The project detailed in this document explores the reading strategies used by seventh grade students as they navigate a three-page passage from a grade-level appropriate, nationally distributed textbook. Broadly speaking, I explore what mathematical reading look like for middle school students reading a passage from a nationally published and adopted textbook? More specifically, I seek to identify the reading strategies used by students as they read the selected passage, the ways these strategies help students engage with the text, and the purpose served by the implementation of said reading strategies. In pursuit of these answers, I conducted 22 semi-structured, one-on-one interviews, utilizing a verbal reading protocol at two separate research sites. During these discussions, I asked a group of seventh grade students to read a three-page passage from a nationally distributed mathematics text book, stopping them periodically to ask "what are you thinking about right now?". Collectively, these 22 students used 23 of the 25 focus strategies at least one time, demonstrating that middle school student utilize reading strategies as they explore mathematical text. Finally, this group of 22 students each utilized a different collection of reading strategies, but they gravitated toward six: Paraphrase text, Plan a solution or predict a result, Self-check, Question or critique the text, Pause to reflect, and Read Aloud.
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