Racing to Read Fast
Rationale: The goal of this lesson is for students to learn how to speed up the pace of their reading. Students read slow and monotonous to avoid making mistakes. In order for students to comprehend the text, they need to learn to vary the rates of speed at which they read.
Materials: The book, Bud the Sub (Educational Insights), stop watch, marker, tape, chart with racetrack on it, and one paper race car for each student with their name on it. On the chart, write numbers in intervals of 20 to represent the number of words each student can read in one minute. This activity will be used to assess the students to see if they are reading any faster or not.
1. Review the correspondence u=/u/ because it is used in the book we will be reading. Introduce the lesson by giving a book talk on Bud the Sub. Make this very interesting for the students.
2. Read about one minute into Bud the Sub in a very monotonous tone and slow speed.
3. Stop and ask the students what you could do to improve the way you are reading. Explain to them that the way you talked about Bud the Sub made it sound like a great book, but the way you were reading it made if seem very boring.
4. Explain to the students that it is very hard to understand a book if you read it slowly and sound like a robot. Read Bud the Sub at varied speeds and use expressive qualities.
5. Introduce the speedy reader game and give out the race cars. Let each student read for one minute and tape their race car on the chart above the number of words that they read.
6. Allow students to reread the book at least two or three more times recording how many words per minute they read each time.
7. For assessment, evaluate the students’ progress from the first time they read the book to the last time they read the book to see if any improvement was seen.
Reference: Koskinen, P.S. &
I. H. (1986). Paired repeated reading: A Classroom strategy
for developing fluent reading. The Reading Teacher., 40, 70-75.
CTRD 370 student Kay Hayes, My own ideas.