Poetry is a proven tool for increasing reading fluency.
Helping students become fluent readers is one of the largest goals of reading instruction. Being a fluent reader means that a student is varying his voice and changing his tone to reflect the meaning that he is reading. There are various methods to increasing a student's fluency and one proven way is through poetry. Students who may struggle with reading longer texts are able to gain confidence through reading poems, as they are shorter in length. Additionally, poems often deal with one emotion, making it easier for students to use the appropriate voice. Using poetry can be done with the youngest readers starting in kindergarten and also is appropriate for teaching adults read. Poetry selections should be done with consideration to the group that you are working with.
Instructions
1. Select poems where the meaning is easily decoded. Choose poems that have strong emotions like excitement, disgust or anger, such as Bruce Lansky and Shel Silverstein, to work with kindergarteners through fourth graders. When working with adult students, avoid complicated poems such as those by Edgar Allen Poe or e.e. cummings, which have confusing meanings.
2. Read the poem aloud to your students. Demonstrate how your voice will change pitch and tone to convey meaning. When reading, a happy poem, exaggerate your voice to more of an excited tone.
3. Write the poem or display the poem on large paper. Invite your students to read the poem aloud together, in choral reading. Allow students to gain confidence and hear their peers reading fluently by reciting the poem in a large group.
4. Give students copies of the poem for practice. Allow kindergarteners through second graders to illustrate the poem page. For older children or adults, provide a copy with illustrations included.
5. Have your students keep their poems in a dedicated poetry folder. Allow students time to independently practice reading the poem aloud. Listen to your students read and suggest where they can change their tone to match the meaning more appropriately. Work on this when students are arriving to class; they can practice at their own pace and do other work when their poetry practice is completed so that you do not have 25 students reading the poem at the same time.
6. Encourage the students to continue practicing poems already covered in class, even after additional poems have been introduced. Rereading is an important part of becoming a fluent reader.
