Fluency

I've never really heard the term "fluency" to refer to reading before. I thought "fluency" was only associated with foreign languages. However, after reading the two articles and the chapter from Allington's book (Chapter 5), I have a better grasp on fluency. I have heard of the DIBLES test before, but never knew what it assessed.

I love the idea of fostering fluency through repetition and by books on tape. When I first heard of the suggestion for repetition, I though "but of course! In order to read something through completely fluently, you need to practice reading that material." However, I think the overall point of "fluency" is that yes, they do practice in the classroom, but they can use their fluency skills outside the classroom too. In order to be a fluent reader, the student must also have confidence. I think it's really important to create a classroom environment where students feel free to make mistakes.
I love the idea of the book on tape to give the kids a model of how the text is supposed to be read. I also like the idea the book pointed out of recording yourself and your class reading aloud. That way, you can kill two birds with one stone--teach the lesson to the students in front of you, plus have an "audio activity" for the future. 

On a more personal note, my mom and sister and I would take our 120 lbs yellow lab into the schools for the kids to read to Murray. The kids greatly benefited from having a "therapy pet" in their classroom because they felt comfortable reading books to Murray that were "baby books". We told these struggling readers that Murray wasn't very smart (...which he's not) and so he love to listen to all kinds of books. It definitely boosted the kids' confidence to be left in a corner with a fuzzy yellow dog and have one-on-one reading time with Murray. I would love to implement this idea of having a therapy pet into my classroom.