Cris Tovani's "I Read It, But I Don't Get It"

One of the goals that I had when the course first began was to learn techniques that would help me become a better teacher to those students who struggled with reading and comprehension.  After reading Cris Tovani’s I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, I now feel that I have several techniques that I can use in my classroom to help engage my students who are struggling.  Overall, I found this book to be one of the most useful textbooks I’ve come across during my education courses.  It was nice to get helpful tips from someone who actually struggled as a reader while in school and then went on to teach what she had created for other teachers to use in the classroom.

Where some of Tavoni’s examples from her classroom were quite innovative, I did find some of her stories to be very heartbreaking.  I’m not sure how she was able to keep her composure when other teachers asked her why it was their responsibility to teach their students reading when they were “technically” reading teachers.  I feel that all teachers are teachers of reading and need to do all in their power to help their students succeed.  No wonder Tavoni was encountering the students that she did in her classrooms, they didn’t have teachers that were willing to help lift them up and teach techniques to improve their comprehension.

Out of all the techniques that Tavoni discussed, I found the Double Entry Journals from the Appendix to highly intriguing.  I’ve been trying to figure out how to create those for my Unit Plan, but I’ve only ever heard of them, I’ve never seen them modeled or what kind of questions are asked in order to make them productive.  I also intend on using the section on “I Wonder Questions” to help keep the Double Entry Journals fresh, so the students don’t get bored with being asked the same prompt over and over again.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in becoming a teacher, not matter what their endorsement area is.  I also feel that this book is a must have for anyone considering an endorsement in English and Social Studies.