Fluenc

y
When you and your class
read your writing out
loud, you often hear
things in it that you
do not experience any
other way.
Peter Elbow
 Fluency
• graceful, easy to read
aloud
· natural
•sounding
effective, smooth,
phrasing
· effective use of
transitions/ conjunctions
· variety in length and
structure that create a
pleasant rhythm
What to look
for...
 Rhythm, flow, natural cadence
 Smooth pacing

 Well-built sentences

 Sentence length enhances the

meaning
 Varied sentence beginnings

Each of these bulleted items could be

mini/teachable moments as students are
writing.
Sentence Beginnings:

We went to the beach. We had

fun. We saw seagulls. We
went home.
Vary the beginnings and combine sentences :

Despite being overrun

by pesky seagulls, we
had fun at the beach.
Don’t
say:
“At this point in time, we
feel we are ready to begin
Say
to fight.”
: “Now, we’re ready to
fight.”
Make every word work hard and your
sentences will be powerful, full of punch.
Key Question:
Can you FEEL the
words and phrases
flow together as you
read
Is the it aloud?
flow of writing “right” for the
purpose and audience?
 Use
Literature
A. Read literature
Eleven by Sandra Cisneros p. 9
Remember by Toni Morrison
Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti
Establish PURPOSE: Listen for changes in
sentence length. How do the changes in
sentence lengths add to the fluency of
the story?
 ≈
Like fine poetry, children’s
picture books are meant to
be seen AND heard. Even
adolescents like to be read
to…by reading aloud I not
only let kids hear the
richness of the language,
but I invite adolescents
Linda to
read them also.
Reif
Working on Writing
Activities
 Choral reading
 Sentence
combining/embedding
 Scrambled sentences
 Story re-writes
 Work on beginnings
 Cut the fat
 Sentence building
Style Stretch
If you are a visual learner,
be an auditory learner for an
activity.
Choral Reading
or

Reader’s Theatre
Activity with Introducing Reader’s Theatre.
Theatre
Sentence combining:
1. I live in a house.
2. The house is made of brick.
3. The brick
4. red.
is The house has a garage.
5. The garage is
brown.
7. There is a fence.
8. The6. fence
Theis high.is made
garage
9. The fence goes around
of wood
10. the
I like the backyard.
house
11. The backyard has
trees.
12. The trees have
oranges.
13. The backyard has
grass. Created by
14. The backyard has Dr.
 Cutting the Fat!
1. The stadium has ample
parking space for fans’
automobiles.
The stadium has ample
parking space.
 Cutting the Fat!
2. There is no shortcut to
learning
3. In thebridge.
appendix is a complete
list of references to the author’s
previous works.
4. The ability to write well is
essential to success in business.
5. She joined the company at a
higher salary than she expected
to receive when she applied for
the position.
6. Let’s discuss this later.
 Use Student
Sample Papers
A. Look at and discuss
rubric
B. Evaluate anonymous papers
1. Read story together
2. Evaluate individually, then as small group
3. Share score with large group
4. Discuss the reasoning for the score
The Pin
The roar of the Olympics,
the thrill of a roller coaster,
and the peacefulness of the
coast, all together. They mean
much more than a piece of cold
metal with colors thrown on the
front. Holding any one of my
pins brings memories of past
events. My stomach falls as I
hold up a roller coaster car. I
feel the warmth of the sun as
an Oregon coast pin lies in my
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to you in response to a matter I feel is
crucial to the survival of democracy and to the
continuation of Western thought. I ask, beg rather,
that the brilliant individual who created the
Alaska Writing Assessment topic be immortalized
for all time in a US postage stamp.
Perhaps you have no true comprehension of how
much this soul-searching question has affected my
life. I believe, in all sincerity, that this question
managed to awake in my deadened young mind
the infinite wonder of the universe. To even the
smallest of minds, this question is one of awesome
scope and emotional depth. Dear friends, who
should be on a postage stamp? This ancient
question raises bewilderment and reverence. What
are childish questions like, “What is reality?” and
“What is the good?” compared with “Who should
be on a postage stamp?”
There are many irrelevant issues in modern
America such as the democratic ideals of natural
rights, racial equality, and morality. Most people
would have chosen a question dealing with these
silly issues, or something like genetic ethics,
abortion, or education. This man, however, has
managed to cut off all the fat of modern America
and get to the bone: postage stamps. He should be
honored, adored even. He has opened the hearts
and minds of Alaskan youth with one questions:
Who should be on a postage stamp?
Postage stamps are the perfect representation of
the American mind. They are so vital to existence!
Obviously, the faces on stamps affect our nation
tremendously.
You, my friends, control this vital artery of the
American mainstream. You hold the power to put
faces on stamps, and one man deserves it.
With his timeless question concerning stamps, he
has proved himself worthy of being on one. I
ask you to reward this genius, this saint, this great
teacher. My friends, the man who created the
Alaskan Writing Assessment Topic should be
honored forever on a US postage stamp.
Thank you for your time.
 Writein Will
One day there was a seven year old boy
called Will. He loved to write. In his
life he has made ten great books. They
read them every day in school. But there
was a kid who hated Will. He was called
Eric. He decided to make bigger stories
than Will, using 14 pages of his draft
book. Now that for Will was a problem. So,
to get things back to normal he used whole
draft books. The war began. Will used 5
draft books. Eric used 10. Will used so
many because he was behind that he used
100 draft books. Eric only used 20 draft
books. Will patted Eric on the shoulder
One of the hardest
tasks of the writer is
to read what is on the
page, not what the
writer hoped would be
Donald Murray
on the page.
To reinforce sentence
You could say...
fluency...
 I read this aloud and I love the
sound of it!
 You seem to know what a sentence
is-good for you!
 You have a long sentence, then a
short one-I like that.
 Your sentences begin in different
ways-that’s great.
 I like this phrase-After a while-it
helps me understand when things
happened.
 Fluency
Do you: Read aloud to students?
Read often from a variety of
sources(all genres)? Encourage
students to read their own
work? Check beginning
sentences for variety? Show
students how teaching
Then you’re to vary sentence
fluency!
length?
Table talk: how are you are
teaching fluency or planning
to?
Fluency
•In what ways are you currently
teaching Sentence Fluency?

•How might you use Sentence

Fluency in your teaching?

•What is the importance of using

fluency in your content area?