Action Research

Initial Meeting with Teacher

Students chosen:
Student A: Student A was chosen because he is ahead of most of the students in
his class in regards to his reading. However, he needed to work on his fluency and have
more one on one instruction where he could improve in a smaller setting. My teacher,
Miss McInvale, felt like Student A needed to meet with me on a weekly basis so he could
get more instruction outside of the classroom to improve even further. He was very
excited about meeting in a smaller setting with me, and could not wait to get started.
Student J: Student J was chosen because he is far ahead of his class when it
comes to most subjects, but especially reading. He is already almost fluent, but needs to
be pushed further so he does get bored while in class. My teacher, Miss McInvale, felt
like he was already ahead, but could work more on his fluency skills and meeting in a
smaller setting would greatly improve on these skills. He was also as equally excited
about working with me in a smaller setting.

The Question:
After meeting with my teacher, Miss. McInvale, we decided that working with
higher-level readers and concentrating on their fluency would be the best choice for my
action research. I was able to meet with both Student A and Student J to observe their
reading and fluency skills. After observing the student I saw that they are both very string
reader already, and that they did need to be instructed in fluency. Being in such a big
class, the teacher could not always give them the proper time for further instruction, so I

Action Research

was able to take them out of class and work with them in a group. Through this process, I
should be able to answer the question; what are the best strategies for helping students
improve on their fluency?

Timeline:
Date:
September 22, 2014
September 30, 2014
October 7, 2014

October 15, 2014

October 16, 2014

October 20, 2014

October 21, 2014

Plan:
Observe the class dynamic and students.
Meet with teacher to discuss students and
topics for action research.
This day, I assessed Student A and Student
J in fluency and interest inventories to
understand the students and their reading
habits.
On this day, we started by learning what
fluency meant. I explained this to the
students, and then we all participated in a
choral reading. After the choral reading the
students then read aloud the passage
separately.
On this day, I had Student A and Student J
read aloud and recorded their reading. They
then had the opportunity to listen to their
reading and hear their fluency. They
discussed what they needed to work on and
how we could improve.
On this day, Student A and Student J came
in separately and read their read aloud
books to me. I then modeled how fluency
should sound and had them read aloud
again to me.
Today, I brought in a readers theater of the

Action Research
October 22, 2014
October 23, 2014

October 28, 2014

November 18, 2014

December 2, 2014

Three Little Pigs. Student A and Student J

had so much fun with this activity.
Today, we did a repeated choral reading of
A Home for Bats
Today, I modeled fluency by using the
poem Frisky Little Squirrel. There were
many commas and exclamation points in
this poem so I could model to student A
and Student J what fluency sounds like
when reading.
Today, I gave the students their mid term
assessment.
Today, I had Student A and Student J
record themselves reading the same
passage again. I had them listen to their last
recording and compare how they sound in
the new one.
Today, I gave Student A and Student J their
final assessment. They both improved so
much!

Initial Assessment Reflection

Student A:
After giving Student A the first four assessments I discovered that he likes when
people read with him, he likes to read with other people, and he likes to read by himself.
He enjoys happy, non-fiction stories and he read many books over the summer. I could
tell through his reading that he does enjoy it and is not discouraged by his lack of fluency.
He is encouraged by his parents to read at home. He believes he is a good reader and he
read with confidence. I gave Student A an oral reading fluency test, assessing his words
per minute. He was only able to get through 44 of the 120 words and had 3 mistakes. He
struggled with reading words he was not familiar with, but he read with confidence and

Action Research

gave the passage his best effort. I can tell that he tries very hard and wants to improve. He
had a great attitude throughout the whole process even when he was struggling.

Student J:
Student J started out reading well. However, he needed to work on a few things.
Through the four assessments I gave him, I learned that he did not like to read by himself.
He liked to read with others and when others read to him. He believed he was a good
reader and showed confident when he read. His goal was to start reading chapter books
soon, and he was excited to read longer and harder books. When I gave him an oral
fluency reading assessment assessing his words per minute, he was able to read 85 words
of 120 with only two errors. He did very well with this assessment however; he was not a
motivated student. He did not want to improve, and thought that he was already a reader.

Action Research

Assessments:
Reading Habits
Assessment

Interest Inventory Assessment

Action Research

Assessments:
Interest Survey
Assessment

Words Per Minute

Oral Reading
Fluency
Assessment

Action Research

Student A:
Date:

Strategy
Description

Anecdotal Observation

Plan for Next

Session

Reflection

10-714

Assessments

I could tell that Student A was very

excited about working with me and
improving his reading skills.

Explain to them
fluency and
model what
fluent reading
sounds like.

1015-14

Modeling,
choral
reading, read
aloud.

