Reading Strategies Good Readers Use

A few years ago, educational researchers David Pearson and Nell Duke asked the question, "What kind of thinking happens when proficient readers read?" Innovative teachers teach the strategies directly using metacognitive thinking (thinking out loud about your thinking) by modeling their own thinking out loud during the reading process. Books like Mosaic of Thought by Zimmerman and Keene, Strategies that Work by Harvey and Goudvis, and Reading with Meaning by Miller explore these ideas in great depth and apply best teaching practices to teaching reading strategies. They make personal connections, they connect one text with another, and make connections with the world. Teachers teach these connections directly: text to self connections, text to text connections, and text to world connections. The best part of reading is watching the "movie in your head." Children can be taught to visualize as they read. Good readers have a purpose for continuing to read. Good readers read between the lines. Good readers understand the main ideas of a text and can determine what is important. Readers are answering questions, determining key points, and stretching their thinking as they connect the important ideas with their own knowledge.