One of the greatest privileges in my work is collaborating with passionate teachers who support struggling readers on their journey toward fluency. Every day, I see educators who notice the little things, set meaningful goals, and help students understand why their hard work matters. Those intentional actions are transforming classrooms and changing lives.

Here are three things that we see in our most successful classrooms (keep reading for examples): 

• Students understand why they are doing WordFlight. For younger students this can mean…. For older students, 
• Success AND Growth is celebrated.
  • Success is not the same for all. Students need to understand that success is measured in many different ways. Their effort and “I can do it” attitude is a measure of success. Celebrating students’ effort and perseverance through hard work and mistakes is just as important as celebrating growth. Helping students recognize their efforts by graphing the number of minutes they practice, celebrating movement through more difficult word lists, the number of levels they complete in a week, and tracking the characters they collect as they advance in the program are all great ways to monitor students’ success.  See our resources section for many ready made tracking documents to use with your students. 
  • Growth is key! Students’ dedicated hard work will lead to academic success and becoming a more fluent reader. Celebrating students’ skill achievements may be found in the pre/post objective assessments and diagnostic assessments. It is important for students to view the graphs to see their areas of strengths as well as growth areas. The unit detail report may be used on a daily basis for students to see their progress as they complete individual tasks. Our detailed reports section in the management site offers several excellent growth reports that may be used with students while conferencing with them regarding their progress. 
• Teachers understand that it will take their own excitement and some extrinsic omtivaiton to get the students excited. It can take time for that intrinsic motivation to take over – especially for our struggling readers. 

Each of the following  ideas —big or small—sends a powerful message: Your effort matters. You are becoming a fluent reader.

At a middle school in Iowa, two dedicated teachers have created a classroom culture that truly celebrates progress. Every WordFlight student knows their strengths and areas for growth as they engage with the online program. Students can tell you what WordFlight is, why it’s important, and how it helps them become stronger readers and writers.

These teachers make student motivation a top priority. They hold one-on-one conferences to set specific reading goals, review progress, and celebrate achievements. Together, they look at usage minutes, earned characters, and skill growth on graphs—making the learning journey visible. The result? A classroom full of positive energy and collaboration, where students encourage one another and take pride in every step forward.

And this is just one example of what’s happening around the country!

• In Indiana, students “earn their wings” and collect a special keychain as they move through the WordFlight program.
  
• On the East Coast, classrooms celebrate each completed unit with certificates of achievement and recognition.
  
• In Texas, students’ progress is shared over the morning announcements, turning reading growth into a schoolwide celebration.
  
• Many teachers use interactive WordFlight bulletin boards where students move tokens or markers to show their progress in building automatic word recognition skills.
  

As educators, we know that motivation is often the bridge between challenge and success. When students understand what they’re working toward, see their progress, and feel celebrated, they don’t just grow as readers—they grow in confidence and perseverance.💭 How do you motivate your WordFlight students?
What strategies help your students know where they are, what they need, and how to get there? I’d love to hear how you’re celebrating your readers’ progress and making the journey toward fluency joyful and meaningful.