While many teachers teach comprehension strategies by concentrating on isolated skills, often in the form of worksheet drills, comprehension is actually an active, constructive process that occurs before, during and after reading a particular selection. In order to comprehend reading material, readers must merge the knowledge they already own,…

In the past, some teachers treated word learning as an isolated subject--a list of words that were not connected to content or literature studies. This article describes how Candy Mulligan, a teacher at the Center for Reading and Writing at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ, teaches vocabulary by selecting words from the students' seventh and…

Describes classroom word games and reading activities that encourage students to think for themselves. These include word substitution drills, reassembling sentences, and spelling-related words. Notes that encouraging students to analyze, synthesize, and apply their knowledge teaches them the skills needed to succeed as independent learners. (MDM)