What strong readers do  a look at metacognitive strategies used by strong students  Notice how closely they align with the Comprehension Keys!

What is metacognitive thinking?  Metacognitive thinking means the act or ability to think about one’s thinking.  It has been found that strong readers and learners share the same thinking strategies.....

Predicting  Strong readers constantly use predicting to set a purpose for their reading.  As they read, they confirm, or correct, their understandings based on how it fits their original prediction.  This constant “adjusting” of thinking is the hallmark of the thinking reader.

Inferring  Strong readers are able to make unique, or personalized meaning from the text by combining prior knowledge with what is read or even implied in the writing.

Self-questioning This skill goes hand-in-hand with predicting and inferring. It is through the posing of questions and the seeking of the answers that the reader increases comprehension of text.  i.e.: What is the main idea? Are there examples to help me understand this segment? Does this make sense?

Paraphrasing  The simple act by readers of putting text into their own words, either through summarizing or restating helps register the meaning so that the students can get a sense of what they understands.

Synthesize  Strong readers change, refine and create ideas as they read by monitoring the multiple meanings of text.  They are able to put these new meanings into their own words and thinking.

Visualizing  Strong readers are doing more than reading the words. They also are making visual models of the actions and ideas as they read.  This puts the text into organized segments of information and also allows the reader to see relationships in the information.

Look backs  Strong readers look back for reference. They re-read for understanding, and they re-read to refresh their memory.

Change reading speed  Most amazingly, is that strong readers intuitively know when to modify speed to increase understanding.  They know when to scan quickly and when to slowly process text.

 All these strategies should be explicitly modeled, taught, and practiced at all levels and in all content.  Students need to be reminded to use these 6 strategies.