From Efficient Decoders to Strategic Readers.

Abstract

As students enter the middle and high school years, many of them do not receive the instructional support they need to become strategic readers—readers who can activate prior knowledge before, during, and after reading; decide what is important in a text; synthesize information; draw inferences during and after reading; ask questions; and selfmonitor and repair faulty comprehension. The author sees evidence of a growing awareness that content-area reading instruction is the responsibility of all teachers. He describes how a high school history teacher incorporates two common literacy strategies—graphic organizers and word exploration—into his instruction. With increased professional development, the author predicts that content-area teachers will make more effective use of strategies to support students' content-area literacy.