Fluency Lesson Plan: Phrase-Cued Reading

Date: 10/12/22

Teacher: Ms. Edminster

Iowa Core: RF. 5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.
b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on
successive readings
c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as
necessary.

Today’s Goal (I Can): I can read in phrases to improve my fluency.

Required Resources: An independent level passage for marking with appropriate phrase breaks.
(Reading A-Z)

Review of Previous Learning: Review the three elements of reading fluency. Especially emphasize
reading with expression (phrased fluent reading).

I Do: Teacher provides explicit instruction with modeling. Teacher provides systematic Instruction with
scaffolding.

Say: Good readers do not read word by word using one tone of voice. Good readers read with
expression in phrases, or meaningful chunks of words. Reading in phrases helps readers to understand
what they are reading, even when reading to themselves. I am going to show you how reading in
phrases will help you be a fluent reader.

Distribute a copy of phrase-cue text passage. Read the title of the passage.

Explain the meaning of the single and double slashes. Tell them the slashes are called phrase cues. Tell
students that one slash means to pause a little.

Then read aloud the first sentence, slightly exaggerating the marked pauses between the phrases. Say: A
period [or other terminal punctuation] comes at the end of a sentence. Think about the period as a stop
sign telling the reader to stop and pause for a moment.

Then read aloud the first two sentences, slightly exaggerating the marked apuse between the sentences.
When there is a comma point out that it is followed by a single slash. Say: The comma is followed by a
single slash because the comma tells the reader to pause a little. Then read the sentence with a comma
slightly exaggerating the marked apuse after the comma.

If there is a question mark in the text, say: A question mark is like a period in that it comes at the end of
a sentence. The double slashes after the question mark indicate that readers should pause longer. When
asking a question, people usually raise their voices at the end of the sentence. I will show you how I do
it.
We Do:
Teacher guides instruction focussing on: Providing immediate corrective feedback. Provide multiple
opportunities for students to respond and practice.

Have the student read aloud the phrase-cued text with you chorally. Say: Now we will read the passage
together. The slashes will help you see where the phrases are and when to pause. I’ll read along with
you. Ready, begin.

Provide corrective feedback: Point to the section that was not phrased correctly. Say: Remember that
your reading needs to match the phrase cues. Listen to me read and how I match my voice to the phrase
cues. After modeling, say: Did my reading match the phrase cues? My phrase-cued reading sounded
like I was talking. Now you try it with me.

Provide positive feedback: After reading say: You read that just right! Your reading matched the
phrase cues. Your phrase-cued reading sounded like you were talking.

Practice the passage again. Say: We will read the passage again. Remember to make your phrase-cued
reading sound like you are talking. After reading, say: Did your reading match the phrase cues? Did
your phrase-cued reading sound like you were talking? Did you read with expression?

You Do:
Students practice the skill independently, in pairs, or in small groups.

Now ask the student to read the passage independently. Ask the student to pay close attention to the
phrasing. After reading, ask: Did your reading match the phrase cues? Did you read with expression?
What sentences do you think you read particularly well?

If there is time, do partner reading. Take turns being the Fluency Coach (providing feedback on the
phrased reading), and the Fluent Reader.

Use the Error Correction Procedure in addition to providing feedback on reading the phrase-cues.

Error Correction Procedure:

● Point to words the reader read incorrectly.
● Model the correct pronunciation of the words and ask the reader to repeat the words after you.
● Ask the reader to point to any other difficult words.
● Model the correct pronunciation of the words the reader identified and have the reader repeat
the words.
● Let the reader know if you thought they sounded like someone talking.

Differentiation:

Use an indenedent level text. One-to-one instruction.

Progress Monitoring:
DIBELS ORF CBM: Progress Monitoring

Self-Assessment:
Today’s goal: I can read in phrases to improve my fluency.

Did I read the passage accurately using the phrase cues?

Did I make my phrase-cued reading sound like I was talking?
Did I read with expression?

Outcome of the Lesson:

My student today knew what fluency was and gave a definition. When she was asked to tell me what
she thought the lines were for she was unsure so I told her one line is for a short pause. She figured out
that two lines is for a longer pause at a full stop (period). She filled out her copy of the story after I read
it to her out loud and we read the first half together. She did really well.

For the oral fluency assessment, she read 110 words and made one error. Her overall percentage was
99%, which means she is fluent at level S. This means she is just below the 50 percentile. She got 109
words correct out of 110 in one minute.