Katelyn's Last Thoughts

     In my last post for the book "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading" by Chris Tovani, I want to address a few of the framing questions for this class relevant to my book as well as how I plan on using this information in my own teaching and classroom.
     First, I want to address a few framing questions as I see them answered by my book.

• Literacy is much more than just reading and writing words. 
• People become literate with practice and effective teaching strategies and techniques.  One technique to teach reading will not help everyone. 
• Promotion of literacy development comes with connecting to the text, having a library of different techniques and strategies to practice, taking time to sit and read espcially if you are a struggling reader, background knowledge about a subject, developing questions to stimulate connection to the text, and knowing how to mark the text to hold thinking.  These are just a few techniques my book shares for promoting literacy development.
• In Tovani's book, there is a huge difference between learning to read and reading to learn.  Learning to read requires very primary details such as knowing what letter you are looking at, knowing the sound that that letter makes, and being able to put it with a bunch of other letters to create a word.  This includes reading words, sentences, paragraphs, and books.  However, just reading will not bring you comprehension and this is where you have to read to learn.  This is where teaching of reading strategies and techniques come in for both struggling and experienced readers.  Both are very important because without first learning to read you cannot read to learn. 
• We need to teach our students how to read within our content fields to better learn the information.  If we expect our students to understand all they read in different content fields, we are not helping them reach their full potential in our content classes. 

     Lastly, I feel as though I could use all techniques, strategies, and worksheets that Tovani discussed in this book.  I love all of the bulleted points that Tovani includes at the end of each chapter and what works for students and teachers alike.  I will take all of this information I have learned to heart and try to incorporate as much of it into my own classroom as I can, using her work as an example for myself.  I enjoyed reading this book and I am happy for the opportunity to do this blog.
     Thank you all for commenting and reading my blog.  I have learned so much from each of your posts!    

 

Chapter 9- "Did I Miss Anything? Did I Miss Everything?" Last Thoughts

"If teachers become distant from their own learning they will most certainly become distant from the learning of the students," (Alisa Wills- Keely, pg. 117). 
     Tovani starts this chapter with this quote by Wills- Keely.  This is a fantastic quote to begin with because this is what her book is about.  This quote sums up her whole book with one sentence.  Tovani's strategies and techniques in this book help teachers of all contents and students of all grades with continued learning in reading.  We should always strive to continue our education and pass our knowledge onto our students. 
     After the quote, Tovani tells a story of an experience she had with a reading workshop getting ready for the state exams coming up.  This year they were focusing on poetry and the kids were not thrilled about reading poems.  As the kids file into the room and neglect to find their seats, they are talking and picking on one another while Tovani has a list of disturbances that don't end.  She has to decide what to do.  Does she scold the children and take time out of the teaching to do so?  While everything is disturbing and distracting her from doing her job, she quickly reminds herself, "... how difficult it is to determine what is important when we are teaching," (pg.118).  It was at this time that she writes that everybody faces challenges in their lives, both adults and children, teachers and students.  "... we must take the same advice we give to students: focus on what is important and, as much as possible, ignore the rest," (pg. 118).  She handled her class as she found appropriate and handed them all a poem to read titled, "Did I Miss Anything?"  One boy in her class lashes out saying he has no clue what the poem is about so Tovani reminds him to use the multiple reading strategies and techniques he has learned to better dissect and understand this poem in front of him.  He turns in his marked- up poem with a note in the bottom asking to redo the work he turned in earlier for a better grade, and of course, Tovani says yes.  Tovani says, "Our classrooms aren't the only place where kids might learn to 'query and examine and ponder.'  But they are one place, and it matters that we see how important it is to offer students the opportunity again and again to take us up on the chance to think hard about the world around them," (pg. 120).  I think this is important for all educators to remember and utilize in their classrooms.  We need to give our students every chance we can to help them succeed. 
     Tovani writes, "I think most of us become teachers because we love our content so much...," (pg. 121).  I agree with this completely!  I know the reason why I want to become a health teacher is because I am in love with the content and I feel as though it is one of the most important subjects for a child to learn in and about.  If I am not taking the time to help that child succeed in reading within this content field, I am not doing my job as a teacher in helping that child learn the content.  Part of learning the content is learning how to successfully read the content. 
     This is a very short chapter with Tovani's last thought's to the educating audience.  Her advice to all of us is, "I hope that as you finish reading this book, you are saying to yourself, 'I can do this.'  Sure you can.  You know more about reading instruction than you think," (pg. 122). 
     If you are interested in reading this book, all of Tovani's notes and samples of worksheets are in the back of the book in the appendix.  These are all very helpful in understanding this book and blog as well as useful in the classroom. 
      

Chapter 8- "What Do I Do with All These Sticky Notes?" Assessment That Drives Instruction.

