Chapter 4 is titled Real Rigor: Connecting Students with Accessible Text. Tovani opens up this chapter by discussing her work to find out why so many ninth graders fail U.S History. She worked with the social studies department to realized that the textbooks were "too hard, too long, too boring." She discovered that the department recently purchased these textbooks, so the thought of replacing them with an easier read was basically impossible. She talks about the required history curriculum and how the teachers are challenged with the daunting task of covering it all in one school year. She mentions how students are unable to make meaning of what they are learning because teachers are forced to lecture most of the time. We already know this is vital for learning, especially after reading those three articles assigned our class. Just as with everything else, she has no quick fix for this but says that "if students are to understand what they read, then teachers must find text that they can read to supplement the textbook-- as well as give them time to practice new strategies for understanding the reading during class."
The chapter then goes on to talk about accessible text. Tovani explains how accessible text is the "cornerstone" of her teaching. She tries to find text that is interesting, well written, and appropriately matched to her students' reading levels. She really emphasizes that accessible text is not "low level" or "dumbed down." This is important because it could make students lose confidence in themselves. She explains that she finds accessible text in newspapers and magazines, because they are short, pleasing to the eye, and students can easily relate the material to real life events.
She then discusses what is possibly the most important part of this chapter. She explains that these accessible texts do not sacrifice rigor. She notes that many teachers criticize her idea of accessible text because of this reason. Her whole reasoning behind accessible text is to keep the students interested and hoping that they will be able to relate to what they read. She hopes that they will better understand the reading and maybe even gain a greater appreciation for the given subject matter.
This chapter was a good one to read because it really made me think about what may go through students' heads when they read. As an aspiring math teacher, it is completely understandable that most students struggle to read a math textbook. This chapter gave me some great ideas on how to help them through it so they will not give up.
Text books can be really boring almost all of the time. They are dry and hard to read even interesting stuff comes off hard to read. So using supplemental readings is good and teachers making sure students are comprehending the text are of vitally important. Discussions that actually see if students are getting the information is a good idea to ask questions as you discuss the text to see if they get it.
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