My Fluency Process

A long time ago, I use to have my kids practice fluency, I hated it. I hated the process, I never understood why reading for speed was so important. 

That was when I didn't understand what fluency was all about.

I have grown.

I have learned.

Since I started my new job one of the things the teacher's requested I work on is fluency.

I now teach fluency in a way that I think is meaningful and effective.

So now, I talk about fluency E.V.E.R.Y. D.A.Y. with my kids. We talk about the APE that makes up fluency practice. After 6 weeks they finally know what they are practicing and why.  


They can tell me that they practice their Accuracy, reading the words correctly by not skipping or changing the words the author wrote. 

They can tell me that when they practice their Pacing they don't read too fast or too slow and that they should pause when they see periods and commas.

They can even demonstrate their Expression by paying attention to quotation, question and exclamation marks. 

One of my groups even thought we should add an L to our APE and make it APE-L (apple) instead of APE. They wanted to make the L, Listening. I couldn't have agreed more and was so proud of them! Listening while practicing fluency is just as important as the APE because if you are just reading words and not listening to what you are reading, then you have done just that, read the words and not the "story".

Every day that my kids come to me they spend about 5 to 10 minutes practicing their fluency, sometimes alone and other times with partners.

I remind the kids E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y that they don't just come in and read their fluency page the same way, they need to practice it in different ways so when I test them I can hear, see and tell that they practiced their APE-L. I remind the kids all the time of the different ways they can practice. For example instead of practicing the whole story they might just practice the words that they stumble on or have trouble pronouncing. Another time they may just practice  reading the page for pacing, paying close attention to the commas and periods. The next read they do may just be practicing those sentences that require expression, the ones with quotation marks, exclamation and question marks. On at least one of the reads they should check their understanding of the story, asking themselves comprehension questions such as: What is the story about? Who is the main character? Is there a problem and a solution? etc. This helps to keep the kids from being bored reading the same story so many times.

About once a week I will do a timed read so they can see how many words they read per minute. They also need to make sure they are not reading for just speed, but for APE-L as well. After at least 2 timed reads they can put their clip up letting me know they are ready for me to test them.

I only test one or two students per day, because again we only do fluency for 5 to 10 minutes (I only have each group for 40 minutes or less). The students read to me for one minute. After that time I score them for each of the APE-L giving them a 1-4 depending on how they did (1 being they need lots of practice, 4 for doing an awesome job).


As we talk about their scores, I show them their accuracy (the marks I put on their page while they read) and we talk about the ways they can practice their pacing and expression. Once that is done I hand them a page with 4-5 questions and keep their fluency page. They need to go back to their seat and answer these questions without looking back into the story (I know, I know, this is so against Common Core). The purpose of this is to see if they are practicing the L. Did they actually listen to what they read or were they just reading the words. These questions are just simple questions that I made to go with each page. After correcting this page I give them their L score (1-4) and then we go over the questions with the story.

So this about sums up my process. 

I love it.

It is quick and easy, and so far pretty effective.
 
Do you do something different when you teach fluency? I would love to hear it.
Thanks!

5

The Importance of Main Idea



The main idea is what the text, story, book, or presentation is all about. When you are all done with the text, story, book, or presentation you should be able to walk away from it and tell someone what you just read or listened to with one sentence, “The books was about ________________”. Giving more information to explain the main idea are the details that support your thinking and the author’s intent. 

Without a main idea present the story or text is just a bunch of words with no real meaning or intention behind them. For example, a story about a little bear at school being mean to the other animals has the main idea of bullying but without that main idea the story is just about the aggressive things bears do.

The main idea is supported by the details. Taking the above example, the colorful illustrations in that book would help show how the bear is being a bully. The text that tells what the bear does and how the other animals feel about the bear also supports the idea of bullying.

We as adults usually have the main idea given to us before we do any sort of reading. When we go to the bookstore in search of a new book, we read the synopsis on the back which is wrapped around the main idea. When we sign up and go to presentations we are told what the class is going to be about before we sign up so we can decided if it is something we truly want to spend our money or our time on. With most articles the main idea is stated in the title of the piece. It is very rare for us to get finished reading something to then have to think about what it was all about.

Our students on the other hand are asked to find the main idea all the time. This is important for them to learn how to do this, so when the main idea is not specifically stated they have the tools and knowledge needed to figure it out.

To help students find the main idea there are 4 things they can do or use to help sort out their thinking.
  • Look at the title
  • Read the first sentence or first paragraph
  • Read the last sentence or last paragraph
  • Look for repeating words, phrases or ideas

This is how it works.

If the text, story, book, chapter or presentation has a title you are looking at the main idea. However, it more than likely is not the whole idea. For example, if the text is titled Mount Rushmore we know it is going to be about Mount Rushmore, but it could be anything about it: when it was made, who made it, a great vacation destination, where it is, etc. We cannot just say the text is mostly about Mount Rushmore and be done. We must look further to properly identify the whole main idea. If the text, story or chapter does not have a title, then you will have to look elsewhere.

