It is generally agreed that the ability to read mathematics is an important skill--one that few of our students possess. A number of people have published some suggestions for helping students learn to read their mathematics textbooks. What these have in common is suggestions for getting students more active while reading. Using these resources as a basis, I developed structured reading guides and other interventions to help my students learn to read their college algebra and pre-calculus textbooks. I found that when I emphasized reading in this way, students participated more in class, handed in more homework assignments, and kept attending. (Contains 4 tables and 1 footnote.)