The impact of fluency on content

Fluency impacts content in a very significant way because without a thorough understanding of the vocabulary terms that exist within the details of the content area, the student will have no way to completely understand what is being taught. The terms within the content lesson are the thread that hold the ideas of the lesson together; without understanding the words and having fluency in the content, the lesson will not stay together for the student. For my content area, art, having fluency is very important as many terms actually describe something a student will have to do. If I were to assign the students a pointillism project, they would have to understand what it is to actually do pointillism. It I were to ask them to use complimentary or split-complimentary colors, they would need knowledge of the color wheel and the position of the colors, as well as what the terms mean. The assignment is meaningless if I haven't explained vocabulary terms thoroughly, to the point where they completely understand how to execute the project assigned. I liked the ideas that the short video we watched illustrated for increasing vocabulary word understanding and fluency. The video talked about having students write the definition in their own terms, which encourages them to first think of what the word means and put their own spin on it. It also asked that the students draw or create a visual illustration to coordinate with the words, and play games with the new words. Creating visuals will be key in art, especially for the words that requrie action and are visual techniques for creating art. Using different strategies for teaching the words will assist all types of learners to get a grasp on the meanings.