Content Reading and Writing

As students move through the grades, it has become clear that they need to learn a variety of strategies for reading and writing. In the early elementary grades students learn to read and write using literature. However, at the upper elementary, middle and secondary level students need to develop fluency in the use of strategies for reading and writing in the content areas.

Strategic Fluency

Fluency traditionally has referred to the student’s ability to decode efficiently and effectively. It is well documented that fluency skills are essential for constructing meaning from text. When students are not fluent decoding comprehension is impaired. Similarly, when students are not fluent with the use of content reading and writing strategies, both classroom and high stakes testing performance is impacted.

Comprehension vs. Strategic Fluency

Many upper elementary and middle school students are evaluated for special services and the issue is not comprehension it is the lack of fluency. They have not become strategic readers. Metacognition plays a major role in student’s developing strategic fluency.

Students need to know What Strategy Do I Use and When Do I Use It? Strategic fluency leads to automaticity and the ability to understand the task demand, select the appropriate strategy, apply that strategy independently and monitor its effectiveness.

LINKS Metacognitve Elementary and Secondary Strategy Handbooks, developed, by EPSI, provide teachers with instructional tools for teaching reading and writing in the content areas. These handbooks with instructional transparencies and supporting products provide teachers with strategies and structures for infusing the teaching of reading strategies into content instruction.