Fluency in Focus: Comprehension Strategies for All Young Readers

Reading fluency is far more than reading letters and symbols smoothly out loud, it is the bedrock of comprehension. Fluent readers combine all their literacy know-how about orthography, phrasing, intonation, and context to make meaning as they move through a text. But how can teachers help emerging readers become fluent ones?

In Fluency in Focus, you will find all the tools you need to create a strong, fluency-based foundation that supports comprehension in all children, including English language learners. Backed by a thorough summation of the latest research and theory, Prescott-Griffin and Witherell offer you a multitude of classroom-tested, well-organized minilessons that cement good fluency habits in your students. These easy-to-use lessons include:

• step-by-step teaching techniques
• forms, reproducibles, and diagnostic tools that support instruction
• tips, checklists, and rubrics for assessment
• lists of resources that support the lesson
• vignettes from classes where the lesson has been used
• ideas for teaching ESL/ELL students
• extensions and variations on the lesson for further exploration.

Mary Lee Prescott-Griffin is the author or coauthor of the Heinemann books Writer to Writer (2007), Reader to Reader (2005), and Fluency in Focus (2004). She is an associate professor at Wheaton College, teaching language, literacy, and education foundations courses. Mary Lee began her career as an early childhood educator and has twenty-eight years of teaching experience as a reading specialist and teacher of preschool through sixth grade. In addition to her full-time undergraduate teaching, Mary Lee teaches graduate courses in early literacy in the U.S. and abroad for Wheelock College. She presents regularly at state and national literacy conferences and continues to work closely with teachers and children through consulting and research activities.

A former classroom teacher, Nancy L. Witherell is a professor at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate reading courses. She has presented at numerous state and national conferences and remains active in teaching children through numerous consultancies.