Reading Fluency: The Bridge Between Phonics and Comprehension

(Grades K-5) / Flex Course

PDI Course Number: 137T02 / UCSD Course Number: EDUC42337

Course Description

Have you ever listened to a student struggle to read out loud, often sound-by-sound? Perhaps you listened as another student read something beautifully, only to realize afterwards that he/she had absolutely no understanding of what was just read? All readers must be able to decode the words on the page, but to read fluently, they must also learn how to simultaneously comprehend those words as they are read. This online course provides K-5 teachers with a variety of strategies to help students build their fluency, as a way to “bridge” phonics and comprehension. The course begins by talking about the role that fluency plays in literacy and how it fits into the “Big Five” of foundational literacy skills. As they progress through the course, teachers are exposed to a variety of strategies to improve students’ fluency. The role of assessment as it relates to fluency is also explored in detail. Teachers will take a deep dive into the effects that phonics has on fluency as well as how fluency affects comprehension. Accuracy, automaticity, and prosody are explored in detail, and teachers will learn how various types of instruction (small group, whole group, and centers) can be used to increase students’ fluency skills. By the end of this course, teachers will feel more confident and successful in their quest to embed best fluency practices into their own teaching as they work to highlight fluency as a way to bridge the distance between phonics and comprehension. This course is worth 3 ⅓ semester units/5 quarter units (50 hours of training) from University of California San Diego (UCSD) Division of Extended Studies. For detailed information on university credit, click here.

"This course gave me lots of information about Fluency and how it is linked to comprehension! I love the section on using different centers for fluency practice. Lots of great ideas that I cannot wait to try!" - Kristin Heap