The students are just reading as fast as they can without pausing for punctuation. That messes up comprehension in my eyes. What do you think?

 From a client: We are using x to improve our fluency. I don't understand why we would want to improve fluency when we can't read with correct punctuation. The students are just reading as fast as they can without pausing for punctuation. That messes up comprehension in my eyes. What do you think? 

Well. I agree. Timothy Rasinsky has written about this and is the gold standard of all things fluency. Based on his work, Emma, Mom, and I applied the following steps to help her improve her Fluency AND Comprehension. 

I'll lay out the steps we used and then give you some links of Emma's Exemplars. I have more if you need them. 

1. Students read the text, recording themselves and their time. They are NOT to rush. The benefit for fluency practice is NOT for speed, it is for repetition. 

2. Students rate their understanding of the text. 

• 1. I have no idea what I read. Or, I remember a fact or two.
• 2. I can recall a number of unrelated facts of varied importance.
• 3. I can recall the main idea and give a few supporting details.
• 4. I can recall the main idea with some fairly robust supporting ideas, but I am having trouble organizing them logically or in the sequence of the passage.
• 5. I can give a comprehensive summary of the passage in logical order, with robust details, and can give a statement of the main idea.
• 6. I can give a comprehensive summary in logical order, with robust details, and can give a statement of the main idea. In addition, I am able to make reasonable connections to my own life or other texts I have encountered. (Directly from Rasinsky)

3. Students listen to the recording. They mark the text for any errors. 

4. Students calculate words correct per minute. 

5. Students use the rubric to evaluate the four components of fluency: Expression and Volume, Phrasing, Smoothness, Pace. Students can write a reflection about their performance and understanding. 

6. Students practice the words or phrasing that they missed. They select one area of the fluency rubric to improve. 

7. Students reread the passage, recording themselves again, calculating the words correct per minute and evaluating the performance with the fluency rubric. 

8. Students reflect on their performance. Ultimately, we want them to see that we slow our reading to monitor comprehension and make self-corrections. Then, we practice what got in the way so that we can read more fluidly and with greater expression the next time. Fluency practice is never about reading fast. Fluency practice is about adjusting reading processes (rate, expression, volume, phrasing, smoothness) to aid our comprehension and communication. 

9. Students set goals for the next performance and grade level norms from the Hasbrook and Tindall research. 

My niece, Emma, models the fluency process here and here. 

Here is a training with more links, including the rubric.