If you ask most middle school ELA teachers what their students struggle with most, they often give the same answer. Nonfiction reading comprehension is a common challenge, and understanding nonfiction reading strategies can greatly improve their skills.

Students can sometimes navigate stories and novels with relative success. However, when they encounter informational texts, such as articles, speeches, research passages, and historical documents, everything seems to fall apart. Implementing nonfiction reading strategies could help bridge this gap.

They skim.

They guess.

They search for answers without actually reading.

Nonfiction texts are often among the most frustrating parts of reading instruction for middle school ELA teachers. The same challenge exists for high school ELA teachers.

The problem isn’t that students can’t read nonfiction.

The problem is that many students have never been explicitly taught how to read nonfiction strategically using nonfiction reading strategies.

That’s where close reading interventions become incredibly powerful.

By focusing on nonfiction reading strategies, teachers can better equip students to tackle complex texts.

When students are given a clear structure for reading informational texts, comprehension improves dramatically.

In my classroom, I implement a 3-step nonfiction close reading process. This method helps students move from a basic understanding to a deeper analysis. This scaffolded approach builds strong reading habits. It helps students identify complex skills, such as central idea, supporting details, and textual evidence, more effectively.

Let’s take a closer look at why students struggle with nonfiction—and what teachers can do about it.

Why Students Struggle With Nonfiction Reading

Many students approach nonfiction texts using the same strategies they use for fiction.

But informational texts work differently.

Nonfiction texts often include:

• dense information
• unfamiliar vocabulary
• complex text structures
• multiple ideas within one passage
• author claims supported by evidence

Without clear reading strategies, students often feel overwhelmed.

Instead of engaging with the text, they begin to rely on survival strategies such as:

• scanning for keywords
• copying sentences without understanding them
• guessing answers based on prior knowledge
• skipping difficult sections

Over time, this creates a cycle in which students avoid nonfiction reading altogether.

The Missing Piece: Structured Close Reading

Close reading strategies help students slow down and interact with the text.

But one mistake teachers sometimes make is expecting students to perform deep analysis too quickly.

Students often jump straight into questions like:

• What is the author’s purpose?
• What claim is the author making?
• What evidence supports the argument?

But if students don’t understand the text first, those questions become impossible.

That’s why a scaffolded reading structure is essential.

In my classroom, I use a three-step close reading routine that gradually builds comprehension.

The process includes:

1️⃣ First Read – Understanding the Gist
2️⃣ Second Read – Digging Deeper
3️⃣ Third Read – Putting the Pieces Together

Each read has a specific purpose and helps students move from surface comprehension to deeper analysis.

What Effective Nonfiction Reading Instruction Looks Like

Strong nonfiction reading instruction should:

• build comprehension first
• encourage annotation
• help students organize information
• connect details to the central idea
• support analytical writing

When students follow a structured reading process, they start to develop strong reading habits. These habits transfer across subjects—including social studies, science, and standardized assessments.

The Power of the First Read

The first read is where students build familiarity with the text.

Instead of stopping constantly to answer questions, students focus on understanding what happened in the article.

One strategy I use is called:

“OMG!?! What Happened?”

Students read the entire text and then write a summary describing what the article was about.

This simple step accomplishes several important things:

• it reveals student misconceptions
• it allows teachers to assess comprehension quickly
• it prepares students for deeper analysis

Even more importantly, it provides teachers with valuable formative assessment data that can guide instruction and grouping.

Why This Matters for Middle School ELA Instruction

Strong nonfiction reading instruction goes beyond answering comprehension questions. Effective instruction helps students develop repeatable reading habits they can apply to any informational text.

A structured close reading routine teaches students to slow down, engage with the text, and organize their thinking. Over time, these habits strengthen both reading comprehension and analytical writing.

The 3-step close reading framework supports these goals through several key strategies.

First Read: Build Initial Understanding

During the first read, students focus on understanding the text’s overall meaning rather than analyzing it in depth.

One simple strategy is asking students to answer the question “OMG!?! What Happened?” after reading the article. Students write a summary explaining what the text was mostly about. This quick writing task helps students capture the gist of the article and allows teachers to assess students’ understanding quickly.

