The FDL employs short reading passages (poems, story segments, or other texts) that students read and reread over a short period of time. The format for the lesson is:

1. Students read a familiar passage from the previous lesson to the teacher or a fellow student for accuracy and fluency.
2. The teacher introduces a new short text and reads it to the students two or three times while the students follow along. Text can be a poem, segment from a basal passage, or literature book, etc.
3. The teacher and students discuss the nature and content of the passage.
4. Teacher and students read the passage chorally several times. Antiphonal reading and other variations are used to create variety and maintain engagement.
5. The teacher organizes student pairs. Each student practices the passage three times while his or her partner listens and provides support and encouragement.
6. Individuals and groups of students perform their reading for the class or other audience.
7. The students and their teacher choose 3 or 4 words from the text to add to the word bank and/or word wall.
8. Students engage in word study activities (e.g. word sorts with word bank words, word walls, flash card practice, defining words, word games, etc.)
9. The students take a copy of the passage home to practice with parents and other family members.
10. Students return to school and read the passage to the teacher or a partner who checks for fluency and accuracy.

Source: The Fluent Reader by Timothy V. Rasinski, (Scholastic, 2003.)