Why is teaching fluency in reading important to what I believe about teaching?

As a teacher, I try to ask myself this question, “Is what we are doing right now, helping us in some way?” If it isn't, we shouldn't be doing it. However, when I am teaching fluency in reading, I never have had to ask myself this question. Fluency is the key to understanding. In the staircase of comprehension, fluency is one of the most important steps.

The skill of learning to be a fluent reader, is like many other life activities that require practice, patience and hard work. Unfortunately, you can’t just wake up one morning and read! Like learning any language, at the beginning, all a language represents is a bunch of sounds put together in truly confusing ways. Once you learn the patterns, you start to see similarities with sounds, and it becomes easier. With practice, those words derive meanings and soon you are able to retrieve understanding. I believe the effort and practice put forth to understand a language, rolls over into other aspects of my students lives as well.

With many of life’s activities, practice and hard work are characteristics that have to be present in order to achieve great things. Becoming a fluent reader is very similar to many of these activities. When I see my students achieve the level of fluency that enables them to read for understanding, the options for their achievements are endless. Reading is understanding, and this leads to a lifetime of possibilities. My students know when they have worked hard for something and attained it. If students lack practice and effort with fluency, their struggles with understanding become apparent very quickly.

I believe that when students truly become accountable for their efforts with fluency, they see those efforts pay off in many other aspects of their lives, and they are able to transfer those skills in many other areas.