Strategy Instruction
Explore articles, free downloads, and practical instructional resources to support comprehension strategy instruction during meaningful work with worthwhile texts.
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The 5+1 Most Common Text Structures
A one-page reference to common informational text structures, helping students notice how a text is organized and use that organization...
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Strategic Six Thinking Moves Bookmarks
A kid-friendly reminder of the six Thinking Moves for students to use as they read, discuss, and reflect on text....
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How to Improve Reading Comprehension: What Not to Do + 6 Things to Try Instead
Reconsider six familiar comprehension practices and explore alternatives that give students more responsibility for making meaning as they read, talk,...
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Go Deeper, Together
The Six Shifts taught by Kari and Jan, with classroom video and practical routines.
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Shifting the Balance: Developing Readers
Grades 3–5 teachers, coaches, and teams strengthening upper-elementary reading.
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Student Grid for Practicing Reciprocal Teaching
A reusable four-square grid to support summarizing, clarifying, questioning, and predicting as students take turns guiding discussion with a partner...
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The Strategic Six Thinking Moves Printable PDFs
Six kid-friendly Thinking Moves, each with a memorable icon, simple explanation, guiding questions, and examples, give students language for reflecting...
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Recognizing Reading Comprehension Difficulties: Challenges, Indicators, and Effective Teaching Moves
Explore six common reading comprehension challenges, indicators that students may be having difficulty, and teaching moves to support understanding.
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Mental Models: Comprehension Under Construction
Follow how a reader builds and revises a mental model as a text unfolds, and consider what this reveals about...
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The Text Structure Box: The 5 Basic Text Structures Are a Bit Too Basic
Look beyond the five familiar text structures. Explore a more flexible approach to noticing how authors organize ideas to support...
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6 Truths About Strategy Instruction That Just Might Surprise You!
Explore six research-informed insights about comprehension strategy instruction, reconsider common misconceptions, and connect strategic thinking with making meaning from text.
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Be Sure to Teach the 6 Comprehension Strategies Students Must Apply
Meet the Strategic Six Thinking Moves and consider how to help students use comprehension strategies in service of understanding, rather...
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Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension
Explore why background knowledge matters for reading comprehension and how helping children build expertise supports their understanding of the texts...
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Talking With Children In Ways that Support Comprehension
Consider how everyday conversations with children can nurture language development and support the understanding they bring to reading.
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Explore classroom tools and professional learning designed to support strategy instruction.
The Shift in a Nutshell
In Shifting the Balance (Grades 3–5), Shift 2, “Rethinking the Role of Strategy Instruction in Learning to Comprehend,” names a common practice to reconsider: “We treat comprehension strategies as though learning them is the point.” The shift it recommends: