I Read It, But I Don't Get It.

The phrase "I read it, but I don't get it" was heard all too often while I was in school. There is a major disconnect when we teach children how to read, and it doesn't always translate into them UNDERSTANDING what the words on the page mean. Comprehension isn't an ability that every child is born with, and Cris Tovani does an amazing job sharing her insight to how to better reach those kids who struggle.

Personally, I love reading and I always have. I was shocked by how many students Tovani mentions that were able to "fake reading" up until they entered her classroom. Surely, that doesn't happen. But apparently it does. Her strategies are awesome. When I was in middle and high school, writing in the text was frowned upon. Sometimes it was okay, but a lot of the times they were shared books and we had to keep them in pristine conditions. Tovani teaches her students early to mark up and highlight their readings to keep them engaged. Students are able to look back and use their coding to help them remember what they read. Even in college (since I spend hundreds of dollars on my text books, I'll be dammed if I don't make good use of them) I find that writing or highlighting helps me better understand my reading.

Something else I really enjoyed was the section titled "How Do I Know I'm Stuck?" starting on page 37. A lot of readers don't recognize that they aren't fully engaged in their text because they are reading the words and think that's enough. I think these steps that Tovani teaches her students are incredibly useful so students can really KNOW when they are confused.

I liked that she included the "access tools" in the appendices. It'll be helpful as teachers to use these when we are trying to encourage students to really get engaged in their reading and improve their comprehension skills.

Unfortunately, by the time children get to middle and high school, there's a good portion of them who have been able to fake comprehension up until that point. It's important, even as secondary teachers, that "teaching reading" is not just something for elementary teachers to master and assume that all kids are equipped with the ability to read and comprehend text by the time they reach our classroom. Tovani's book is useful because it gives many strategies to help those kids that need a little extra focus.