The following article is a part of our Signature Pedagogies in the K-12 Classroom series. “Signature pedagogies,” as defined by Schulman in 2005, are “the types of teaching that organize the fundamental ways in which future practitioners are educated for their new professions” and they include three critical aspects: how to think, perform, and act with integrity in the profession. Click here for a primer on the importance of signature pedagogies. 

Introduction

“Reading to Learn” is about more than just diving into nonfiction or skill-based texts. It’s rooted in the joy of discovery—whether that’s through a gripping story, a thought-provoking poem, or even a scientific article. Reading allows us to explore new worlds, challenge our perceptions, and learn about ourselves in the process. A key element of this approach is empowering students to choose texts that resonate with them, acknowledging that not every reading experience needs to end with a quiz or essay. Like building a strong muscle, our reading abilities grow through consistent use and engagement, and just as people stick to fitness routines they enjoy, students thrive when they connect with what they read.

The role of English Language Arts instruction in fostering this joy and skill cannot be overstated. Historically, literacy has been one of the great societal equalizers, giving individuals the tools to access information, participate in civic life, and seek economic opportunities. As the New Literacy Studies (NLS) framework points out, literacy is not just a cognitive skill—it’s a practice deeply tied to culture and power (Papen, 2023). This means every student deserves the chance to develop fluency with a variety of texts, enabling them to confidently navigate and shape the world around them.

Reading Versus Literacy

There’s long been a debate about whether we should use the term “reading” or “literacy” when discussing the comprehension of texts. Literacy encompasses a broader skill set, involving the ability to interpret, create, and engage with various forms of communication across cultural and social contexts. It’s not just about reading—it’s also about understanding the systems and nuances of disciplines like science, history, and math.

For simplicity, this article focuses on “reading” because, while reading and writing are deeply connected, they require distinct pedagogical approaches. In this context, Reading to Learn focuses on helping students engage with texts thoughtfully and intentionally, not to be confused with the foundational process of Learning to Read.

What Type of Curriculum is Reading to Learn?

Reading to learn is a spiral curriculum because it’s based on a core set of skills that students revisit with increasingly complex material. Enhancing reading comprehension in upper elementary and secondary students is pivotal for fostering independent and self-monitoring readers. Explicit instruction in elementary and middle grades on various comprehension strategies equips students with the tools necessary to extract and construct meaning from texts. In middle school and high school, students should be doing most of these strategies on their own and demonstrating their comprehension through various tasks.

For instance, key skills that students might use or be asked to use during reading include:

• Making Connections: Encouraging students to relate the text to their own experiences (text-to-self), other texts (text-to-text), or broader world concepts (text-to-world) to deepen understanding.
• Inferring: Teaching students to “read between the lines” by combining textual clues with their background knowledge to draw conclusions about implicit meanings.
• Asking Questions: Promoting an inquisitive mindset where students generate questions before, during, and after reading to clarify understanding and engage more deeply with the text.
• Predicting: Guiding students to anticipate what might happen next in a text based on context clues and prior knowledge, which keeps them actively engaged and aids in comprehension.
• Visualizing: Encouraging students to create mental images of the scenes or concepts described in the text to enhance understanding and recall.
• Summarizing: Assisting students in identifying the main ideas and key details of a text to concisely paraphrase the content, reinforcing comprehension and retention.

The Reading to Learn curriculum follows a spiral design, where students repeatedly engage with the same core comprehension strategies across their learning journey. Each time, they apply these techniques to increasingly complex texts in a variety of genres, from narratives to nonfiction to poetry and more. This progressive approach ensures that students deepen their understanding and mastery of the strategies as they tackle more challenging material, building confidence and skill with each iteration.

What are Essential Learning to Read Signature Pedagogies?

As with all articles in this series, it’s important to remember that these pedagogies, while based on extant research, are not an exhaustive list of everything that can and should happen in a classroom. We use the term “essential” because these pedagogical methods of instruction are foundational to the definition and purpose of this discipline

As a reminder, there are three critical elements of any signature pedagogy: how to think, how to perform, and how to act with integrity in the discipline/profession. Each of the following Essential Signature Pedagogies helps students develop one or more of these critical elements.

Essential Signature Pedagogy #1: Multiple opportunities to socially construct meanings from text

In reading instruction, social constructivism highlights that students make meaning and deepen their understanding of texts by interacting with others—sharing, discussing, and comparing interpretations in a collaborative setting (Apkan et al., 2020). As Szabo and Csepes (2022) explained, “knowledge is a network that learners actively construct and interpret based on their experiences” (p. 406). This means that meaning isn’t handed down to students—it’s built through active engagement and social interaction. To support this process, students need frequent opportunities to collaborate and communicate, both verbally and in writing, as they work to make sense of what they’re reading.

When students engage in these discussions, they’re not just sharing ideas—they’re refining them. They test their thoughts, push back against others’ assumptions, and come away with a more nuanced understanding of the text. These collaborative moments don’t just improve comprehension; they build critical thinking skills and mirror the kind of teamwork and problem-solving that’s essential in the real world. In short, creating space for students to engage in this kind of dialogue isn’t just good teaching—it’s preparing them for life.

Essential Signature Pedagogy #2: Critically reading a wide variety of text types–some of which are student-chosen.

