Developing Fluency

Learning to read with fluency is a very difficult process for children. Many times, if it is not strongly worked on in the elementary school years, they may struggle with fluency for the rest of their lives. As a future early childhood educator, my students will be just beginning the process of becoming fluent readers. It will be my job to get them started on a positive and effective journey to read at a highly fluent level. Throughout the readings on fluency for this week, its seems to me that interest, repetition, and support are the three most important factors needed for young children to develop their reading fluency. I have learned that in order to really understand what a child's interests are, you have to talk to them about it. It is easy to assume what will interest a young child, but when you ask them, they will surprise you with what they are really interested in learning about. Also, their interests may change rapidly, so it is important to be flexible when possible. Using these interests, I will be able to find books and incorporate the students interests into my lessons so that they will be willing and excited to do a lot of reading. It is important for the children to read a lot, and often times the same books or passages, in order for them to feel comfortable and familiar with the words and prosody of the text. Supporting children by verbal encouragement, appropriate reading instruction and assignment, respecting their interests, and reading with them will also help children develop throughout their reading fluency process. All of these factors working together benefit children as they learn to become highly fluent readers in a challenging, fast-paced educational system. Some questions I encourage you to consider are what factors do you think are most important in helping children to develop fluency? and what are some activities you think you will use in your classroom to help children become fluent readers?