Student A stated that he was excited

for out first time working together.
He struggled over a few words while
reading aloud, but he did not get
discouraged.

Next time I want

to let Student A
listen to himself
read aloud.

1016-14

Read aloud
and record.

Readers Theater

1021-14

Readers
Theater

Student A again was excited. He

was excited about getting to use
technology and record himself
reading. He stumbled over some
words while reading, and needed to
get some help with some words, but
he finished strong.
Student A was so excited about the
readers theater. He was assigned 3
characters in the story. He did a
good job using different voices for
the characters. He would struggle
over a lot of the words, and needed
my help with a few.

He did a good job

on his
assessments, but
can use some
work. He has a
great attitude and
seems excited
about getting to
improve.
He was very
excited and tried
very hard today.
He said that he
was very happy
after the lesson,
and did not give
up.
He was excited to
use the recording
device and did a
good job trying to
read fluently. He
tried his very best.

1022-14

Choral
Reading

Student A was attentive, and listened Model fluency

very carefully while I was reading.
with a poem.

10-

Modeling

Student A loved the fun poem. The

Model fluency
again for better
understanding.

Midterm

Student A was so
happy to do the
readers theater and
tried his best. He
does not give up
on words he
sounds them out
until he can figure
out the word.
He soaked in what
I had to say and
listened very
carefully while I
was reading aloud.
He was very

Action Research
23-14

with a poem

poem was able to draw his attention

and model to him what fluent
reading sounds like when reading a
poem as well as stories.
Student A had improved since the
first assessment. I can tell that he is
trying hard and doing his very best.

assessment

attentive and
listened well when
I was reading.

1028-14

Midterm
assessment

Record and
listen again.

Record and
read aloud

Student A was so excited to listen to

how much he has improved over the
times we had met. His recording
sounded a lot better this time
around.

Final
Assessment

Final
Assessment

Student A has improved so much

since the first assessment. He was
almost able to read the entire section
during the one minute time limit.

None.

He did so much
better than the first
time and is really
improving.
Student A
improved greatly
from his first
recording and was
proud of himself
for the work he
had accomplished
during this time.
Student A has
come so far since
the first time we
met.

1118-14

12-214

Student J:
Date:

Strategy
Description

Anecdotal Observation

Plan for Next Session

Reflection

10-714

Assessments

I could tell that Student J

was excited about working
with me one-on-one,
although he was often very
distracted. He came in with
a ton of energy and got to
work while I was
assessing, but got
distracted during the
instruction.

Explain to them
fluency and model
what fluent reading
sounds like.

Student J did
an excellent
job on his
first
assessment. I
can tell that
he works very
hard, and
understands
far more than
his peers.

10-1514

Modeling,
choral
reading, read
aloud.

Student J said that he was

very happy we were
getting to work together
again. He was ready to get
started as soon as we left
the classroom.

Next time I want to let

Student J listen to
himself read aloud.

He read well
today, but
often got
frustrated
when Student
A took too
long, in his

Action Research

10-1614

Read aloud
and record.

Student J was so excited

about this lesson. He was
thrilled when I told him he
was going to be able to
record himself reading, and
then get to listen to it!

Readers Theater

10-2114

Readers
Theater

Model fluency again

for better
understanding.

10-2214

Choral
Reading

Student J was pumped

about the readers theater.
He was assigned 3
characters in the story. He
did a great job using
different voices for the
characters, and using
expression and inflection in
his voice while reading.
Student J seemed bored,
and did not listen very
attentively, but he did read
well.

10-2314

Modeling
with a poem

Student J seemed bored

and did not listen
attentively to the poem I
read.

Midterm assessment

Model fluency with a

poem.

9
opinion, with
the reading
we were
doing.
He did a good
job reading,
but had a hard
time figuring
out what he
needed to
work on next
after listening
to his
recording. He
also got upset
when I made
suggestions
for him to
work on with
fluency.
Student J did
a great job
with the
readers
theater, he
sounded great
and used a lot
of expression
in his voice.
He seemed
bored while I
was rereading
the passage,
but when it
came to his
turn to read
he did a great
job, and I can
tell his
fluency has
improved
already.
He helped me
explain what
do when we
came to

Action Research

10-2814

Midterm
assessment

Student J has improved

since his first assessment.

Record and listen

again.

11-1814

Record and
read aloud

Student J was excited

about getting the
opportunity to record
himself reading a second
time.

Final Assessment

12-214

Final
Assessment

Student J almost made a

100% on his final
assessment. He had
improved so much and was
able to tweak the little
things that he still needed
to work on while we were
meeting.

None.

