This year I’ve added the Flow Fluency Reading program to my tutoring service to help my students become more fluid readers. In addition, some schools use this program as a classroom resource during centers to help increase their student’s fluency. This has been a great addition to my tutoring service, allowing me to place students at the proper reading level and monitor their progress.
Each passage is set up in 9 parts. First is the introduction of vocabulary. The student reads along with the computer recording. Unlike many programs, the voice is natural and expressive. The second part shows the vocabulary and a photo, with the assignment of writing a passage prediction. At this point, I talk with the student and ask them what they know about the subject based on the title, vocabulary, and prior knowledge. They have three minutes to put in their prediction once they start typing. I have notebooks for my students to write their predictions to process their thoughts. For my younger students, I have them dictate what they wrote, and I type it into the program.
Once they’ve completed this part, they do a cold read, a timed passage of the reading. When this is achieved, the reading goal of words per minute (wpm) and how many words they read will be shown. This helps me ensure it’s an appropriate level and for the student to see how they are doing. The next two parts are reading and echo reading the passage with the program. I’ve incorporated pausing and asking questions to ensure they comprehend what they read.
In the following part, students will be timed as they read the passage independently three times. There is no limit to how many times they can read it, but I generally stick to three. They then write a summary, which I have them write in their notebooks first, of what they just read. They then enter it into the computer.
The last two parts consist of a quiz and a hot read. It consists of four multiple-choice questions and a question that requires a written answer. The hot read records the last independent reading of the passage. Unlike the cold read, they can do this more than once. Using this score, my student can see where they started and how they’ve progressed. Separately, I score the reading prosody, reading with expression. This score measures their ability to read with expression, without pausing, and decode the words.
Another nice feature of this program is that it keeps track of their progress. I can print out a report that I can share with their parents. It also reinforces the student’s confidence when they see the change in their scores from when they started to finishing the hot read. I highly recommend it as a reading resource.