Tovani's I Read It, But I Don't Get It -- Blog Post #10

Tovani's I Read It, But I Don't Get It Response -- Blog Post #10

Tovani's book I Read It, But I Don't Get It addressed an obvious problem when it comes to studying and learning - reading comprehension. The book addresses the matter, stating that there is no concise or single answer to the issue but offers strategies to combat it. To have students learn instead of spitting out facts they received from the teacher. That reading was more than just skimming and reading the beginning and ends of a book to fake your way through an assignment.

It is understanding what's being read and having an inner interactive dialogue. What I liked most was that Tovani split up these inner voices - calling them the reciting voice, the conversation voice, the interacting voice, and the distracting voice. All of which readers have experienced during the process of reading.

Leigha's example of a distracting voice was something I could relate to and understand. She was trying to make connections and improve her reading comprehension but her only connection to that time period or tea was partying and her mind wandered. Reining that voice in and continuing with different strategies depending on the text seemed to really help the students and many of the activities offered would be something I'd try to teach as well. Particularly the highlighting one involving yellow and pink highlights. Pink to mark everything they did know and yellow for everything they didn't know and compare.

I also liked the "I Wonder" activity to get the students asking questions without necessarily having them answer them right there, but to get their creative juices flowing and to help them stay engaged and interested. Confusion and frustration is often why students fake-read or stop completely to rely on the teacher but identifying their confusion and using "fix-it" strategies was the author's way of combating. At least from what was written, it seemed like the students were learning and improving  even if many of them were resistant.

I found several the strategies new to me other than rereading and consulting an outside source (usually a dictionary or encyclopedia) but I tried to apply some of them while I read and it was really interesting to read it that way. Not everyone has the same purpose but finding it to keep the students engaged on their own level so they can make connections was definitely something I wouldn't have that of.

Nor the activity involving the "The House" short story where students were asked to highlight words based on importance in the view of a home buyer vs. a burglar. I think I've read something about that previously and it really put the writing in perspective. I can imagine that for students, it can help them not only to determine their purpose for reading a selection of writing but for noting what is important if it's not directly stated.

Overall, I found Tovani's I Read It, But I Don't Get It to be very helpful even if I only found a handful of strategies something I would personally use in a classroom. Despite it being academic writing instead of a work of fiction, I found it very easy to read and very engaging. Particularly the parts where connections were made by the students, like with Jerome in the beginning who came forward about his favorite book, The Pokey Little Puppy, to the surprise of his peers. I'd definitely use a handful of the strategies in class and I think it's worth rereading as well.