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Can students become overly concerned with rate when doing one-minute timings?
Yes, fluency is about accuracy, rate, and expression leading to comprehension. Read Naturally requires all four of these criteria to be mastered in the Pass step, but you might find that some students focus mostly on rate.
If a student persists in being overly focused in how fast he or she can read, Read Naturally recommends the following actions to get the student back on track:
- Lower the student’s goal.
- Have the student read to the teacher with correct phrasing before he or she can do the final pass timing.
- Emphasize comprehension by having the student orally retell the story to the teacher before the final pass timing.
Suggestions for Remedial Actions
Accuracy: In order to pass a story in the Read Naturally strategy, a student must have three or fewer errors. Students with more than three errors should go back to the Read Along step to learn the words missed in the pass timing and then practice until he or she is able to pass on the second try. If a student continues to have a high number of errors, you can reduce the reading rate goal and/or require that the student read the story accurately to you before attempting the final timing.
Rate: The student’s goal rate is set within the parameters of acceptable pace for a student’s grade level. If a student does not meet the goal rate, he or she must go back to the Practice step to improve until ready to try again to pass.
Expression: Students are required to read with good expression in order to pass a story. If a student doesn't pass because of poor expression, remind the student to read like he or she talks. Discuss what proper expression sounds like, remind the student to stop at periods and other punctuation, and demonstrate what reading with expression sounds like, or have the student read along with the narrator again and then practice. You can also ask the student to read the story without the timer, instructing him or her to focus on expression, not speed.
Comprehension: In Read Naturally, a student is required to answer all of the questions correctly to pass a story. If a student satisfies the other pass critieria for accuracy, rate, and expression but does not answer the questions correctly, the teacher should direct the student to reread the story without timing and underline the answers in the story. If the questions missed are the inferential ones, the student can underline the words in the story that provide clues for the answer. In the Read Naturally strategy, the key words, Prediction step, vocabulary words, comprehension questions, and Retell step focus on comprehension.