Whole group fluency: a year long literacy project (part two, outcomes)

If you haven’t read Part One of this project recap, I’d suggest starting there. Scroll down and click on “Whole group fluency: a year long literacy project (part one).”

As described in Part One, in the fall of 2021, I introduced our fluency practice to my second grade students as a group effort to increase our whole group fluency through choral reading exercises. We’d read and recited poems, excerpts of fiction and nonfiction, and folktales. Typically, we’d choose the text for practice from comprehension, writing, or small group curricula we’d recently spent a week reading and discussing. This way, students would have background knowledge and begin fluency with confidence in the material.

The visual for our protocol.

Here’s some more detail about the protocol we followed throughout the year.

I didn’t begin the project with a hard and fast approach, but around January, we built a tight and student-led protocol through repetition and gradual handoff of responsibility and independence. I also had a regular coach and thought partner in Joy Southworth of the SPS ELA department; she was foundational in building our program. Protocol instructions were written on a Google Slide that I always projected at the time of fluency practice (see photo) and we’d restate them at the being of practice to engage with these understandings and agreements once more. We also discussed the “look fors” of expert fluency: reading at a medium speed, expression (sound like the character feels), and accuracy (read exactly what is written). Peer feedback was reflective of these core skills. Each day, we accomplished a session in just 5-15 minutes.

Students would read through the text I’d provided with a partner on days one and two of a four-day cycle, following the protocol. On day three, we’d rehearse as a whole group. On day four, we would rehearse and then I would record on my phone. We’d playback and debrief our thoughts of the effort and final product. Student were also asked to give compliments to their partners or anyone they felt had demonstrated the “look fors.“ Each we had recorded, I’d send a final product to families via email (the recording provided here, as an example).

Our whole group sessions worked well, until around February. Boredom of the routine bloomed as off-task behavior and some interfering with other’s work. It was clear the students had learned what they needed in the whole-group setting and were ready for more advanced fluency practice. Previously, I had had Readers’ Theater in mind for an additional and separate literacy practice, but hadn’t had time to incorporate it into our schedule. Students had some experience with Readers’ Theater in our small groups, and always enthusiastically took on the roles. It seemed a logical progression that would meet own needs for fluency. “A Small Stall” was one Reader’s Theater script we’d practiced previously in small-group reading.

Even with excitement, it took until April to roll over fluency practice from whole-group protocol to small group work. There was a reintroduction of expectations and roles, and pivoting to groups of four (or more) when previously they’d only worked with one partner.

The second-graders rose up to the challenge! They had so much fun and I felt like I had some independence in my teaching moves, so I could concentrate on responding to students’ needs. It’s clear my role was supporting them to build this reading culture they put their hearts and minds into. Take a listen to one small group perform a retelling of “Coyote Steals the Stars,” a Native story from Western and Southwestern tribes.

Using DIBELS composite scores as a measure of growth, 17 of 19 students progressed to meet or exceed grade level by June in this Title I school. Having 89% of your students at grade level in literacy is remarkable; the Seattle Schools 2021 Smarter Balanced Assessment scores updated in February of 2022 show only 59.7% of students met grade level standard in fourth grade.

Seattle Schools ELA SBA Scores on OSPI

In my five years as a public school teacher, this is the longest and most enriching project I’ve endeavored. I’d recommend any primary teacher that is serious about literacy put a fluency practice in place, not only for the academic growth, but for the joy and social-emotional health of your students.