Chapter 3- Parallel Experiences: Tapping the Mother Lode

     In this chapter, Tovani opens by telling a story about teaching content tachers, in a workshop, about teaching reading in their content classrooms.  One teacher she encounters in the workshop is an industrial tech teacher.  This is basically "shop" in high schools.  He wants to know why he has to participate because student's "do not read" in his class.  Tovani thinks about this and explains to the man that of course his students read, maybe he is so good at it that he doesn't realize it!  In his class, students read blueprints and directions on how to build birdhouses.  They do a lot of reading, it is just a different kind of reading.  Tovani stresses the importance of teaching reading in your content field; as content teachers, we need to teach students how to be better readers in our content field.
     One thing Tovani says in her book is, "I'm a pretty good reader of literature, but just because I can read and understand poetry doesn't mean I'm an expert math reader, (pg. 26)."  We have to make sure that we are teaching our children how to comprehend the information for our content area.  For example, I will be teaching health.  I cannot give the children an article from the Scientific American and expect them to understand and write a comprehension essay on the article.  They need to learn how to disect and pick out what they need and don't need.  They also need to be able to see the significance of the information to their lives and connect with the article in some way.  Another important step in teaching reading is to model.  Make sure that the child knows you struggle as well, but use different techniques to get through and understand the reading; then model the techniques for your students. 
     My favorite part of this chapter is when Tovani talks about the example of reading she gives to teachrs in her workshop to make them think about how they read.  She gives them an article called, "Di Tri Berrese, (pg. 126)."  This is not written in Italian or nonsense words, but when reading aloud, you can actually understand little bits of the reading.  This is a story about the three little bears, but twisted a little bit.  By reading this story, it teaches teachers that sounding out words is not enough to grasp the concept of the reading, but you must draw on what you already know about the story and reading and dig into your background knowledge.  Students need to be taught that you think while you read.  If you do not think while you read, you will not be connecting to the story or tapping into your background knowledge and therefore, you will not understand the reading.
     The last thing I wanted to mention that Tovani talks about is staying with the text.  She uses the example of the book Frankenstien.  The high school class that she was talking to about the book could not seem to get interested in it.  She connected with the students by telling them that she really couldn't get into the story either until... she found a technique that separates the book into three parts where the last part is the most exciting.  She then took an exciting paragraph from the book and gave it to the students to read.  They were suddenly interested in the book and began asking questions which made them want to read to find the answers.  By doing these small activities and gaining the students trust and interest, they will learn to be better readers and enjoy reading.

So... here is what works according to Tovani:

• Always IDENTIFY what your students are struggling with.
• MODEL reading a challenging piece of text for your students that will let you experience the difficulty they have as students.
• SHARE with your students ways to overcome their struggles in reading with ways you overcame the struggle.        

Chapter 2- The "So What?" of Reading Comprehension.

     Tovani, so far, starts each chapter with a personal experience.  I think this is so the reader can better connect with her and what she teaches in her book.  This story was about an activity she was doing with her class.  Her class would read a book and write on sticky notes where they felt a connection and what that connection was.  They would write their connection on the sticky note and turn it in to Tovani.  There was one girl in the class that always would ask, "so what?"  Everytime smeone would share their thoughts about a book or raise present something they felt important, this girl would always say the same thing, "so what?"  While Tovani was reading the sticky notes, she was disappointed.  The students were not making deep connections to the story and their superficial connections they did make were not helping them read and understand the story.  Tovani decided that it was time for her to ask all of her students, "so what?"  She gave all the students a double entry diary to use while they read.  The left side is where you write the quote from the book and the right side is where you would write your connection, or your "so what."  The children were to take their sticky notes and elaborate.  It was difficult for the students at first, however once they really found the deeper meaning in their connection with the story, they were able to better understand the story.  A double entry diary could be a really useful tool, esecially in a different content field.  Different content fields can use these tools easily becuase they are more interesting than just reading a book, can create interest in the story, and help the children to connect or identify with the text.
     One problem I think we have today, and have become all too okay with, is stopping children's thinking too soon.  Tovani said that this is exactly what her sticky note activity did.  She was not giving the children the time they needed to explore and connect the way she expected.  By giving them the diary and having them expand, it helped the student's to make an honest connection with the reading. 
     Tovani gives four principles that she uses in her instruction.  These include:

• Assessing the text that the students have to read.
• Providing a model of the thinking process you, as the teacher, use.
• Defining a purpose and reason for the students to read and write.
• Teaching students to hold their thinking and give them plenty of opportunities to use that information.