For reading the first and or last sentence and or paragraph I refer to their own writing. We talk about that first and last paragraph and what they are called. We also talk about what they are doing when they write those paragraphs. It is amazing to me how many kids know that the first paragraph is called the introduction but do not know what introduction actually means (I work with many ELL students).  We also talk about the conclusion or closing and what is included in that. With this they start to see that the idea for their writing is introduced in the beginning and restated at the end and that most (but of course not all) authors do the same thing. As with the title, these two paragraphs may only state the general idea and not the specific idea (the who, what, how, where, why, etc.).

Looking for the repeating words, phrases and ideas is where we really focus in on the specific main idea. To do this, students look for a word or phrase that is repeated a lot (with some kids you need to be very specific about the kind of words you are looking for to be repeated, they will say the most repeated word is “the”). Usually (in the more technical pieces) the main idea is the word that is repeated the most. Once we establish this, I create a web around this word, phrase or idea with the other repeated words, phrases or ideas around it.

At this point it is also important to clarify that these repeated words, phrases and or ideas don’t necessarily have to be the same word, they can be synonyms for, variations of and or ideas that are repeated. For example, if the text is about almanacs some of the repeating words, phrases and ideas might be: reference book, book, information, years, specific years, events, statistics, tally marks, etc. Once we put all of these repeating ideas, words, and phrases around our main idea or most repeated word, we can then focus in on the specific main idea; with all of this information what does the author want us to know? We can then use this information to write our main idea and the rest of the info around the web then becomes our detail information.

You can see that we compared our main idea statement to the web and checked off the words that we are in both.
Here is the information all together for my students to refer to if needed. I also had them put this in their notebook for easy reference as well.
Once the web is complete you can have student show the main idea and list details in a variety of ways.
  • in a paragraph
  • in a circle map
  • in a tree map
  • in the depth and complexity big idea organizer
  • in a brace map – main idea{details{sub-details

Here are a few academic vocabulary words that your students should be familiar with.
  • mostly about 
  • mainly 
  • main idea
  • main reason
  • supporting
  • detail
  • topic sentence
  • heading
  • title
  • according to
  • infer
  • conclude
  • tells
  • text
  • introduction
  • conclusion

Here is a list of typical main idea questions one might find on a test or comprehension paper.
  • What is the text mostly/mainly about?
  • Pages ____ and _____ are mostly/mainly about ______?
  • Is the text mostly about _____ or ______?
  • What is the main reason …?
  • What are the two main reasons that ____?
  • Another title for this text could be ______.
  • The title is _____. What could another title be?
  • Why is the story called ____? Why is the text titled ____?
  • This text explains three (two, etc.) main ideas. Main idea number 1 is (give the main idea), idea number 2 is (give idea) and the third is what?
  • Which picture or page shows the main idea of the text?
  • What picture or page shows the details that support the main idea?
  • What is the main idea of this text?
  • What are some details to support the main idea?
  • Which of these is the main idea?
  • Which of these is the main idea and not a detail _______ or _______?
  • What is the main problem in the story?
  • What is/ are the character(s) doing?
  • What is the most important event or idea in the text?
  • Paragraph ____ tells mostly/mainly about _____.
  • What information in the text can you use to help you find the main idea?
  • What does the first sentence or paragraph or introduction tell you?
  • What does the last sentence or paragraph or conclusion tell you?
  • For nonfiction – The author is mainly focusing on ________ (the topic). Looking for the purpose in the blank, describing, informing, how to, persuading.
  • The author uses _____ paragraph to tell the reader ______.
  • Which book could someone read to learn about _____. Listing book title.
  • The information from paragraph _____ supports the idea that _____.

When students are answering question or talking about the main idea and the supporting details, here are some of the linguistic patterns or sentences that they should be using.
  • I can tell the main idea of this page/ paragraph is _____.
  • The main idea is …
  • The text is mostly about …
  • A supporting detail is… or The supporting details are _____ and _____.
  •  _____ and ______ are details that support the main idea.
  • The most important point/event/idea is…
  • A detail that supports this point/event/idea is…
  • One important detail from the text is…
  • The main idea is ______ and a detail is ______.
  •  _____ solved his/her problem by _____.
  • The main idea of paragraph/page _____ is _____.
  • I can tell from the heading/title that the main idea is _____.
  • According to the main idea, another title for this text could be _____.
  • In this nonfiction text, the author mainly ______ (describes, informs, persuades, tells how to).
  • The ______ page/paragraph supports the main idea ______, because.
  • The title is _____ so the main idea could be ________.
  • Another title for this text/story could be ________.
  • The first sentence/paragraph (last sentence/paragraph) tells me ______.
  • The repeating idea in the text is _____.
  • The author explains (where, how, why, when, who, etc.) ____ about the topic.
    
