages in Assessment and Instruction.
Rasinski, Timothy. Creating Fluent Readers.