Poetry: A Feast to Form Fluent Readers

Overview

Featured Resources

From Theory to Practice

 

OVERVIEW

In this lesson for grades 3–5, students watch an example of poetry performed orally and then discuss elements of the performance that lead to reading fluency. Students then use online resources to select a poem to perform in class. A performance critique sheet is used to evaluate performances and can be used for self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and teacher evaluation.

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FEATURED RESOURCES

Performance Critique sheet
This sheet can be used in preparation for the oral poetry reading and after the class performance for self, peer, and teacher evaluation.

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FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

Rasinski, T. (2000). Speed does matter in reading. The Reading Teacher, 54, 146–151.

• Excessively slow, disfluent reading leads to less overall reading, has been associated with poor comprehension, and creates frustration for the reader.
  
  
• Strategies to increase the fluency of students include the use of poetry, which is often overlooked as a motivator for elementary students.
  
  
• Discussion of fluent and meaning-filled reading helps students develop a metacognitive understanding that the meaning of a passage is not only carried in the words, but also in the way the words are presented to the reader.

   

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