While working with students in my reading intervention class I observed how low their reading comprehension skills were. The Fast Track curriculum, which I use in the program is designed to help students who are reading at below grade levels to advance in their reading levels. The only way these students advance to higher levels and return to their normal classrooms is to test out and the test is based on reading comprehension. My goal for these students is to increase their reading comprehension and their reading skills. I started gathering information for my action research, which includes a student survey on reading habits and their likes as well as dislikes of reading. The students are given a pre-assessment test which comes from the FAST TRACK (FT) curriculum that measures their reading ability and comprehension. Students who are in the FT program are given assessments every eight stories to check on their reading comprehension as well as their reading levels.
All my students have varied levels of reading difficulty as well as low reading comprehension levels. I noticed that the students who had an easier time reading also had higher levels of reading comprehension. Maybe it was just coincidence ,but I started to focus in on which reading fluency strategies would help these students' reading abilities. I used a few fluency strategies that I thought would help my students read better and ones that they wouldn't mind using. What I found soon after is that their reading comprehension increased because they were able to take part in discussions and answer questions more than they did before I used these strategies. The students reading levels also increased as well as their reading fluency. The whole class benefited from using these strategies which was pleasantly surprising to me. The students' assessment scores also went up.
I will continue to use the reading fluency strategies that enables students to read better and work with the strategies that the students find that they enjoy as well. I didn't realize how powerful action research could be in the classroom and what a difference it could make to my students and myself.
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What an important topic Amy! I recently went to a workshop given by Anita Archer, the "guru" of reading comprehension. Before she even got started in her "reading comprehension" part of her presentation she said, "No comprehension strategy, no matter how fabulous and well taught, will compensate if the students cannot actually read the words on the page." Her point was that students have to achieve a certain level of fluency to attain any kind of comprehension.
We have the Fast Track program at our school and I am looking for ways to use it with my struggling readers. I will stay tuned to your blog for further insight.
Your post and Kim's made me really start thinking about the fluency of my own students. I am attempting to increase their reading comprehension as this is the area that is historically difficult for second graders, but I do have a few students that are no where near being fluent readers (although of them reads EXTREMELY slow and can remember every single detail he read, I know this isn't normal though). Your post reminds me that I must also continue to work on Fluency because if I don't then my reading comprehension lessons could potentially be useless at this stage in my students' education. I look forward to hearing more specifics on fluency strategies you use with your students!
Anita was right. If students are struggling to decode words they will not be understanding what they read. Struggling readers use too much time and energy trying to read the text instead of gaining meaning from it. In the FAST TRACK curriculum there is a list of reading fluency strategies that are to be used daily with the students. These strategies help students with their fluency and this also contributes to increased levels of reading comprehension. When students become fluent readers less time is spent on the sound of the words and instead the time is focused on the meaning of words.
Fahlon it is hard for students to comprehend what they're reading when they have reading difficulties. I would say if you want to increase their comprehension work on their fluency by reading aloud and showing how fluent readers read using expression, proper phrasing, and automaticity. Having an example to follow as they work on other fluency strategies would be helpful.
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