Chapter Ten: Fluency and Automaticity

While reading Antwan and Sophie's parts, I can easily say that fluency is something you might not know you have. Antwan thought that just because he could read the words, he was a good reader. He obviously comprehended what he was reading too, even though he thought both the children at the park were boys. He was able to understand what was going on, and he read all of the words properly, but not very fluently. Sophie on the other hand, had a hard time pronouncing things and she did not comprehend what she read very well at all. She thought there were many children at the park, when in reality there were only two. Due to the fact she was still struggling with decoding, the odds of her being fluent in her reading if she can not yet decode the words are very slim. Antwan should be able to improve his fluency soon, since his comprehension is at a good level. I just thought it was interesting how different the two of them read, and how fluency did not matter to them. Antwan thought he was a 'good reader' because he could say all of the words. The more a student reads, especially at a younger age, the better their fluency will become. This is another reason why having students read more and more out loud or even silently will help them improve their reading; especially their fluency.