Second Read: Digging Deeper With Text Evidence

During the second read, students start interacting more closely with the text. Strategies such as two-column notes, guiding questions, and annotations help students find important information and gather relevant textual evidence.

Breaking the text into smaller sections helps students focus on key ideas and practice organizing their thinking as they read.

Third Read: Connecting Ideas and Evidence

In the third read, students use their annotations and notes to practice context-specific skills.

Graphic organizers and guiding questions help students see how details connect to the author’s main message. Students then use this information to write a constructed response supported by text evidence.

The Result

When students follow a structured close reading process, they learn how to:

• understand the text first
• gather important evidence
• identify and understand content specific skills
• explain their thinking using text evidence

These skills help students become more confident readers and better prepared for analytical writing and nonfiction reading comprehension tasks.

Ready to Try the 3-Step Close Reading Process?

If you’re looking to strengthen nonfiction reading comprehension in your classroom, I have a solution. I created a free nonfiction close reading guide. It walks teachers through the entire process step by step.

Inside the guide, you’ll find:

• a complete 3-step close reading framework
• lesson breakdowns
• student graphic organizers
• teacher models
• close reading strategies for nonfiction texts

👉 Download the free guide here:

Looking for More Information and Teaching Ideas?

This post is the first part of a series of four. It offers more ways to implement these nonfiction reading strategies. You can use them in your classroom. It focuses on close reading for middle school and high school ELA teachers.

Each post breaks down one step of the close reading process. It shares practical teaching strategies. You can use these strategies with any nonfiction reading skill or standard.

Although some of the examples in this series focus on central idea and supporting details, the strategies can be applied to a wide range of nonfiction skills, including:

• author’s purpose
• point of view
• analyzing claims and evidence
• evaluating arguments
• making inferences
• identifying themes or key ideas

The goal of this framework is to help students develop strong reading habits that transfer to any informational text.

Here’s what we’ll explore next:

Post 2: The First Read Strategy That Builds Strong Nonfiction Readers

In the next post, we’ll take a deeper look at the first read stage of close reading. We will explore why it is essential for building strong nonfiction reading comprehension.

During the first read, students focus on understanding the text’s gist before analyzing specific skills or standards.

You’ll learn:

• why students need a gist reading strategy before deeper analysis
• how the “OMG!?! What Happened?” summary strategy helps students quickly capture the main ideas of a text
• how teachers can use first-read responses as a formative assessment tool
• how student summaries can help teachers create purposeful reading groups for targeted instruction

This stage lays the foundation for deeper reading work regardless of the specific skill being taught.

Post 3: Helping Students Dig Deeper Into Informational Texts

Once students understand the basic meaning of a text, they should engage with it more deeply. The next step is guiding them to interact closely with the text.

During the second read, students gather important information and start analyzing the text using structured reading strategies.

In this post, we’ll explore:

• how two-column notes and guiding questions help students organize key ideas and evidence
• strategies for helping students focus on relevant textual evidence rather than minor details
• how annotation and questioning strategies promote active reading and critical thinking
• ways to use these strategies to support instruction across a variety of nonfiction reading skills

These tools help students break complex informational texts into manageable pieces while strengthening their overall reading comprehension.

Post 4: Turning Close Reading Into Strong Analytical Writing

The final step of close reading is assisting students. It involves turning their reading work into clear written responses. These responses should be supported by text evidence.

One effective way to support this transition is by using content-specific graphic organizers. These organizers help students connect their reading notes to the writing task.

In the final post of this series, we’ll explore:

• how content-specific organizers help students organize their thinking for any nonfiction reading skill
• why organizers that mirror the structure of the writing task make analytical writing easier for students
• how annotations and two-column notes from earlier reads can be used to complete these organizers
• strategies for helping students turn their reading work into evidence-based constructed responses
• how strong, medium, and weak writing models help students self-assess and strengthen their responses

By the time students reach this stage of the close reading process, they have engaged with the text multiple times. They have already interacted with it several times. The organizer assists them in compiling their annotations, notes, and key ideas. This organization makes it easier to explain their thinking. It also supports their responses with evidence from the text.

This final step helps students transition from reading comprehension to analytical writing. It reinforces habits that support success across all nonfiction reading standards.