The first stepping stone to becoming a smart reader is to understand advanced vocabulary. If a middle school student comes upon more than one advanced word that he doesn't understand in a text, it can create a mental barrier that discourages him from reading more. Rather than memorizing the definition of as many big words as possible, middle school students are taught the skills to approach these words with confidence. Teach students to sound out words in pieces, break down the roots of words, use context clues to understand a big word, and use common tools such as the Internet, a dictionary or a thesaurus to look up meanings.
Middle school students are reading longer and more complicated stories than ever before, including short novels. To comprehend a story completely, students must have the skills to refer back to events that occurred earlier in the storyline. Teaching students to story map helps them remember the importance of each event, both independently and in relation to each other. Students can story map by summarizing key points in each chapter, drawing a story map in comic form or discussing important points with classmates.
Middle school students are ready to learn the skills to become strategic readers. This requires looking at each individual text as a new and unique challenge. Students learn that some texts can be scanned while others must be read slowly and with concentration to receive the depth of information inside. Students learn to read with speed, take notes, make outlines and annotate texts for later use of the information inside. Students begin to see the important differences between texts, such as a lab report write-up and a fiction novel, and how each merits a different style of reading.
Middle school students learn to break apart the important pieces of a text, such as a novel. To do this, students explore the author's writing style, the character perspectives and voices, and the outer versus underlying messages present in the story. This aspect of reading comprehension helps students read between the lines of a text rather than taking everything at face value. Book reports and other activities that have students personally reflect on a piece of writing help with this skill.