      Once students can find the main idea and distinguish between what the main idea is and the details that support it, they can easily move into looking at the most important events from the beginning, middle and end of the story. This also helps with figuring out problem and solution, plot, author’s purpose and sequencing.  
       
   You can pick up the main idea poster set from either one of my stores.
http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/shawnadevoe/main-idea-poster-sethttp://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Main-Idea-Poster-Set-1165531

      How do you teach main idea?

0

What is wrong with trade schools?


Why do teachers, counselors, principals, schools, and districts only promote going to a college or university? 


Don’t we still need plumbers, mechanics, and electricians? If your car breaks down don’t you want a skilled mechanic to repair it? Would you like someone that is self-taught cutting and coloring your hair, or would you prefer someone that was professionally trained? 


I ask these questions because our “schools” seem to ignore anything having to do with a trade. When my daughter was in middle school they had a Career Day and requested that all the speakers had college degrees. Now, as a senior in high school, she is preparing to graduate and everyone that asks her where she will be going after school is taken aback when she says a trade school. Her counselor and career center teacher both tried to talk her out of it, they both asked, “wouldn't it be better for to get a degree from a college first?”.


I find this very sad and a bit disheartening, not only for my daughter but for all those “lost” kids out there thinking they have to go to college because being a hairdresser, plumber, mechanic (car, motorcycle or aircraft) or construction manager is not a good enough job. I feel like instead of helping these kids find a career that they can succeed in they are pushing them to fail. 


What do I mean by fail? Let me use my daughter as an example. She has some learning disabilities. School is hard for her but not difficult (she is a straight A student). She HATES school. Everything is a process, long and hard and frustrating and the thought of having to do 4+ more years of school was daunting to her. Thankfully, last year she started REALLY taking an interest in doing hair and make-up. She has become quite good and many of her friends have hired her to do their hair and make-up for pictures, dances and award ceremonies. With this interest we looked into different trade schools, and even community colleges that have cosmetology programs. She settled on Paul Mitchel and she is SOOOO excited to start in September. Now, had I been one of those parents that have the mindset that she has to go to a college and get a degree, I would be pushing her to fail. She would struggle and be really unhappy. It upsets me that people that know nothing about my daughter assume that they know best and instead of trying to talk her out of her passion they should congratulate her for knowing exactly what she wants and knowing how to go about getting it.


I think there are many kids that are just like my daughter and are not “students”. Let’s face it, we all have kids in our class that just don’t enjoy being at school, doing the work, or feel bad when they worked hard on a test or paper only to get a low score on it. I just wish that instead of ignoring those trade schools, we celebrated them. Let’s share them with everyone so that these kids can find a field that might interest them, something they can complete and in the end get a job and make a living.


As soon as the schools start talking about and promoting trade schools, then maybe parents will also look at them as a great alternative to college. There are too many parents “pushing” college on their kids that really aren’t college material. Let’s take a look at my daughter again. As soon as she decided to go to trade school we stopped the college level courses and she took just the required classes to graduate. I mentioned above that she has straight A’s, well that is because she is in classes that fit her. She feels great about herself and the work she does in school. Because the pressure was off, the grades went up.

I feel like too many parents are in denial and instead of helping their child succeed they are driving them further into the land of unfulfilling minimum wage part time work, or a party till you drop college experience because they could really care less about the classes and care more about the social scene.


Let’s face it, there’s always going to be those kids that become doctors and lawyers and such, but if we keep ignoring and poo-pooing trade schools will there be a plumber when you really need one?

Just my 2 cents,


8

Where are my kids?

I know I am not their classroom teacher and coming to me means they miss something in their class, but how can I do my job when the teachers just don't send them?

For this group I called the teacher and asked, "Are you sending the kids or are you in the middle of something?". She tells me to give her 5 minutes. The kids never came. 
I completely get not wanting the kids to miss something in class, but I did call. 

I am getting tired of being on the same thing for so long, when the kids don't come we don't get a lot finished. It's also frustrating when the teacher decides that they are going to send work for the kids to finish, regardless of my plans. 

Oh well, I guess this is just part of being a   specialist brought in 1/2 way through the school year. Hopefully this week will be better.   
7

Top 10 Books for March


This month I decided it was time for me to be happy so I chose happiness as the theme for my top 10 selection. Now, I have to admit that I do not have any of these books, they are all books I found in my research of children's books about happiness. I have not read them but from my research they are books that I plan on getting. These books have to do with things that make you happy, to understanding what happiness is and how smiles can instantly spread happiness. I hope you enjoy the selection and please, if you have any of these book let us know how they are.











Happy Reading!

2