The approach
Reading is a set of layers, not a staircase.
In most classrooms, decoding, comprehension and analysis are bundled together. A student is asked to analyse the effect of a text while still working out what it says. Read–Think–Rethink separates those jobs.
The model
Three layers of reading
Every student can reach critical reading. What they need is an honest read on which layer they are working in, and the strategy that moves them to the next one.
Reading 01
Active reading
Decoding for meaning.
Engaging with the language, identifying and describing key words and challenging phrases, summarising key ideas.
Reading 02
Strategic reading
Selecting what matters.
Finding the most valuable examples that demonstrate your interpretation, annotating them and reflecting on their effect.
Reading 03
Critical reading
Connecting and evaluating.
Bringing existing knowledge and other texts to bear, so you can evaluate a text and appreciate its value against what else you have read.
Layers, not levels. When a text gets harder, the move is often to peel back to active reading — describe before you evaluate — then build up again.
Why it matters
Peel back, then build up
When a text gets harder, the instinct is to try harder at the same level. The better move is usually to drop a layer.
If you are still identifying what a text is saying, you are not ready to evaluate its effect — and attempting both at once produces the vague, unsupported analysis that loses marks.
Naming the layer a student is working in makes that judgement explicit. It is also why the same model works for a Year 8 student stuck on NAPLAN comprehension and a Year 12 student stuck on a prescribed text.
Four marks used in strategic reading
Questions
Underline words and phrases you are not sure about and mark them with a question mark to answer later.
Upgrade Write questions about the text that you want to find the answer to.
Already known
An asterisk marks information you already know. Most highlighting is of things the reader already knows — naming that lets you focus on what is genuinely new.
Upgrade Count how much of the page is asterisks. If it is most of it, read something harder.
Ideas you agree with
A tick marks ideas you find yourself agreeing with. These are where your own arguments come from.
Upgrade Write why you agree, next to the tick.
Interesting points
An exclamation mark is for ideas that challenge your current thinking, or that are simply worth emphasising.
Upgrade Comment on why it is interesting, or argue against it using another text.
In practice
What a term actually looks like
01
Initial consultation
Past work and results are reviewed and a short assessment is run, producing a learning plan with reading levels and specific focus areas for comprehension and writing.
02
Weekly one-to-one session
Fifty minutes, one-to-one. Years 5–9 alternate reading and writing routines fortnightly; Years 10–12 work directly on the texts and modules being studied at school.
03
Reading routine between sessions
Three separate fifteen-minute readings of the same text — active, then strategic, then critical. Spaced practice, with a worksheet marked and fed back in session.
04
Progress report every five weeks
An overview of reading improvement and skills learnt, including the student’s own reflection. A shared folder keeps parents current on what each session covered.
Start with a free consultation
We review past work and results, run a short assessment, and build a learning plan before the first session.