The post below made me think of the fluency activity I do with my students--they read to younger students. They practice reading easy picture books ahead of time so they can read well to their kindergarten buddies--there's an authentic reason to be practicing and authentic reason to be reading out loud with expression. If your student was into that, that could be a time when you timed him without him knowing.
------------------------------ Since you are sensing that he is choking under the duress of a timed reading, have you tried timing him without him knowing it, or having him record his reading on his own to get another form of sampling? Interestingly, I had a student who read meticulously slow, and once he heard his own reading he stated, "I can do better than that." From there, he significantly upped his words per minute. Otherwise, possibly try a "duration" timing. If you are unfamiliar with that process, it just means that you time him with a longer passage for a longer period of time, then do the math accordingly; i.e. if it takes him three minutes to read, divide his total word rate by three. My understanding is that duration was designed for kids who are quick out of the gate, or those who speed up as they become more confident. I would even consider starting his timing once he is a minute or so into the passage. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
