Strategy Instruction in a Literature-Based Reading Program

Since the 1980s, educators have sought increasingly to expand students' repertoire of thinking skills, but relatively few instructional programs are designed to do so. This article describes a program that teaches reading and thinking strategies through a student-centered, literature-based curriculum. The program is designed to increase students' cognitive strategy use, reading achievement, self-esteem, and critical thinking abilities. The approach centers around a 2-part lesson. In part 1, teachers explain and model a thinking and reading comprehension strategy. In part 2, students select children's literature and apply the strategy as they read. In research on program effects, 178 experimental students significantly outperformed 174 controls on standardized tests of reading comprehension, ability to transfer cognitive strategies to situations outside of school, as well as assessments of self-esteem and critical and creative thinking.