Reason #102 Why I Love My Job

Every Monday morning I do something called fluency testing.  (I know I grumble about testing, but this type of testing I don’t mind because it actually gives me useful information…shocking, I know!)  During fluency testing, the kids read an at-grade-level passage and I record how many minutes they read in one minute.

This year I have a wonderful group of readers, so fluency is quite fun (it can be downright painful when you have really low and/or flat-out non-readers).  But this year it’s been a total blast watching these kids’ reading skills get better and better each and every week.

Recently, I was testing one of my students and at the end he says, “Aw, I missed a couple didn’t I?”

“Yes,” I said, “but you read 102 words per minute!”

Him:  “I read 102 words in a minute!”

Me:  “Yes! You read 102 words in one minute!”

Him:  “Really…102 words…in one minute…I thought that was impossible!”

 Me:  “Nope!”

I really wish you could have been there to see the huge smile on his face and to hear the enthusiasm and awe in his voice.  You’ll just have to take my word for it:  It was FABULOUS!!!!!