Day 26 of 31 Days to a Better Reader Challenge: Fluency Rate

There is no shortage of speed reading classes available in this day age.  In fact, aren’t we supposed to read as fast as we can so that we can get on with the next thing that we need to do.  Read, read, read!  Fast! Quck!  Hurry!  The quickest reader is the best reader, right?

This is the biggest fallacy that has ever been in existence.  We are always pushing ourselves to read faster and do more, but is this really the best way to do things?  How much can you actually remember when your goal is to read as fast you possibly can?  Not very much when you are reading non-fiction text, that is for sure.

Then we have the kid that is reading slower than molasses.  Come on, he surely has to speed up right?  Yes and no.  What you think is fast and what you think is slow is purely subjective.  So today I am going to shed light on appropriate reading speeds and give you a quick way to find out if your child is within that realm of appropriateness.

If your child is in his/her first semester of 1^st grade or lower, then you do not want to worry about your child’s speed of reading unless you think it is affecting his/her comprehension.  When it comes to determining appropriateness for fluency the celebrity in the reading world is Timothy Rasinski.  He has spent his whole life researching and learning about fluency and developing strategies to improve children’s fluency.  According to Rasinski the following data includes how many words a minute kids should be reading by the end of the year.

The only one that seems to be a little high is the first grade expectation.  I have been using the number 60 wpm in my own teaching.  I have found that kids that are reading below 60 wpm need additional help with improving their speed.

So now that we know what is appropriate, how do we find out where your child is at? Well, it easy.  All you have to do is get out a timer and time your child for one minute.  After one minute you count how many correct words your he/she has read.  Then you can compare that number with the number on the chart above.

If you find that your child is below this number, then here are some suggestions for increasing his or her fluency rate.

1. Don’t miss a day of reading.  Research shows that the more a child reads the naturally faster he/she becomes.
2. Have your child read his/her favorite song lyrics.  Repeated readings are the number one way to increase your reading rate.  However, if you try to get a kid to reread a book you will most likely run into a very resistant child.
3. You can do a my turn, your turn read.  First you read the sentence, then you have the child read the sentence.
4. Download Reader’s Theater Scripts online and put on pretend plays.  When the child is practicing his/her lines they have to keep going back and reading them.

Over time you will begin to see your child’s reading rate increase.  However, it is important to know that understanding what one is reading is more important than reading quickly.  I naturally read slower when I am really trying to understand and grasp something and when I have a lot of background knowledge I find myself reading quickly and even skimming over things to get to new information.  On average the rates listed above are a guide and can clue us in that our child may need some help in this area.

Your challenge today is to take a one minute timed reading and decide if a plan of action is necessary to increase your child’s reading rate.

P.S. Don’t get disappointed if your child is significantly below where he/she needs to be.  Utilize some of the suggestions above and your child will be fine.

The post Day 26 of 31 Days to a Better Reader Challenge: Fluency Rate appeared first on Skyping Reading Tutor's Blog.