A Creative Approach to Assessing Fluency in the Middle School Classroom

You know what term I never learned a thing about when getting my English degree? Fluency. You know what skill is vital to students’ confidence and success in many areas? Um, yeah. Fluency. It’s not enough to teach kids how to read in first grade and send them on their merry way. Our middle-schoolers still desperately need our guidance when it comes to reading out loud confidently.

But how we can practice and assess oral reading without massively embarrassing our students? I’ll tell you one thing I will NOT do—popcorn reading. I’m squirming in my seat right now just remembering the horror of reading random paragraphs out loud in front of my peers. All these years later, I still remember the errors I made, and I was a GOOD reader! I cannot even imagine the discomfort of popcorn reading for a student who is struggling. So if popcorn reading is off the table, what works?

My students practice their fluency in private by recording audiobooks for me (and only me) to listen to. I give them a rubric ahead of time so they can see which areas to focus on, and then I assess their fluency with that rubric. I give feedback on their pronunciation, enunciation, speed, and expression so they know what to focus on for their next recording. To keep my grading load manageable, I tell the students ahead of time that I will grade 1 out of every 4 chapters they record. Even then, I don’t listen to every second of the recording. I listen long enough to assess and leave feedback, and then I move on to the next recording. Even with 165 students, I can usually finish within a couple of hours!

Ready to ditch popcorn reading and give audiobooks a try? This print-and-go resource will guide your students through every step of the process. Click on the image to check it out!