From Fluency to Comprehension
Powerful Instruction through Authentic Reading
Edited by Timothy Rasinski and Nancy Padak
Request a free digital professor copy on VitalSource ?This title is part of the Teaching Practices That Work Series, edited by Diane Lapp and Douglas Fisher.
“This book is chock-full of practical ideas for making fluency a fun and enjoyable part of your daily routine—for example, podcasting, activities that incorporate songs and poems, and 5-minute movement activities that let students 'get the wiggles out' while practicing fluent reading. All the chapters include classroom examples and ways to fit fluency into the day with little additional planning. Read this book and you will never go back to the kinds of fluency lessons that dampen everyone's enthusiasm for reading.”
—Patricia M. Cunningham, PhD, Department of Education, Wake Forest University
“Classroom teachers will welcome this volume. Chapters explore research-based practices that improve reading fluency and comprehension, complete with definitions, clear directions, implementation guidance, and classroom examples. The approaches provided can be used in varied contexts—with small groups or the whole class, with English language learners, in intervention settings, and with parents as educational partners. This text would be of benefit in undergraduate as well as graduate reading education classes.”
—Diane DeFord, PhD, Swearingen Literacy Chair, University of South Carolina
“This book is a 'must have' for teachers and future teachers who are concerned about helping all students become fluent readers and excellent comprehenders. The editors make a compelling case that fluency instruction must include more than just attention to accuracy and rate; it also needs to focus on prosody, or expressive reading. The book is packed with effective strategies that build fluency and reading comprehension. Written by researchers and practitioners, this book is perfect for reading methods courses and clinical courses as well as the professional book collection of every school.”
—Laurie Elish-Piper, PhD, Presidential Teaching Professor and Literacy Clinic Director, Northern Illinois University
“A wonderful book on reading fluency: insightful, sensitive, comprehensive, well researched, clearly written, and practical. I have no doubt this book will help teachers, learning consultants, reading specialists, and school psychologists avoid the many misunderstandings about reading fluency, better understand its components, and improve students' skills. Especially helpful are the well-developed examples of how to use an abundance of highly motivating methods of instruction. In my work with struggling readers, I will use this book repeatedly.”
—Howard Margolis, EdD, Professor Emeritus of Reading Disabilities and Special Education, City University of New York
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Fluency at the Core of Effective Literacy Instruction, Timothy Rasinski and Nancy PadakI. Modeling Fluency for Students
2. Modeling Fluent Reading through Read-Alouds, Denise N. Morgan
3. Increasing Students’ Metafluency Awareness: An Integral Part of Teaching Fluency, D. Ray Reutzel
II. Assisted Reading Strategies
4. Whole-Class Choral Reading, David Paige
5. Paired Reading, Timothy Rasinski and Nancy Padak
6. Audio-Assisted Reading, Kristine E. Pytash and Kaybeth Calabria
III. Phrasing Strategies
7. Fluency through Phrasing: High-Frequency Words, Maryann Mraz and Melissa Sykes
8. Teaching Phrasing through the Phrased Text Lesson, James Nageldinger
IV. Deep and Wide Reading Practice
9. Repeated Readings through Readers Theatre, Chase J. Young
10. Podcasting Approaches to Fluency Instruction, Sheri Vasinda and Julie McLeod
11. Writing Readers Theatre Scripts, Kristie Miner
12. Authentic Repeated Reading through Poetry and Song, Lori Wilfong
13. Invoking Walter Cronkite: Radio Reading and the Fluent Reader, Allison L. Baer
14. Increasing Reading Volume: The Million-Minute Reading Challenge, Timothy Rasinski and Nancy Padak
V. Integrated Fluency Models for Beginning and Struggling Students
15. Implementing the Fluency Development Lesson: An Intervention Model for Struggling Readers, Belinda S. Zimmerman
16. Boosting Fluency of English Language Learners with Music and Poetry Performance Activities, Kristin Lems
17. Getting Children Off to a Fast Start in Reading, Terry Kindervater
18. Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction, Melanie R. Kuhn, Paula J. Schwanenflugel, Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl, Elizabeth B. Meisinger, and Carolyn Groff
VI. Other Fluency Issues
19. Five-Minute Fluency Active-ities, Brenda Rosler
20. Word Study: The Foundation for Fluency, Timothy Rasinski and Nancy Padak
21. Assessing the Fluency of Automaticity, Theresa Duncko
22. Assessing Prosody, Nancy Padak and Timothy Rasinski
23. Conclusion: Creating a Time for Fluency in Your Reading Program, Nancy Padak and Timothy Rasinski
About the Editors
Timothy Rasinski, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Literacy Education in the Reading and Writing Center at Kent State University, where he directed the award-winning university reading clinic for more than 20 years. Dr. Rasinski has written extensively in articles, chapters, and books on working with children who struggle in acquiring full literacy. A former editor of The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Literacy Research, he currently serves on the editorial review boards for Reading Research Quarterly, Literacy Research and Instruction, and Reading Psychology. Dr. Rasinski is a member of the International Reading Hall of Fame.Nancy Padak, EdD, is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Education at Kent State University, where she directed the Reading and Writing Center and taught in the area of literacy education. Formerly she was the Principal Investigator for the Ohio Literacy Resource Center and has also been a classroom teacher and district administrator. An active researcher, author, and consultant, Dr. Padak is a past president of the College Reading Association and former editor of The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Literacy Research.
Contributors
Allison L. Baer, PhD, College of Education, University of Findlay, Findlay, OhioKaybeth Calabria, PhD, Education Department, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Steubenville, Ohio
Theresa Duncko, PhD, School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Carolyn Groff, PhD, Department of Educational Leadership, School Counseling, and Special Education, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey
Terry Kindervater, PhD, first-grade teacher, Euclid City Schools, Euclid, Ohio
Melanie R. Kuhn, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Kristin Lems, EdD, ESL/Bilingual Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, National Louis University, Chicago, Illinois
Julie McLeod, PhD, Good Shepherd Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas
Elizabeth B. Meisinger, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee
Kristie Miner, MEd, Intermediate Literacy Coordinator, Whitney Point Central School District, Whitney Point, New York
Denise N. Morgan, PhD, School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Maryann Mraz, PhD, Department of Reading and Elementary Education, College of Education, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina
James Nageldinger, MEd, School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Nancy Padak, EdD, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
David Paige, EdD, Department of Education, Bellarmine University, Louisville, Kentucky
Kristine E. Pytash, PhD, School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Timothy Rasinski, PhD, Reading and Writing Center, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
D. Ray Reutzel, PhD, Emma Eccles Jones Center for Early Childhood Education, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Brenda Rosler, PhD, College of Education, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio
Paula J. Schwanenflugel, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl, EdD, Department of Teaching and Learning, New York University, New York, New York
Melissa Sykes, MEd, doctoral student, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina
Sheri Vasinda, EdD, College of Education, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Lori Wilfong, PhD, School of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Chase J. Young, PhD, second-grade teacher, McKinney Independent School District, McKinney, Texas
Belinda S. Zimmerman, PhD, Department of Literacy and Early Childhood Education, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio