Teach-Reading-and-Writing-Issue-22

D ecoding words automatically and at a good rate is an important reading skill. But when combined with reading expressively, it becomes expressive fluency – a skill that shows children can both decode and understand the texts they read. Expressive fluency is important for growing confident, effective readers. Why is expressive fluency important? When children read with expression, they bring texts alive through using pace, tone and rhythm that matches the meaning of what they read. This very act of reading with expression shows that they understand, or comprehend, what they read. Conversely, teaching children to consider how to read with expression asks them to interact deeply with a text; to unpick what it is about and what it means so that they can read it with expressive fluency. Repeated reading One popular approach for teaching expressive fluency is repeated reading, where children build familiarity with a text by reading and rereading it several times. This allows them to iron out fluency issues such as mispronunciations and to practise expressive elements such as experimenting with different tones to reflect the meaning of the text. Rate my reading You can extend repeated reading by asking children to evaluate the quality of each other's reading aloud. They do this by creating success criteria such as reading clearly and audibly, projecting their voice and reading rhythmically to catch the listener’s ear. Asking children to do this helps teachers evaluate whether pupils know the elements of expressive fluency, as well as being able to judge how well they achieve them. Delivering dialogue In books with large or lively sections of dialogue, there are opportunities for children to practise reading character’s words. In some cases, this encourages them to think about the reporting clauses and how these direct the reader. In others it helps them explore meanings and feelings to gain deeper understanding of the text. Reader’s theatre Children could also stage reader’s theatre performances where they give a polished rendition of their reading with encouragement to add gesticulations and actions. This again supports and reinforces the meaning of the text. Spoken language We know that children have better understanding of what they read when they have had a chance to talk about it. These ideas often come under the heading of book talk and are as varied as they are numerous! Snowballing When asked to answer a comprehension question on their own, children often have one chance to form a response. Opening up questions for discussion makes it possible to form layered, nuanced responses that reflect the opinions and conversations of all involved. Snowballing is a scaffold that helps children form group responses. It works by giving a prompt about a book to pairs of children and encouraging them to discuss it. After a few minutes, each pair is combined with another to form a quad. They then share their discussions to create a combined and refined response. Finally, quads are combined to create larger groups where children further shape, adjust and craft their response. Asking questions Encouraging pupils to ask questions about a text in addition to answering them can reveal how deeply they have connected with what they have read. Children often have a knack for asking questions we would never think of! Hot seating is an approach that allows them to devise their own questions. In addition to asking questions, when they take a turn in the hot seat, children can also show just how well they know the events of the story but also the feelings and emotions of the characters involved. Expressive FLUENCY Rachel Clarke is an experienced primary English education consultant, writer and content creator. Rachel Clarke shares some effective ways to breathe life into your pupils’ reading PARTNER CONT ENT Big Cat Read On is a series written for children at the top of Key Stage 2. Each book comes with extensive teacher’s notes designed to cover the range of reading skills expected of older primary children. With so much emphasis on fluency and spoken language, Big Cat’s Read On series is destined to encourage children to read on and on. Visit collins.co.uk/ BigCatReadOn to find out more. 32 | www.teachwire.net