As a reading specialist, I saw my share of students who struggled with fluency. It wasn’t until I attended a workshop lead by Ralph Fletcher, (renowned author and educational consultant) that I realized reading poetry aloud, along with singing, were two stellar ways to enhance fluency. Part of my role at that time, was supporting my school’s Title I fourth grade students. The workshop inspired me to create a program involving poetry that our Title I paraprofessionals could easily deliver to fourth graders who struggled in this area. Each week, the paraprofessional would introduce a poem to her students. First she read it aloud, discussed tricky vocabulary, figures of speech and the overall meaning of the poem. Then, she read it along with the student. Finally, the student read it alone, giving the instructor a chance to correct missed words, along with reviewing difficult phrasing. At that point, the student was given a copy of the poem and instructed to read it aloud to others or themselves at least three times a day. Students had a check-off sheet to track this. At the end of the week, the paraprofessional listened to the student reading the poem as she took a running record to track progress. Over a period of several months, students made gains, not only in fluency, but in vocabulary development, comprehension, and an appreciation of poetry. We capped off this project with a celebration in which every student chose a poem to read aloud to their class.

Another take-away from that workshop, was learning that singing, while looking at the words to a song, builds fluency. I remember when Fletcher had the entire room full of teachers stand up and sing. He passed out the words to a few familiar songs, like It’s A Grand Old Flag, and led us in song. There were smiles all around and I’m guessing I’m not the only participant that remembered that technique. After that, I often handed out song sheets, reviewed the words with my students and had us sing in unison. It was a enjoyable and powerful way to increase fluency.

Fluency and comprehension go hand-in-hand. Children who struggle with fluency lose the gist of a reading passage, negatively effecting their comprehension. Fluency is a crucial part of becoming a competent reader, but is often overlooked because once children reach grades four and above, silent reading becomes the norm. National Poetry Week is the perfect time to initiate this technique if your child needs fluency practice. I’d suggest starting with rhyming poetry because the rhythm and flow will make reading aloud easier and more enjoyable for your child.

Read-Aloud Poems edited by Glorya Hale offers “120 of the World’s Best-Loved Poems for Parent and Child to Share.” It would be an excellent starting point to not only enhance fluency but encourage appreciation of poetry. Have fun!