Chapter 9 and Final Comments

It is great to hear Tovani's discription of her day. I think that's why I like her so much she is real... Her advice to "focus on what is important and, as much as possible, ignore the rest,"(p. 118) could not be more timely to me (probably all of you, too).

Final Comments:
Tovani is still teaching. You can tell by her book that she is a "real teacher" who deals with all the daily struggles that we all face. I appreciate her frankness about not knowing all the answers.

Thank you all for being willing to join this book club. I have enjoyed reading each of your comments. Together, I think we have learned a little about the importance of teaching content reading in high school.

I look forward to having another professional book club next year. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Paula

Chapters 7 & 8

Group work has always been a challenge for me. I am glad Tovani has given me some tips for impoving it. Chapter 7's "fishbowl" pgs. 92-93 is a great idea. My student's need so much help with this. I need help knowing when to stay out of a group's discussion, too.
Chapter 8's assessment information was also helpful to me. I have had kids complain that I haven't given enough tests. I have told them that I am assessing them everyday, but that didn't help one kid. He was so programed to memorize and regurgitate that he just got angry at me. Now I see that I could use the "conversion calendar" on p. 109 to help solve a portion of this problem. I already use a type of reading/writing folder for a grade, but I think I can use some of Tovani's ideas from pages 110-113 to help me fine tune them. I will have to say that having conferences with my students is one of the best things I think I do. I keep a log each time I confer with them and write down what skill/piece of writing/idea/problem we talk about. This really helps shape my lessons. The BIG problem I with conferences is TIME (and sometimes keeping an eye on those "challenging" students while I'm trying to confer).