Chapter 10

Chapter 10 discusses ways to help students grow in automaticity and fluency. The chapter starts off by defining these words. Beers says that automaticity is the reader's ability to recognize words without conscious decoding. This leads to fluency, which is the ability to read smoothly and easily at a good pace with good phrasing and expression. When students are able to utilize both of these skills, their comprehension improves as well. Beers lists a few suggestions in which teachers can improve fluency and automaticity in the classroom:

Suggestion 2: Give Students Varied Opportunities for Hearing Texts

I found this section interesting because I do not think teachers present enough opportunities for students to hear the text being read to them. I definitely saw how helpful this can be while being involved in the Clinical Practicum this summer. We read together chorally, and also did paired reading. I could see a big increase in the students' fluency the more they practiced. We also did a read-aloud every day. I remember when I was a student, I loved it when my teachers would read aloud. I agree with Beers in that this tool can allow students to hear inflection/prosody, and get an idea of the phrasing that's involved in reading.

Suggestion 3: Teaching Phrasing and Intonation Directly

I thought it was interesting that she suggests a method so direct. But I do see how it could help students to practice by reading aloud, and creating an inner dialogue with the text. I like that there are different types of punctuation involved. This way students can see how one period or question mark can change the phrasing of the entire sentence, and apply that to when they read silently.

Suggestion 5: Prompt, Don't Correct

I think teachers probably struggle with this more than the other suggestions. It's very tempting to just tell the student the answer and move on, but Beers makes a good point in saying that telling just encourages more dependence. If we want our readers to be independent, we have to prompt them and guide them rather than simply fixing it for them. Plus, it gives the student a sense of ownership when you say "read that again", and they are able to correct their mistake.