While reading teachers have routinely introduced pre-reading activation strategies for decades, literature teachers are trained to become expert on what happens after reading, to be adept at follow-up, to be agile with close analysis of an already finished reading experience. As a result of a presentation by a reading specialist, a veteran secondary school English teacher began to experiment with pre-reading strategies. His American literature students responded well to the activities used to introduce a difficult selection. The teacher, who received release time to work alongside first- and second-year teachers, also noted the potential usefulness of pre-reading activities in a chemistry class and a biology class. Five other teachers (a reading teacher, a European history teacher, and three English teachers) in the school district (at middle school, junior high, and high school levels) have traced the impact of pre-reading strategies on student achievement. Students made personal connections to the texts they were reading which led to increased achievement scores and a dramatically changed classroom atmosphere. Three recurring themes emerged from the experiences of these teachers: (1) the pre-reading activities themselves provided students with overt models of a thoughtful, questioning demeanor; (2) activating the students' emotions was essential as a "reading strategy"; and (3) in several cases, the teacher's own methodology seemed to become more innovative as the reading or unit study proceeded. (RS)