Reconceptualize your own understanding of reading and convey that to your students. Reading comprehension can be improved by reading more efficiently. Many students fail to read and understand well because they assume (and are taught) that reading requires that you read every word on the page from left to right, line for line. Suggest the idea that reading can be seen as a process and that they may read the entire work or parts of it out of order and possibly multiple times.
Instruct your students to preview everything that they read. This is one way in which you will improve reading efficiency. Students should look at the entire book or article in its entirety before trying to read it word-for-word. Pay special attention to chapters, subheadings, pictures, captions and even keywords with multiple entries in the index. The entire preview process should take no more than five to ten minutes. Your students should already have a feel for the main idea of the work they will be reading by the time they start reading from the beginning.
Formulate questions that you have regarding the text. Instruct your students to do the same. An inquisitive mind is usually more apt to concentrate and look for the answers to the questions. Students sometimes fail to comprehend because they read passively, allowing the words to just make an impression as they run their eyes across the page. Create at least one question for each chapter or major section of the article. Reading comprehension is about learning the main ideas. Your questions should revolve around discerning the main points of the text and the supporting material that attests to the main idea.
Emphasize speed and note-taking as part of your strategy. These two, considered together, might seem counter-productive. In reality though, teaching your students to read quickly can help eliminate the mind chatter that often interferes with comprehension. Teaching your students to skim the material quickly several times can be more efficient than reading the text word-for-word from beginning to end. At the end of each skimming session, instruct your students to write down a few notes about what they remember. Taking notes each time will increase retention.