     On the first day of class, Tovani walks into her 12th grade college prep class and tells the students, "Before you read anything, I want you to ask yourself, 'What's in it for me?'  Don't read for your teacher or your parents or your friends.  Read, write, and think for yourself," (pg. 101).  The kids are happy with being selfish people in the class, however when Tovani asks if they have questions, the kids are only focused on the tests and how the tests will be graded.  Tovani says of course there will be assessments, but not in the way that they are used to.  Tovani says about assessments, "But the good news is, I'm not looking for one right answer.  There will be lots of possible answers.  It will be hard for you to fail if you are willing to share your thinking," (pg. 102). 
     Grant Wiggins writes, "The aim of assessment is primarily to educate and imrove student performance, not merely to audit it," (pg. 103).  Tovani says that assessments should tell students specific things they are doing correct and specific things they need to work on.  Assessments should also give students many opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge on the given topic.  I feel as though we, as educators, should feel the same way about testing or assessing our students.  We need to remember there is no one right assessment that will answer all of our questions and doubts about our students.  You have to assess students multiple ways and make it a learning experience for them.
     Another important technique to remember is goal setting.  Helping your students set goals in the class and on specific assignments helps them to succeed in the class.  This can also be a form of assessment.  When the students meet a specific goal they had made for themselves, they could get a certain amount of points for meeting their goal.  Goal setting is a very important skill to teach children and being able to use it as an assessment tool is a great idea! 
     Tovani uses conversation calendars to keep up with her students.  Teenagers have a bad reputation because they are so dramatic and it is a very hard and trying time for them.  As educators, we work with that stereotype everyday and need to find ways to connect with our students and make school and learning a positive experience for them.  The kids can write anything they want in their little square for the day and turn it in.  The teacher will reply to what they wrote and give it back in a prompt manner.  This is a way to connect with the students on another level.  By connecting with the teens and knowing how they think, the teacher will be able to better teach them.  Some ideas for making a conversation calendar work are as follows:

• Have a tray in the room where the calendars will go everyday.
• Respond to the student's calendars on a daily basis.
• Make the calendars worth the students time.
• Decide consequences on lost or neglected calendars.
• Consider who will use the calendar and when.
• Experiment with different ways to use the calendar.

Another idea to use in the classroom is a reading response log.  This gives students a chance to read a book, write a summary, and keep notes on what they are reading in order to hold their thinking about the book.  They can turn their journals in for points and it can be another form of assessment where the students do not get nervous and full of anxiety and can barely perform on the test itself. 
     Tovani recommends keeping a file for each student in the class with work that really portrays who that student is as a person and showcases their identity.  She also pushes for quick conferences.  These do not have to be parent- teacher conferences or parent- student- teacher conferences.  These can happen with the teacher just walking around the room and speaking with children on an individual level while they are doing independant work.  Tovani says, "Conferences are perhaps the best assessment tool I have," (pg. 113).  As educators, I think this is a great tool to use to not only connect with the students, but get a feel for how they are doing in the class with the lessons. 

So... Here is what works:

• Decide what is IMPORTANT to assess.
• Design assessments as CHECKPOINTS for understanding.
• Use a VARIETY of assessment tools.          

Chapter 7- Group Work That Grows Understanding

"Cirriculum is often thought of as a set of specific knowledge, skills or books to be covered.  I propose instead that we think of cirriculum as a set of important conversations that we want students to engage in," (Arthur Applebee, pg. 89).
     Tovani begins this chapter by stating how well her students work in groups.  All of the students are discussing as they should, asking questions about the reading for their historical topic, and taking notes on their posters for their work.  However, group work and discussions were not always this easy for Tovani.  Tovani says, "There is an art to discussion," (pg. 90).  Students need to know what they are doing right and they need timely feedback to continue working the right way. 
     Content teachers get frustrated and do not know how they will teach their content and reading to their students when their classes are full of thirty or more students.  The answer here is small groups.  Tovani did a lot of research when it came to small groups and discussions.  She observed teachers who had "fool proof" plans in discussions and she wanted to mke sure she would not have to control and babysit every discussion taking place.  Tovani wanted to be able to walk around the room and see all groups discussing, working together, and staying on task.  She found the way to do this is to set norms.  These norms need to be agreed on not only by the teacher, but by the students as well.  She asked students what they enjoyed least about working in groups.  From this point, she made the norms and actions and had the students agree or disagree with them.  If the students disagree, they had to fix the norms to where everyone would agree. 
     After norms were set, Tovani needed to model what she wanted to see in the small group discussions.  She uses a fishbowl technique in where she will model what she wants to see in the small groups and the students will take notes to help them understand what is expected.  She asked her good friend and author Chryse to help her demonstrate.  Chryse models what a good student in a small group will act like and Tovani models what a bad student would act like in a discussion.  As they act out this situation, the students are taking notes on a paper given to them to separate good ideas from bad ideas and actions. 
     Once students know what to expect, they need time to practice.  "Group discussions give students an opportunity to rehearse and construct connections before they sit down to that daunting blank screen or piece of paper," (pg.93).  I can relate to this comment especially with the class we are in now.  I feel like without discussing the text in our small groups, I would be completely lost at times.  It helps to bounce ideas off one another.  Tovani makes sure that the students ideas are being recorded from the discussion either through a sticky note technique or through a more sophisticated worksheet.  She notices that by walking around and giving her students positive feedback, they strive to do better and engage in more sophisticated behaviors.
     Tovani wants to send the message that working with others is very important.  "Small groups also give more students a chance to participate in a way tha they wouldn't do in large groups," (pg. 98).  I personally do not like group work at all, but when you have something you are passionate about to discuss and work with others who are passionate about the same thing, it makes it much better!

So... Here is what works:

• MODEL for your students how to discuss.
• Give students SPECIFIC and POSITIVE feedback.
• Use INTERESTING texts for discussions.
• ANTICIPATE trouble spots.            

Chapter 6- Holding Thinking to Remember and Reuse

     Tovani starts this chapter with showing her reading workshop class a picture of a navy seal climbing out of the ocean, onto a rope ladder from a helicopter, with a shark about to eat him!  She asks the class what they think and as they all give there different opinions about the picture, she finally reveals the truth... the picture if fake.  It is two pictures combined together through photoshop to make it look like an unbelieveable picture.  She explains that reading is more than looking at words in a book; you can read many things like pictures.  In order to read the picture, the students had to question the validity of the picture, ask questions, make connections to prior knowledge, and think as you "read" it.  The main point here is that Tovni wanted her students to realize they are "thinking even when 'reading' a picture," (pg. 68).
     "No one is smart enough to remember all that he knows," (Mark Twain, pg. 69).  In this chapter, Tovani really stresses the importance of encouraging the children to become active readers so they will comprehend and remember what they read.  A way to do this is by having students mark the text.  The following list is what Tovani suggests when marking a text:

• Write your thougts next to the words on the page that caused you to think this way.
• If there is no room on the text to write, draw a line from the text you are using to your thoughts elsewhere on the page.
• Do not copy the text in your thoughts, respond to it.
• Underlining the text is not enough, you must think about what you are underlining.
• There is no one right way to respond to the text.  

When you are not specific about what you want, about your instructional purpose like discussed in the last post, you will not get what you expect to get and you will be greatly disappointed in your students.  Students are not mind readers! 
     Tovani continues in her reading workshop with a short article instead of another picture.  It is about a 12 year old girl who went to court for an overdue library book.  The students were to read the article and write two comments, or pieces of thinking, in the margins.  She then proceeded to use the students work as examples to show the class what she was looking for in terms of this assignment; going over good examples of the student's work.  I think this is a fantasic thing to do.  By using other student's work as an example for the rest of the class, the students will know they are capable of doing the work and they will see how it is supposed to be done.  Model the assignment for the student so you are not setting them up for failure.  I feel as though too many teachers today set their students up to fail.  By not having a clear instructional purpose, posting objectives, or not modeling the assignment, they are letting their students fail and feel incompetant.  We need to make sure we are doing everything in our power to help our students succeed. 
     There are many tools to teach students how to hold thier thinking.  Once students learn how to do this, they will be able to participate a lot more in class and reach a new skill level.  There are many tools and strategies to use to hold thinking.  Students can use highlighters, sticky notes, large text on a bulletin board, and directly marking the text.  One thing I would like to mention here is highlighting the text needs a lot of practice.  I have seen adults who will highlight almost everything on a page.  This may not always be the best situation to give your students highlighters... they will have yellow books!  Tovani says, "Whole- group charts make class thinking public, and are very useful in getting students started with learning how to mark the text,"  (pg. 75).  This will save you from having yellow books!  Tovani also uses comprehension constructors.  "Comprehension constructors help students name their thinking and make it visible," (pg.76).  The main point of these worksheets is to get the student to question and connect to the material given to read.  This is to get the student thinking about how to mark the text and think about the text.  These comprehension constructors can be used in any content field.  You could also use double or quad entry diaries to connect students to the topic and have them record their thoughts and questions about the text.  Let students pick one of these strategies that work best for them.  Do not limit them to doing something they do not feel confident in doing while reading.  And let students work in groups after individual work.  If students are asking questions about the reading and the text, let the student ask their questions and answer as many as possible and then give them the support of a group to discuss and better understand the text. 
     Tovani said that she saw a poster in a middle school classroom that said, "Individually we are smart.  Collectively, we are brilliant," (pg.84).  This is a good saying to remember in any grade and in any content field.  Let children be smart on their own and brilliant together.  This could make the students feel better about discussing and working through the text. 
     So... here is what works:

• Give students a CLEAR instructional purpose and MODEL marking the text.
• Show students DIFFERENT techniques for connecting and marking the text and let them pick what works for THEM.
• Share with your students techniques that work for YOU in holding your thinking.