In many classrooms, reading tasks follow a predictable pattern: students read a passage and then answer a set of questions to “demonstrate their understanding.” While this approach occasionally has its place, it often fails to equip students with the skills they need to truly engage with and comprehend text. Without explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies, students may simply search for answers or isolated words they recognize rather than deeply process and understand what they read.
If we want students to become critical thinkers, independent learners, and engaged readers, we must provide them with specific strategies for navigating complex texts. By shifting our focus from assessment-driven reading to strategy-driven reading, we empower students to interact with texts in meaningful ways.
Why Reading Comprehension Strategies Matter
Effective reading comprehension strategies help students develop skills that go beyond just finding the right answer. When students are taught strategies explicitly, they:
– Build Metacognition – They become aware of their thinking processes and can monitor their understanding as they read.
– Engage in Active Reading – They interact with the text rather than passively absorb information.
– Develop Deeper Comprehension – They make connections, draw inferences, and analyze the author’s purpose.
– Become Independent Readers – They gain the tools to tackle challenging texts on their own.
Key Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension
Instead of relying solely on comprehension questions, teachers of all content areas can use a variety of research-backed strategies to help students engage more deeply with texts. CTL’s Adolescent Literacy Model (Collaborative for Teaching and Learning, 2023) recommends several such strategies to support students in the process of actively thinking about what they are reading. Some of these strategies include:
- Text Coding with Margin Notes – Text Coding With Margin Notes is a form of annotating text that helps students track their thinking while they read. Students use a simple coding system to mark the text and record in writing what they are thinking. As students make connections, self-question, and respond to what they read, they are self-monitoring their comprehension and enhancing long term understanding. It’s important to select symbols that make sense for what students are being asked to read, the subject matter at hand, and the task that will be required of them following the reading. Once students code a word or portion of text, they elaborate on their thinking by writing notes in the margin or explaining their use of a given code.
- Double Entry Organizer – The Double Entry Organizer (DEO) is a strategy to promote active engagement during and after interaction with content. It is intended to provide scaffolding and guidance for students to take notes and reflect on those notes, generating questions about the content, ideas, connections, and opinions. In addition, students can use the questions generated from the DEO to discuss the lesson’s content in small or large groups and can maintain completed organizers as a reference for independent study.
- Anticipation Guide – An Anticipation Guide is a pre-reading activity most often used to activate students’ prior knowledge and to generate curiosity about a given topic. Anticipation guides may also be used as an after-reading activity by providing students with opportunities to revise their thinking. Students may be asked to correct any errors and to find evidence to support or counter each statement presented in the guide.
- Jigsaw – The Jigsaw strategy is designed to have students work collaboratively to understand content. Students become experts in a specific aspect of the reading and then work with their small group to share their knowledge and learn from their peers. The content is chunked so that one student is reading one section/ topic and working with others who are reading the same text/content to deepen their understanding, before returning to their small group to bring the different sections together. This approach reduces the amount of reading a student might be expected to do on their own, enables them to confirm their understanding of what they read with ‘like’ peers, and then returns students to their ‘home’ group to bring the different sections together.
- It Says-I Say-And So – This strategy is meant to support students as they summarize, react to, and make inferences about text. Teachers may provide a four-column graphic organizer as a place for students to record their thinking.
Transforming Reading Instruction
Shifting from a question-and-answer approach to a strategy-based approach requires intentional planning and modeling. Educators can implement these strategies by:
– Modeling the strategies through think-alouds – Demonstrate how expert readers process texts.
– Providing guided practice – Give students opportunities to apply strategies with teacher support before working independently.
– Encouraging discussion – Let students share their thoughts and strategies with peers to deepen understanding.
– Integrating strategies across subjects – Reading comprehension isn’t just for English class Apply strategies in science, history, math, and electives – any class in which students read to learn content.
When students are equipped with effective reading comprehension strategies, they become more confident and engaged readers. Rather than viewing reading as a task to complete, they see it as a way to explore ideas, solve problems, and gain knowledge. By making this shift in our approach to reading instruction, we ensure that students don’t just answer questions—they understand, analyze, and engage with texts on a deeper level.
Collaborative for Teaching and Learning. (2023). Foundations of content literacy. Collaborative for Teaching and Learning.