While completing my service learning I have come across students fluency problems. It was hard to listening to them as they read a passage. The students were reading word by word; as I calculated they were reading about 50 to 60 words a minute. For a normal fluency in the forth grade a student 99 words per minute. The book states that researcher and educators found that the relationship between fluency and comprehension is reciprocal rather than unidirectional. In my service learning experience I found that to be a true statement. The same students were also struggling comprehension.
To help the students with their fluency, I would introduce the students with new and old site words. Another way that I help was by having them follow me as I read. In that way students could see how I chunk phrases. I would also practice choral reading with them. These are some strategies I used to help the students.
