ART + Peer Discussion Reading Strategy

Ask, Read, Tell + Peer Discussion is a reading comprehension strategy in which the reader completes pre-reading, during reading and post-reading activities in addition to peer discussion to enhance comprehension. The first step, Ask, requires the student to ask themselves what they already know about the material after reading the title. The second step, Read, teaches the student to stop after each paragraph and assess their own understanding of the passage. The third step, Tell, asks students to tell themselves what they have read and answer the questions they had before reading. This strategy is then supplemented with the addition of peer discussion to facilitate comprehension. The goal of this strategy is to enhance comprehension by giving the students the tools to facilitate the self-evaluation of their comprehension of their readings. One of the studies conducted required 115 students (10^th-12^th grade) to use the strategy with a 4^th grade reading passage over 8 consecutive weekdays for 1 hour each day. Researchers found that comprehension was significantly higher using this strategy.

1. Select a book or reading passage that is within the student’s instructional reading level.
2. Implement the strategy in a classroom and pair each student with another.
3. Provide students with the ART student worksheet.
4. Read the instructions to the students.
5. Ask the students to complete the pre-reading activity (as listed on the ART worksheet) before reading the passage.
6. Instruct the students to read the passage and complete the reading activity (as listed on the ART worksheet).
7. After students have completed reading the passage, instruct them to complete the post-reading activity (as listed on the ART worksheet).
8. Have students get with their partner and discuss the reading for approximately 2-3 minutes.
9. Have the students, individually, complete comprehension questions.
10. Collect and record data.

1. This strategy is easily used with a multitude of readings (i.e., books, articles, magazines).
2. This strategy can easily be implemented with upper grade level.
3. Strong readers can be paired with weaker readers to help facilitate an increase in comprehension.
4. Students will learn this strategy and be able to implement it individually as they need.

Include a data sheet you have designed that would be used to collect data on strategy effectiveness with your students.

McCallum, R., Krohn, K. R., Skinner, C. H., Hilton-Prillhart, A., Hopkins, M., Waller, S., & Polite, F. (2011). Improving reading comprehension of at-risk high-school students: The ART of reading program. Psychology In The Schools, 48(1), 78-86. doi:10.1002/pits.20541