We give them many chances to interpret material where they must create an answer by considering the clues or the evidence provided.

We lead them through the thought process.

We ask them to practice with pictures, with reading passages and with numbers.

Examples (click here)

We do not give students enough practice forming questions to figure out a mystery. We focus too much on single question/response pairs, with the teacher asking the question, the student finding and spitting back an answer.

When answers are not directly stated, the reader must try a series of questions until the answer is evident. It is less about finding and uncovering than building.

One pulls and tugs at the clues with questions. It is like untangling a snarled fishing line. Making sense out of nonsense. Creating meaning where none shines through.

A student needs a questioning toolkit - a conscious awareness of different types of questions and their differing functions. We teach them types of questions from the earliest age so they can reach into their toolkit or toolbox and grab a saw when they need a saw, a hammer when they need a hammer and a drill when they need a drill.

As the old folk saying goes, if your only tool is a hammer, then every problem becomes a nail.

How do we teach them this questioning process?

• We introduce them to question types.
• We give them practice using each question type.
• We confront them with challenges that require question combinations.
• We surprise them with challenges they have never seen before.
• We make surprise and wonder a daily event.
• We teach them persistence, resourcefulness and inventiveness.
• We give them practice mapping out questions before they actually gather information or read passages.

Examples (click here)

The Questioning Tool Box - Activities to strengthen student questioning skills (click here) http://questioning.org/toolbox.html

A Questioning Toolkit (click here) http://questioning.org/Q7/toolkit.html

The Great Question Press (click here) http://questioning.org/questionpress.html

The Technology of Questioning (click here) http://questioning.org/qtech.html

We make students aware of the screen some folks call "The Mind's Eye" and we give them practice calling up images.

We read stories with vivid description aloud and ask students to picture what they have heard.

We show students how to map out their own ideas and searches.

We ask students to convert passages by other writers into mind maps.

We show students how to view long articles as clusters of ideas.

Examples (click here)

We can employ metaphors that make the process of synthesis seem less abstract and elusive.

• Beading - Synthesis involves changing things around like beads on a string to create variations, value and novelty.

• Puzzling - Synthesis is the combining and re-combining of fragments and elements so that something new is formed. Jigsaw puzzles can help to visualize this process.
• Cooking an Omelette - Synthesis may involve substituting or alternating ingredients (ideas) as well changing the sequence, timing or intensity (spice).
• Fabricating - Manufacturing often requires the combining of raw materials or parts in novel ways.
• Inventing - Synthesis often involves changing something around to create a new and different version but it can also mean starting from scratch to build something entirely novel.
• Weaving - Synthesis requires that we sort out the threads of meaning in ways that a pattern emerges.

We can give students practice with pairs of such tasks, asking how synthesis in one setting (cooking the omelette) might inspire good thinking about synthesis in writing.

We can give students practice with models that teach synthesis strategies:

• SCAMPER (Eberle, 1997) - Each letter stands for a strategy (S = substitute, C = combine, A = adjust, M = modify, magnify, minimize, P = put to other uses, E = erase or eliminate, R = reverse). You can learn more about this approach at Amazon (click here).
• The Six Traits Approach to Writing - In this approach to finishing a writing project, the writer considers how improve writing by reviewing each of the following and making changes:
  • Ideas and Content
  • Organization
  • Voice
  • Word Choice
  • Sentence Fluency
  • Conventions

For more on this approach go to http://fnopress.com/start/mod8.html.

We can ask students to work on solving problems from their own times or from history, putting them in role playing situations that require them to investigate and propose smart ways of handling issues or challenges.

We can ask students to come up with new titles for stories, poems, paintings, songs, businesses or schools.

We can ask students to write ads, slogans, letters to the editor, complaint letters, jingles and songs.

We can ask students to express deep feelings with the help of the fine arts.

We make sure students understand the value of thinking about thinking, the dangers of getting stuck in a rut, and the worth of versatility.

We give them lots of practice with baffling predicaments, quandaries and dilemmas as well as puzzles, conumdrums and mysteries instead of restricting them to canned problems with pat answers.

We teach students that frustration is a natural and common phase in the creative process.

We build their tolerance for frustration and their taste for ambiguity.

We make this kind of reading for meaning a priority across all subject areas, stated clearly in curriculum guides.

We allocate some time every day in every class for these kinds of challenges.

Some of these challenges are presented orally. At other times we present the challenge in a format similar to the testing formats employed by demanding state tests.

We work on our students' attitudes toward stressful testing, teaching them the testing game - ways to beat the tests by reading questions before reading passages, by eliminating obviously wrong answers and using common sense.

We employ "curriculum compacting" - a strategy from Renzulli that reduces the time devoted to busy work and trivial pursuit so that teachers and students have time to wrestle with essential questions and demanding tasks.

We make sure that every teacher K-12 has the opportunity to enjoy at least a six hour introduction to the basic tenets of strategic reading.

We buy teachers books that show how to bring strategic reading to life in their classrooms (see below).

We encourage the growth of study groups and support teams so that teachers can continue to deepen and extend their reading skill repetoires.

We purchase supplemental reading materials that require the kind of strategic reading outlined in this guide.

We avoid heavily scripted reading programs that rely too heavily upon memorization of patterns and recipes.

We cultivate professionalism and show great respect for the importance of pedagogy.