10
certain
punctuation,
but seemed
distracted and
bored while I
was reading
to him.
He felt like he
did not do
well on the
mid term
assessment.
Student J got
the
opportunity to
listen to how
much his
fluency has
improved. I
think this
really helped
him see where
he started and
where he
finished. He
was able to
tell how much
he had
improved
over the time
meeting
together.
Student J has
improved so
much since
we have
started
working. I
think he really
saw how
much he has
improved
over the last
few times we
have met.

Action Research

Strategies Used:

Readers Theater
Passage previewing
Guided reading
Recorded reading
Modeling poems and passages
Words per minutes assessment
Choral reading

Lessons/Assessments Used:

A Home For Bats reading passage

Reading habits assessment
Starring me Interest Inventory
Oral reading fluency assessment (WPM)
Things that Interest Me

11

Action Research

Student As Progress Chart:

12

Action Research

Student Js Progress Chart:

13

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14

Necessary Instruction Changes

Student A often read like a robot and did not use much inflection in his voice. I then
made sure that I modeled what robot reading sounded like and instructed him how to read
more smoothly. After getting the results from the midterm assessment I could tell that the
students were improving, so I decided not to change my strategies because they were
working. However, I continued using the strategies that I had researched that have
already been proven to work because the students were improving through me using
those strategies.

15

Action Research
Date:

Baseline Data:
Assessment
and results

10-7-14

Student A took 10-28-14

reading habits,
and interest
inventories as
well as a WPM
assessment.

10-7-14

Date:

On the WPM
assessment the
student scored
a 34%
Student J took 10-28-14
reading habits,
and interest
inventories as
well as a WPM
assessment.
On the WPM
assessment the
student scored
a 69%

Midpoint Data:
Assessments
and results

Date:

Final Data:
Assessments
and Results

Student A
12-2-14
scored a 40% on
the WPM
assessment.

Student A
scored a 68% on
the WPM
assessment.

Student J scored
a 82% on the
WPM
assessment.

Student J scored
a 97% on the
WPM
assessment.

12-2-14

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16

Final Assessment Reflection

Student A:
After meeting with student A over the past few months his fluency has improved
so much! He started out with 34% on his first assessment, and ended up with a 68% on
his last assessment. I could not believe how much he had benefitted from my meeting
with him. His expression improved, and he no longer hesitated on most words like he had
been doing when we first met. He was so much more confident at the end of our
sessions. He no longer needed to think as hard about the words he was pronouncing while
he was reading.
Student J:
Since student J was already so ahead when we started, I expected him to excel
through these lessons. I was very impressed by how much he had improved. On his first
assessment he scored a 69%, and in the end he scored a 97% on his assessment! He began
to read so much more smoothly and confidently. He made a significant improvement!

Action Research

17

Students Growth Chart:

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Assessment 1
50%
Assessment 2
40%
Assessment 3
30%
20%
10%
0%
Student J

Student A

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18

Final Reflection:
Beginning this process I was unsure about how to start or instruct the students on
fluency. If I could go back and redo this I would have started out with more fluencybased assessments. I would have also tried to make the whole process exciting for the
students. I would have found fluency games for them to play and practice with while we
were meeting. I feel like the practices I used did help the students improve immensely.
After I modeled good and bad fluency for Student A and Student J, they really
understood what their reading should sound like, and this helped them improve when
they read the passage after me. The best strategy I used with the students was letting them
record their readings and having them listen to it. Not only did they enjoy it, but they also
were able to hear how they sounded, and hear what they need to work on to master
fluency. They both showed great improvement by the final assessment, and I was so
proud of how far they had been able to come!

Action Research

Effective Strategies for Teaching Fluency

Grace Culbreth
Samford University
19 November 2014

Abstract

19

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20

Fluency is a critical part of reading instruction. Students need to be fluent so they can
comprehend the texts they are reading. Being proficient in fluency is critical to students
education further down the road. In the past, fluency was overlooked by a lot of teachers,
but now we understand the importance of it. Studies have shown that repeated readings,
oral reading, choral reading, and having constructive feedback from teachers, guardians,
and peers is beneficial