     "I want to lose 30 pounds and and eat chocolate cake all the time.  It's not going to happen."  This is how Tovani approaches teachers who want their students to "do it all."  Tovani says that this is a trade off.  The teacher must decide what is important enough to keep and what can afford to be dropped for the benefit of the students.  Maybe substituting something more interesting for the students to read that would teach them the same thing would be more beneficial to the students.  They would enjoy reading it, maybe make a connection to the reading, and be able to explain what they have read and learned from it after reading with an opportunity to do so. 
     Lastly, Tovani closes with some teaching points that work.

• Always be asking yourself WHY you are doing something and HOW it will help students think, read, or write even in a certain content field.
• There is NO one right way to introduce comprehension tools to students.
• Make your activities GENUINE and AUTHENTIC for the students.
• Use the STUDENT'S work and comments to plan lessons from day to day.

     I personally love the idea of the double entry diary.  I am going to be a health educator and a lot of articles out there in cirrculation use complicated language.  Viruses and diseases have long and hard to pronounce names, ingredients in medications are almost impossible to read, and there are so many different topics in health to cover in one semester.  With this double entry diary, it can deepen the child's understanding of the reading, possibl the severity of the topic, and most importantly, maybe the student will connect with the reading in a way where they can share the information with friends and family.  My goal would be to create an atmosphere where the child then becomes the peer educator from a deep understanding and connection with the content through reading.           

Chapter 1- "I'm the Stupid Lady from Denver..."

     Eventhough the first chaper of my book is only 9 pages long, there is so much information and so many examples that I would love to share.  The author, Tovani, starts the chapter with a short story to explain what she does... teach reading skills to children and teach teachers how to implement these strategies in their content fields.  Her example took place in California in a high school science class.  The children were learning about viruses in a long, boring, and complicated chapter.  She was able to connect with the high school students in the fact that she sat by a big sick man on the plane and when this sick man sneezed on Tovani, she immediately began to ask herself questions about what this man might have that he could have given to her.  By questioning, she was able to pull out the chapter and read intently, looking for the answers to her questions.  One strategy that Tovani teaches is developing a series of questions about the chapter to further interest in the topic of reading.  If children are not interested or do not want to learn anything about the topic, it is harder to get them interested.
     Tovani also stresses that learning to read does not end in elementary school.  As students move through their schooling, reading becomes more complicated and complex.  Another srategy that Tovani uses with the children is to use a highlighter or sticky notes to find important words, or words they do not know the meaning of, and with a different color, look for the meaning or importance of those words to further not only understanding, but to remember and reuse what they have read. 
     I really connected with Tovani when she said that content teachers teach in their field for their passion of the content area.  These teachers do not want to focus on teaching reading because they have so much to teach in so little time.  However, when teaching in your content field, if the students cannot understand what they are reading, will they really be interested in what you are teaching?  Tovani suggests using reading materials that will really catch the student's attentition and interest, even if they are not part of the typical lesson plan.  Sometimes using something outside of what was planned will do the trick to get the students interested and learning. 
     One last strategy to try would be to draw a picture about what the student's have been reading.  This picture would demonstrate what they student's took from the reading and show their understanding of the material.  The line that Tovani closes with, that sums up the whole chapter is, "Meaning arrives because we are purposefully engaged in thinking while we read." 
     I learned a few new strategies that I am very excited to implement in my content field of health education!    

Blogging about blogging

     I wanted to start by saying I have never had a blog before, but in saying that, I am excited to start my first one now.  I found it appropriate to name my blog after the title of the book I am reading called "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?"  When I first discovered that I had to take a class to teach reading and writing, I though it was a little silly and immediately thought of the title of my book!  After all, I am going to school to be a health educator.  However, after only a few short weeks of this class, I am already seeing how beneficial this information is to my content field.  I never knew that learning the skills to teach reading and writing would open new opportunities for me to use in a health setting or classroom.
     This is my first blog so before I started, I wanted to go online and look at some other blogs that I thought looked interesting to see what they were about.  I always thought that blogs were like a journal for people to spill their emotions that other people really don't care about; much like facebook.  Going online and looking through other blogs, I see that some can be very informational and fact based like medical blogs.  I feel like any blog has the potential to be a good blog if it is honest and fact based.   
     In saying all of this, I am so excited to start blogging about my book, hearing other ideas and opinions about my book, and completing this class so I can have even more beneficial information and ideas to be the best health educator I can be!