New Super Speed Games

If you have reluctant readers and writers in your classroom and are searching for a way to help them, then this is the post for you!

I have two reluctant readers and writers in my class.  They began the year not able to read or write anything.  Since then they have made huge progress.  They are both now able to read text at a mid-first grade level, and they can write independently.  However, both reading and writing are still a lot of work for them, and as a result, they do not always try as hard as they could.  When they came to a word that they did not know in reading, they would often stare at it and not try.  They were capable of sounding the word out, but they didn't.  They were also capable of writing a paragraph independently, but they would not do it unless I was there to coach them.

I was searching for a way to motivate and engage them in both reading and writing.  At the time I was playing both Super Speed 100 and Super Speed Rhyme with them every day during reading group.  (You can find more information on these games at the WBT web site under free downloads.)  When we played these games there was no lack of motivation.  They both were fully engaged and learning.  These games helped them learn their basic sight words and many word families.  The problem occurred after we would finish the Super Speed games and I would bring out a passage for them to read.  Suddenly their motivation dropped and I would find myself playing cheerleader as I would coach them through unknown words.  I truly believed that it was partly a confidence issue.  They were now capable of decoding unknown words, but they didn't yet believe in themselves.  I offered Super Improver Stars for "not putting on the brakes and driving through their words", but this was not enough.  I had to find another way to motivate them.  Then, one day, I had an inspiration.

We had just finished playing Super Speed 100 and Super Speed Rhyme.  I had brought out a new passage to read, and, as usual, their motivation plummeted and they were struggling to get through the passage.  That is when I stopped everything and told them that we were going to play a new game.  It was like our other Super Speed games, but this one was called Super Speed Fluency.  I immediately had their attention as I went on to explain the rules.  They would each have one minute to read as far as they could.  The other would play the role of teacher and provide help with a word if the reader asked for help.  Any "reading gnarlies" (I borrowed the term gnarlies from Super Speed Math.) I would underline.  A "reading gnarlie" is simply a word that the reader is unable to figure out or remember from day to day.  At the end of a minute the reader places a slash after the last word read and then has a second minute to break his previous record.  If he did, he would give himself a smilie face on a page of stars.  When the page is full, the student earns a Super Improver Star.  (If you download any of the Super Improver Games, you will find this star page as part of the download.  I decided that students needed to fill a page before getting a Super Improver Star, do to the frequency and number of Super Speed games that we were playing.)  Players would then switch roles and repeat this process.  The same passage is used for five days.  The goal is for students to break the previous day's record and complete the entire passage by day five.  (I carefully selected passages that would be the right length for students to do this.)  If students can finish reading the entire passage in a minute or less, they earn double stars.  They also earn an extra smilie for mastering their gnarlies.

The game has been a complete success!  It amazes me how hard these two students will now work at sounding out unknown words.  They are constantly saying things like, "I'm going to beat it."  The difference in attitude was so dramatic.  It was like turning a light switch on.  In fact, the results were so amazing that I was inspired to create Super Speed Writing.  

The game is very simple.  I give both of my students three minutes to write as much as they can.  At the end of three minutes I score in front of them what they have written.  Every word is worth one point.  However, they receive penalties in the form of one point deductions for every capital, period, or space between words that they forget.  I write their score above their writing.  I then give them a second three minutes to continue with what they are writing and try and beat their score.  If they beat their score, they earn a smilie on their star page.

My two reluctant writers love this game!  I have never seen them write so much in such a short amount of time.  They can't wait to play it everyday and are very upset if, for some reason, we have to miss a day.

Now, when these two students join me in group, we play Super Speed 1,000 (my students just finished Super Speed 100!  Yeah!), Super Speed Rhyme, Super Speed Fluency, and Super Speed Writing.  It takes almost 20 minutes to complete all four games, but the payoff has been incredible.  It took a little time, but after about a month, I began to see a transfer between Super Speed Fluency and Super Speed Writing to the students' reading and writing at other times during the day.  They are now more confident.  They are able to "drive" through unknown words much more quickly, and they are doing a lot more writing.

If you have reluctant readers or writers in your room, I would urge you to give these games a try.  Since I have the inclusion room, I tend to have at least two or three reluctant readers and writers every year.  These are games that will now be a permanent part of my teacher bag of tricks.  I hope that you are able to add them to yours as well.  Happy teaching!