T E A C H I N G T I P S R e ad smarter, not harder: Global reading c om pre

osalie (all names are pseudonyms), age 12,is a perceptive seventh grader who loves toread. When asked to draw what she doeswhen she is faced with challenging reading,Rosalie provides detailed renditions of a variety ofstrategies, including visualizing, using the diction-ary, rereading, note-taking, and viewing pictures(see Figures 1–5). In her drawings we see multipleapproaches that help Rosalie comprehend her read-ing. We also ascertain a level of enjoyment in read-ing: She depicts herself smiling in each picture.Rosalie is a child who views herself as a success-ful reader.Tobias, also 12 and a classmate of Rosalie,cares similarly about his school success. UnlikeRosalie, however, his repertoire of strategies is rel-atively limited (see Figures 6–8). In his drawings,we see him “thinking,” “thinking while pacing,”and “rereading.” While he and Rosalie both rereadwhen they are confused, Tobias lacks awarenessof further, specific strategies to use when he en-counters difficult text. Instead, he does what he hasalways done: read, except harder.With their drawings, these two students providetheir teachers with powerful insights on instruction.Knowing that Tobias tends not to skim for mainideas, use reference books, or make connections toprior knowledge empowers his teacher to helpTobias read smarter, not harder. Similarly, Rosalie’steacher can observe her reliance on fairly funda-mental approaches and introduce more sophisticatedstrategies such as exploring inferences, analyzingtext structure, or summarizing and synthesizing.