Targeted Fluency Intervention
for Adolescents
Sharon Walpole, University of Delaware
Michael C. McKenna, University of Virginia
Goal
Present a rationale for considering intervention
programs and intervention strategies.
Argue that fluency strategies can be integrated
into your existing structure for ELL or social
studies.
Present one fluency and comprehension
intervention.
Provide you with readings to build your
knowledge.
Developmental Differentiation Plan?
Vocabulary & Comprehension
Fluency and Comprehension
Only in
K-5
Word Recognition and Fluency
PA and Word Recognition
Only in
K-2
You know that all vendors claim their
wares are scientifically based
It may not be entirely true.
A scientifically-based program would have to be
tested with random assignment of students or
classrooms, implemented with fidelity, and yield
better outcomes compared with a control group.
Most “scientifically-based” programs
are collections of SB strategies
• Each of the individual strategies has been tested
alone under scientific conditions, but the
combination represented within the entire
program has never been tested.
• As we move into an era of less federal support
for our purchases, we may need to adopt some
scientifically-based strategies instead of new
programs.
Scientifically-based programs
Benefits
The scope and
sequence is already
systematic.
There are scripts to
keep instruction explicit.
After initial training, less
planning time is
needed.
Costs
Time and focus may be
inconsistent with your
needs.
The programs may be
expensive.
There may be no way to
allow multiple entry
points.
Scientifically-based strategies
Benefits
Costs
The instructional
strategy is very specific
to address one or two
components of reading.
The skill can be
measured repeatedly to
test student response.
Strategies are published
in research journals;
you have to find them.
More planning time is
needed to assemble
materials.
You may not have
adequate texts.
Why focus on fluency and comp?
• Students spend less and less time actually
reading in school as they get older.
• Many adolescent reading problems may stem
from a lack of engaged reading practice.
Some generalizations about fluency
• Increasing the volume of children’s reading
is what all approaches have in common.
• Different forms of assistance and modeling
may make more difficult (even grade-level)
texts accessible.
• Repetition has to be planned and organized.
• Fluency work develops fluency and
comprehension, but not word recognition in
isolation.
Some generalizations about
comprehension
• Students benefit from learning and using
multiple comprehension strategies during
reading.
• Learning to ask and answer questions is
effective.
• Students benefit from cooperative work.
• Motivation is necessary for comprehension;
text selection influences motivation.
A potential model
• Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS)
provides a model for how to build fluency and
comprehension as a regular part of instruction.
• Students are paired by rank ordering, then
splitting and matching.
• PALS is implemented every other day for about
17 weeks for 40 minutes
PALS Pairings
1
11
2
12
3
13
4
14
5
15
6
16
7
17
8
18
9
19
10
20
PALS Texts
• You can use one common text or each pair can
read an individual text; the important thing is
that the text has to be easy enough that the
students can read it aloud (with support from
one another) without getting frustrated.
• Consider using texts that are high-interest.
PALS Overview
There are four activities
1.
2.
3.
4.
Partner reading (10 minutes)
Story retell (2 minutes)
Paragraph shrinking (10 minutes)
Prediction relay (10 minutes)
In PALS for younger students, the stronger reader
reads for 5 minutes, and then the weaker
readers rereads that same section; for older
readers, the reading is always new text.
Management Systems
PALS has three main management tools:
1. Students share a book to compel them to work
together.
2. Students use scripts and procedures to respond
to one another to ensure that they provide
feedback.
3. The teacher circulates constantly providing
positive feedback (through points) for engaging
in the procedures.
PALS Introduction
Partner Reading (10 minutes)
• First student reads aloud for 5 minutes while the
other coaches.
• They then switch roles.
Coach Roles: Watch for Mistakes
Careless
Mistakes
Hard
Words
Omit
word,
Add word,
Wrong
word,
Word
ending
Say the
word very
slowly
Look at
the parts
of the
word
Stop. You
made a
careless
mistake.
Reread the
sentence.
Say the word
or
Ask the
teacher for
hellp
Teacher monitoring
Teacher monitoring
• Teacher provides points to each pair for focus,
cooperation, catching mistakes, and providing
help to one another.
One dyad in partner reading
Story Retell
• For two minutes, the partners take turns
reviewing what they’ve read in partner reading.
They use sentence frames, and they can also look
back in the book.
• The first thing that happened was . . .
• The next thing that happened was . . .
Switching activities
Paragraph Shrinking
• Students alternate reading paragraphs and then
retelling what happened in each paragraph.
• This activity takes 10 minutes.
Guide to Paragraph Shrinking
1
• Name the who or what.
2
• Tell the most important thing
about the who or what.
3
• Say the main idea in 10 words or
less.
Prediction Relay
• The final 10 minutes combine prediction and
paragraph shrinking procedures.
Guide for Prediction Relay
1
2
3
4
5
6
• What do you think will happen next?
• Read half a page.
• Did the prediction come true?
• Name the who or what.
• Tell the most important thing about the who or
what.
• Say the main idea in 10 words or less.
Let’s try it!
• Find the story by Saki in your handouts.
• Please choose a partner and decide who will be
first reader and who will be coach.
• We will cue you and remind you of the
procedures; we will give you a shortened version
of the PALS procedure.
Why would PALS work?
• PALS is different from traditional independent
reading.
• Students spend 40 minutes in engaged oral
reading and comprehension strategy
discussions; they are held accountable by their
partner for accuracy and by the teacher for
participation.
• It is possible for one teacher to implement PALS
with a regular classroom group.
Think it through!
• How much time do your students spend in
engaged interactions with text during school?
• What can you do to improve the quality of the
fluency and comprehension experiences you
provide to adolescents?
Learn more about PALS
http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/pals/