A strong pedagogy for reading includes exposing students to a wide variety of texts across multiple genres, including functional texts. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and functional texts—like manuals, ads, or infographics—all play a role in building the literacy skills students need for real life. Functional texts, in particular, give students the tools to handle everyday tasks by teaching them how to pull out key details, follow directions, and assess the reliability of information (Lim, 2018). The broader the exposure, the more adaptable and critical students become, transferring these skills to practical situations. Working with different genres also helps students recognize tone, structure, and purpose, giving them a fuller understanding of how texts communicate meaning. The end result? A richer classroom experience and students ready to meet the demands of today’s literacy needs.

Critical reading, though, is just as important. Students today need to navigate a world overflowing with information, much of it unreliable. Learning to spot bias, verify facts, and cross-check information across sources is non-negotiable. These skills are even more vital in the age of digital media, where misinformation spreads faster than ever (Niculescu & Dragomir, 2023). By questioning a text’s purpose and perspective, evaluating its credibility, and identifying logical flaws, students become more thoughtful, engaged readers. This process isn’t just academic—it’s empowering. It gives students the tools to participate meaningfully in civic life, advocate for themselves and others, and hold their own in a world where critical thinking is a must.

Essential Signature Pedagogy #3: Reading texts from a variety of cultures to analyze how culture influences textual understanding

Bringing texts from a variety of cultures into the curriculum is essential for helping students see how cultural backgrounds shape the way literature is understood. This approach fits within culturally responsive pedagogy, which centers on making learning relevant by including students’ own cultural experiences. When students engage with diverse literary works, they gain a broader perspective and a deeper appreciation for the complexity of human experiences. Research shows that culturally relevant texts improve both comprehension and engagement because students can relate the material to their own cultural contexts (Kibler & Chapman, 2019).

Understanding the cultural content of a text also strengthens reading comprehension by giving students the background knowledge they need to grasp deeper meanings (Christ et al., 2018). This ties into social constructivism, which emphasizes that learning happens within social and cultural contexts. Students’ interpretations of texts are influenced not only by their personal experiences but also by their interactions with others. For this reason, educators should thoughtfully choose texts that reflect a range of cultures and create space for discussions about cultural influences. These choices help students grow as empathetic, critical readers who are better equipped to engage with the world around them.

Essential Signature Pedagogy #4: Opportunities for metacognitive analysis 

Teaching metacognitive strategies is a game-changer for helping students tackle complex texts. Chana et al. (2015) explained that these strategies boost comprehension by encouraging students to become more aware of how they approach and monitor their understanding. This could mean setting specific goals, like figuring out key themes or unpacking a character’s motivations, and then reflecting on whether those goals were achieved. Tools like self-questioning, summarizing, and predicting help students keep track of their progress, spot gaps in their understanding, and make adjustments—whether that’s re-reading a tricky section or tweaking their approach.

This kind of reflective practice does more than improve comprehension in the moment—it builds lifelong skills. When students regularly evaluate and adapt their reading strategies, they become more independent, capable learners. They gain the confidence to handle increasingly complex material, both inside and outside the classroom. Embedding metacognitive analysis into ELA instruction isn’t just about improving test scores; it’s about giving students the tools to think critically, learn independently, and engage deeply with whatever they read.

In Summary

As an English language arts educator, or observer of one, do we expect to see these signature pedagogies in every class every day? Maybe not, but we should see them more often than we don’t. When we use critical thinking pedagogies to help students Read to Learn, we foster  thoughtful, capable readers who can navigate and contribute to society.

Through a spiral curriculum, students revisit comprehension strategies like inferring and summarizing, applying them to increasingly complex texts. This blog highlights four signature pedagogies: collaborative meaning-making, engaging with diverse genres, critical analysis of texts, and metacognitive reflection, all of which equip students with essential literacy and critical thinking skills. By adopting these approaches, educators empower students to become independent learners and active participants in a diverse, information-rich world.

References

Apkan, V. I., Igwe, U. A., Mpamah, I. B. I., & Okoro, C. O. (2020). Social constructivism: Implications on teaching and learning. British Journal of Education, 8(8), 49-56. https://eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Social-Constructivism.pdf

Christ, T., Chiu, M., Rider, S., Kitson, D., Hanser, K., Mcconnell, E., Dipzinski, R., & Mayernik, H. (2018). Cultural relevance and informal reading inventory performance: African-American primary and middle school students. Literacy Research and Instruction, 52(2), 117-134. 

Chana, M. A., Nordin, Z. S.m Siming, I. A., Chandio, A. A., & Koondher, M. A. (2015). Developing reading comprehension through metacognitive strategies: A review of recent studies. English Language Teaching, 8(8), 181–186. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1075507.pdf.

Kibler, K. & Chapman, L. A. (2019). Six tips for using culturally relevant texts in diverse classrooms. Reading Teacher, 72(6), 741-744.

Lim, F. V. (2018). Developing a systemic functional approach to teach multimodal literacy. Functional Linguist, 5(13), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-018-0066-8

Niculescu, B. O., & Dragomir, I. A. (2023). Critical reading: A fundamental skill for building 21st century literacy. International Conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION, 29(2), 215-220. https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/kbo-2023-0060

Papen, U. (2023). The new literacy studies: The evolving concept of literacy as social practice and its relevance for work with deaf students. Journal of Cultural Psychology, 4, 67-84. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43638-023-00067-1

Shanahan, T. (2020). Reading comprehension: Its nature and development. Reading League Journal. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED608839.pdf

Szabo, F. & Csepes, I. Constructivism in language pedagogy. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, 13(3), 405-417. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1400738.pdf