Reading aloud is more fun and rewarding for students

Chagrin Falls is a village in the outlying suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Serving the village and neighboring areas, the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village School District includes a High School, Middle School and Intermediate School as well as T.C. Gurney Elementary School.

IT plays a central role in teaching and learning for around 2,000 students in Chagrin Falls, where Chromebooks are offered to every student through K-12. “We’re in the middle of a revolution right now” says Mike Daugherty, Director of Technology & Information Systems. “Technology is completely disrupting the way we educate – and in a good way.”

Students use their Chromebooks and the Google Classroom blended learning platform to access a wide range of materials and study activities. As the only reading intervention tool that integrates with Google Classroom and Google Drive, Fluency Tutor from Texthelp fits seamlessly into teaching strategies at Chagrin Falls.

Great for time-stretched teachers, Fluency Tutor makes reading aloud more fun and satisfying for every student, including those who might need some extra support. It’s a big help for struggling and reluctant readers, as well as young people learning English as a second language.

The easy-to-use software add-in lets Chagrin Falls students record themselves reading assigned passages on their Chromebooks, laptops or mobile devices – away from the pressures of reading aloud in the classroom environment. Extra help is provided by Fluency Tutor’s dictionary, picture dictionary and translation tools. Teachers can then listen to students’ recordings wherever and whenever it’s convenient, giving quick feedback or a more in-depth assessment of reading progress. By collecting data over time, Fluency Tutor helps educators build a clear picture of each student’s progress throughout the school year.

“We know that some students may not be confident in reading out loud” says 6th Grade Teacher Mandy Marlo. “It’s fantastic being able to practice with a tool like Fluency Tutor, where students can go home at night and hear themselves over and over. That kind of reinforcement is harder to fit into their regular classroom time during the normal school day”.

“Fluency Tutor has been a great product for the students in my classroom” confirms Sheri Halagan, Teacher at T.C. Gurney Elementary School. “I can send higher Lexile passages to our more fluent students, while I can assign easier passages to students who have lower reading abilities.”

“I’ve noticed kids go back and read a passage three or four times to try again and get better” notes Sheri. “Knowing their fluency speeds as well as seeing their errors and words they’ve got correct is very motivating for them. They’ve figured it out for themselves way before I did: that’s the beautiful thing about using Fluency Tutor!”

“Technology like Fluency Tutor allows our students to work however, whenever and wherever they want”, concludes Mike Daugherty. “It’s so different from when any of us were in school. Learning has changed.”

Join other teachers around the world who are using Fluency Tutor to help their students become more avid, confident readers.