Beyond the Sticky Note and Venn Diagram: Comprehension Strategies for 21st-Century Schools

This article shares the findings of a collaborative action research project focused on integrating 21st-century technological tools in developing the cognitive-reading strategies of students. Questioning, summarizing, and visualization skills are highlighted as important metacognitive strategies utilized by good readers that can be transformed through technological means. The article introduces, illustrates and considers a variety of free or inexpensive online resources that can be used to deepen student comprehension of literature through these strategies and examines the ways in which students interacted with these resources. It includes additional resources that the practitioner may want to consider as alternatives and provides helpful tips for the classroom. The authors conclude that to successfully meet the needs of our 21st-century technology natives, we must embrace these new tools as a means of instruction rather than an additional activity.—