In DCPS we suggest teachers use Literacy Work Stations while they work with Guided Reading groups. One of those stations is a Fluency Work Station. At lunch during a recent training for DCPS teachers (Day 3 of a 3 day Guided Reading Institute) a teacher came up to me with a question. As we talked through it I realized it was more than a question, it was a great blog post!
The question from the teacher:
“I have kids who are fluent readers, they don’t need to work on fluency! Do they need to go to a Fluency Work Station?”
At first I thought, OK, if they already are fluent then, no, maybe they don’t need to practice fluency. Then I got to thinking about it a little more. Just because you are a fluent reader doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy being fluent! So we spent some time brainstorming what kids could do when they are fluent readers at a Fluency Work Station and here is what we came up with.
What’s Your Reading Identity?
We brainstormed WHO students could read as. She thought about putting some joke books out and having kids READ LIKE A COMEDIAN or perhaps some sports columns or Sports Illustrated Magazines and have kids READ LIKE A COMMENTATOR. Or to add to that put some news articles and READ IT LIKE A NEWS ANCHOR. And of course, our favorite, picture books, READ IT LIKE A TEACHER. What are some other personas?
Monologues
Fluent readers know how to PERFORM their reading! So the Fluency Work Station could have monologues for kids to practice reading and performing. Fun right?
A few good places to look to find some monologues for student use can be found on these sites:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/19406275/Girls-monologues
http://mccoyrigbyarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Monologues-Boys.pdf
http://teacherweb.com/NJ/HammarskjoldMiddleSchool/MsGreenspan/BoysMonologues013.pdf
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/19376378/12-15-yo-boys-monologues
http://ispgroupinc.com/monologues/monologues_for_kids_and_teens.htm
http://www.stagepage.info/mouthoffs/1minmonologs_kids.php4
http://www.whysanity.net/monos/monos1a.html (you can search by movie here)
Motivational Speaking
Have you seen these videos? These will kick of this idea for your station! Show these, and get some topics kids are fired up about! Let them go! Persuasive writing becomes persuasive speaking!
Reader’s Theater Scripts
Sometimes we forget about Reader’s Theatre, but reading and practicing over and over again is the hallmark of fluency. Gotta love the Internet, because these sites will take you to so many for FREE! File- PRINT!
http://tinyurl.com/askvfs (The Reading Lady)
http://www.timelessteacherstuff.com/
http://tinyurl.com/b9q3wt9 (ProTeacher)
**If you ever have a LOOOOOONG URL that kids need to type into a computer and you want it to be shorter- make a TINY URL at tinyurl.com**
You Read to Me, and I’ll Read to You
You know this text right? Short Stories for two voices right? It is set up for two children to read by designating different text for each reader in different colors. These text (there are several now) can be found on Amazon. Or a teacher can make her own. Take a picture book (Dr. Seuss work great with the rhyme and meter too) and use your highlighter tape (two colors) to assign parts for two different readers. A teacher could also print some poems and use highlighters to assign parts to kids using different color highlighters.
Here is a sample of what the text looks like in the text.
Have fun! Don’t do all the work. Make a few yourself, then ask your students to make some!
