Chapters One and Two
Tovani makes so much sense.
Here are a few quotes that really resounded with me as a secondary teacher:
“…learning to read doesn’t end in the elementary grades. Reading becomes more complex as students move into middle and high school, and teachers need to help students understand difficult text.”(p.5)
I have heard so many times, “they need to know how to read before they get to high school”, while this is true, isn’t it also true that the older students get, what we ask them to read also becomes more difficult?
I have never thought about what I do as a “good reader”. I know I will be able to use the “fix-up strategies” (p. 6) with my struggling readers.
“It wasn’t their fault that they were making stupid connections. It was mine, because I hadn’t shown them how a meaningful connection could deepen their understanding of the text.” (p. 12)
I see that Tovani is reflective about her teaching. There are many times when I need to just calm down, sit back, and really think about why my students are responding the way they are to my content.
I love the “What Works” questions and “teaching points” on pages 20 and 21.
posted by P. Miller @ 1:12 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
True confession time for me…
I am a worry-wart. I kept thinking…What if they don’t like the book? What if they don’t see any relevance? What if they think blogging is stupid? What if…What if….
Your comments made me think more deeply about the first two chapters. Thank you, Jay, Michelle, Martha, Mark, Terry, and Annette, for being the first brave bloggers and assuaging my fears.
I really liked the part on page 3 where Tovani is modeling how to ask questions to help her get through material she is not interested in reading. I think teachers sometimes assume that students already know how to ask questions as they read when this is not always the case (especially with special education students). My students tend to either ask the questions they think only the teacher cares about or they don’t know how to ask questions so they become so bored with the reading that they give up all together. I think that teachers in all disciplines need to take the time to show a student how to formulate good questions while reading and also encourage them to have questions that they are truly interested in finding the answers to. Tovani quotes her colleagues by saying “A reader with no questions might just as well abandon the book” which I completely agree with. My students sometimes refuse to read but and I wonder if it is because they were never taught how to ask the right questions?
I also really liked the part on p. 20 where the guy observing tells her she “isn’t really doing anything great”…As a first year teacher I guess I kind of came into the profession thinking that there was this one “great way” to teach and that I had to figure it out if I was going to make it, but now I see that it is all about finding what works for me and my students.
Chapter 1 - I agreed with Tovani when she suggested to the science teacher that she needed to share the articles about viruses with the students. Articles create more interest in the textbook. The student can see how the information is applied in or to life. DISCUS is a periodicals database that is available to students at school and at home. This would be a great way for students to find related articles on the subjects taught in the curriculum.
Chapter 2 – In the “So What” I found that the teacher making the connections was a lot of work! The meaning of the tin cup took quite a bit of negotiating to derive. Does a teacher have time to make all of those connections for each student? I believe that many more connections would need to be made in that particular book. I guess as teachers we have to know when to pull at the student and when to just say “this is what the author means.
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Wow, Emma, I can't believe that some areas would go to such measures. I don't think that is a sound practice. I feel so sorry for those students. I understand that every student MUST know how to read and write (and add), but it does no good if it is done in total disconnect from the "real world" of reading. I think Tovani would agree...
Teaching no letter classes, I find it very difficult to effectively incorporate writing and reading into my assignments because there is such a wide disparity in ability level. However, today I attempted my first writing assignment with these classes. Their assignment was to write a short story about what if Newton's three laws did not exist. As expected, I had a significant amount of variation in writing levels. Fortunately, some of the lowest writers are in a resource class which will hopefully give them an opportunity to expand upon their writing.
I was inspired by the first two chapters in this book because she uses so many science examples in her writings. I didn't realize the variety of methods I could use to incorporate reading and writing in assisting my classroom learning. I'm still looking for opportunities to use my post-its and double entry journals.
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