The title of chapter 2 is The "So What" of Reading Comprehension. This chapter was really interesting for me to read because this is the question that was in my mind coming into this class. Tovani discusses using double-entry diaries as a comprehension aid for her students. She showed her students some examples of her double-entry diary. I feel this was a great strategy because it gave the students an idea of what they should do. The students really responded well to this strategy by demonstrating that they understood by making connections to their personal lives and making meaning out of the reading.
In this chapter, Tovani discusses essential elements of comprehension instruction which include:
1. Assess the text students are going to read and analyze how the students will most likely respond to it.
2. Provide detailed modeling of your thinking process and show students how an expert reader would go about it.
3. Define a purpose as to why the students are reading it. I feel this one is really important because in my experience, students comprehend more if they are interested in what they are reading.
4. Teach students what to do with the thoughts they have while reading the piece. The double-entry diaries are a great way to do this.
These are all essential for the teacher to consider in order to come up with a successful teaching strategy.
In this chapter, Tovani also tackles the issue of teachers' fear to change the curriculum. Almost immediately, she does mention that there is no easy fix for any given curriculum. She notes how teachers should be flexible in their thinking about what they should and should not use. She mentions that "if teaching kids to memorize what is in the textbook is most important to you, then this type of work won't be very successful." These is powerful to me because I remember absolutely nothing from classes like this. I think this is a very important point to bring up because sometimes teachers may forget this because of all the pressure they are under to produce good test scores, for example. Another great point she discusses is that teachers need to learn to trust their students to think more.
Using double-entry notebooks has been a tool that I started using this past semester. I like having students keep them because they not only keep a record of what the students have read, but they also are great references for them when having discussions about the literature. Thanks for sharing this with us!
ReplyDeleteLearning the material is a hundred times more effective that memorization. The double entry diary seems like a good idea to help students learn. The steps outlined help in organizing the information that what a teacher wants the students to lean.
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