Getting readers to think when they read, to develop awareness of their thinking and to use strategies that help them comprehend are the primary goals of the comprehension instruction.

   Strategies overlap. I don't neglect one that has been previously taught when I begin a new on, and I don't continue focusing on one that students have mastered. I focus my instruction on the new strategy, zeroing in on how to do it. In real life reading strategies have to be used simultaneously.

   One of the ways to nurture students as independent readers is to question and model specific reading strategies. This guidance leads children to internalize specific strategies they can use independently to successfully read a text. Once internalized, they can use whichever strategy they feel is the best to help them solve the problem at hand.

   Our students will not become better readers because we create fabulous projects and centers, give them lots of paperwork, and grade lots of papers. The will become better readers if they receive excellent instruction and have lots of time to read and talk about books.

   Independent, strategic readers simultaneously and seamlessly employ a whole range of strategies and are constantly making refinements and adjustments according to the demands of the text and what they bring to it. Strategic readers use basic reading skills naturally and apply strategies independently in order to comprehend what the read.