Ffff…flllluuu…..fluency?

Interesting article in the Washington Post two weeks back about fluency, the Big Thing since the National Reading Panel report in 2000. It’s a good read and gives several examples of what fluency instruction shouldn’t look like—anyone interested in the teaching of reading should check it out.

I started teaching shortly after the NRP report came out, so fluency instruction has been a part of the job for me since the beginning. It’s one of the easiest to quantify, but also one of trickiest—I misjudged the skills of several kids in the early years because I was misled by their good oral reading, but at the same time their comprehension was poor. Fluency is a part of the puzzle, but not the end-all, and this is a good reminder of that.