Chapter 4 Reading Extension

Antony Brouwer

6794955 EDUB 2510 Dr. Kathryn Noel October 17th, 2011

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In Chapter 4 of Improving Reading, Writing, and Content Learning for Students in Grades 4-12 Taylor focuses on developing students oral reading fluency. Many of the strategies offered in the chapter are excellent for use in the classroom but in order to develop oral fluency individual daily practice is essential. One of the tools mentioned is to have students record themselves reading. A useful application of this strategy is an online program called Nanogong (Nanogong). Students record their voices so that they can listen to themselves speaking and reading, analyzing where they need improvement. The advantage of using this online program is that students often already have an attachment to using technology, specifically online applications. The program is easy to use and allows users to speed up or slow down their recorded voice track. In an English class it would be an interesting fluency project to create a class website centred on recording your voice online. The program Nanogong allows you to have students embed their recording into a website, meaning that for homework they could go online and record themselves reading. In this way you can cut down on the massive workload of asking every student to perform oral fluency practice in class. Assessment of strengths and weaknesses could be done on the website and comments can be added directly to each students file. A teacher can have the benefits of assessing a

Brouwer 3 students fluency while not being overloaded by the work of individually assessing each student during valuable class time. The greatest advantage of using a class website and the program Nanogong is that it reinforces independent daily practice. In a unique and fun way, students are encouraged to develop positive oral reading habits. One of the dangers of doing oral reading practice in a classroom is that it exposes students to uncomfortable situations and even ridicule. The worst situation for any developing reading is to feel that they have no ability to succeed or that they are being negatively judged by their peers. By doing oral reading practice in a way that is private, done in the safety of home, students are given a chance to develop their skills before being subjected to a larger audience. As the project proceeds, it would be easy to begin having students make comments on each others work, allowing the teacher to decide when a proper sense of community exists. Oral reading practice is critical to the development of strong reading and language practices. Nanogong, and programs like it, offer a safe and convenient way for teachers to begin developing oral reading skills in their students. Fluency in any area is reliant on practice. Teachers need to be cognisant of the interests of their students and of learning strategies that encourage language development without sacrificing engagement. Only when students are excited about learning can an environment of positive practice exist.

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Brouwer 5 Works Cited Taylor, R. T. (2007). Improving Reading, Writing, and Content Learning for Students in Grades 4-12. Corwin Press. "NanoGong - Home." The Gong Project - The Web Voice Communication Tool. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. <http://gong.ust.hk/nanogong/>.