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21

Being able to read fluently is crucial to students success in school. It is surprising

how many students struggle with reading when it is vital to the learning process. In an
evaluation in 2004, a study showed that nearly 37% of fourth grade students were reading
below grade level, and this continued when they reached higher grades as well (Begeny
and Martens 2006). Reading fluency is characterized by accurate effort, and automatic
word identification; age, or grade-level-appropriate reading speed or rate; suitable use of
volume, pitch, juncture and stress in the voice; and correct text phrasing (Reutzel and
Cooter, 2015).
After seeing how low students fluency is in the United States, research was done
to see what the best practice would be for reading fluency. Repeated reading is one of
these best practices. Repeated reading is when a student rereads a passage until they are
reading it fluently enough to be at an appropriate reading level, which is 100 words per
minutes. (Begeny & Martens, 2006) This article also states that passage previewing is
one of the best practices for reading fluency. Passage previewing is when a student listens
to a fluent reader read the text they are going to be tested on, and the student follows
along silently. Phrase drill is also a practice that research has found to be successful.
Phrase drill is when students reread a phrase that has been incorrectly read previously
(Begeny and Martens, 2006). Research has also found that these practices are best used
when they are all combined and not just used independently (Begeny and Martens, 2006).
Our textbook Teaching Children to Read, the Teachers Makes the Difference,
written by D. Ray Reutzel and Robert B. Cooter Jr, includes research on best practices for
teaching fluency in young students. The most effective practice the textbook teaches is
oral reading while practicing. Repeated readings are also taught to be best practice in the

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22

textbook, this involves more than three-repeated reading of a certain passage. Students
also need to receive feedback from their instructors, whether that is their teacher or
parents, and their peers. This is more effective early on in education than practicing
reading at home (Cooter and Reutzel, 2015).
Students need the opportunity to practice reading daily. This will improve greatly
on their fluency. Fluency is an indicator of better comprehension and expression
continuing into adult years. Teachers need to model what fluent reading sounds like to
students so they will know what their reading needs to sound like. Teachers need to
model what fluent reading sounds like to students so they will understand how to read
correctly. Teachers should not only model what fluent reading sounds like, but also what
non-fluent reading sounds like. This is another important way of modeling fluency for the
students. They need to have guidance, monitoring, interaction, and feedback (Reutzel
and Cooter, 2015). In order to become masters of fluency students need to practice it
more often in the classroom. The more students practice this they can become aware of
how to read fluently with or without feedback from teachers or peers (Reutzel and
Cooter, 2015).
Teachers should include oral repeated reading with students because it leads to
automaticity- fast, accurate, and effortless word recognition (Reutzel and Cooter, 2015).
Wide reading is also important for learning fluency. Students need to read a wide range
of genres such as fantasy, fairy tales, myths, science fiction, historical fiction, series
books, autobiographies, diaries, journals, logs, essays, encyclopedia entries, and
information books (Reutzel and Cooter, 2015). Studies show that this use of wide range
of genres can be as effective as repeated readings. Choral reading has also shown to be a

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23

best practice according to our textbook. Students should read along with the teacher in
unison or echo read after the teacher reads a line. Partnered reading can also be effective
when pairing struggling students with students who are excelling in fluency (Reutzel and
Cooter, 2015).
Fluency is imperative to master because it helps the students comprehend texts.
Reading fluently helps free working memory so children can focus on the meaning of
text instead of laboriously figuring out individual words, (Calo, Woodson-Ferguson, and
Koitz 2013). Fluency Idol is a strategy that incorporates repeated readings, practice,
supportive feedback, and oral performance (Calo, Woodson-Ferguson, and Koitz 2013).
This is a practice where the students get to perform poems picked by their teacher. The
students are selected to perform the poem and their classmates secretly judge them. The
criteria for the winner was that their reading was easy to understand, and that the students
enjoyed listening to the reader (Calo, Woodson-Ferguson, and Koitz 2013). This is a fun
way to get students excited about reading and learning fluency.
Studies have shown that teachers who value and practice reading in their homes
are better at teaching reading practices to their students. Teachers who show they value
reading will encourage their students to want to independently read on their own as well.
This encourages and gives the students opportunities to become more fluent readers.
Teachers who read often on their own have a better grasp on the fluency and how to
relate it better to students in a way they can fully understand (Burgess, S.R., Sargent, S.,
Smith, M., Hill, N., & Morrison, S. 2011). It is important for teachers to understand that
to have their students fully understand fluency, the teachers must model for the students
and demonstrate it in their everyday life.

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24

References
Begeny, J. C., & Martens, B. K. (2006). Assisting Low-Performing Readers with a
Group-Based Reading Fluency Intervention. School Psychology Review, 35(1),
91-107.
Burgess, S. R., Sargent, S., Smith, M., Hill, N., & Morrison, S. (2011). Teachers' Leisure
Reading Habits and Knowledge of Children's Books: Do They Relate to the
Teaching Practices of Elementary School Teachers?. Reading
Improvement, 48(2), 88-102.
Calo, K. M., Woolard-Ferguson, T., & Koitz, E. (2013). Fluency Idol: Using Pop Culture
to Engage Students and Boost Fluency Skills. Reading Teacher, 66(6), 454-458.
Reutzel, D.R., & Hollingsworth, P.M. (2015). Strategies for reading assessment and
instruction: Helping every child succeed (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Education