After every ending, comes a new beginning...

As I reach the end of this book, I feel that I've gained a lot of useful tips that Tovani shares with her readers, and which I think are special to her and those that she's shared with. I've titled my last blog After every ending, comes a new beginning…, because obviously I've concluded the reading of the book, but thanks to this book I feel like I've grown as a future teacher through the experiences of Tovani, her suggestions, and passion for her teaching. This final point has made me realize that besides impacting students in the subject that I love, I will also serve a big purpose in the help I could give them when they are found a struggling situation.

 Just as we are infatuated with the various subjects we all seek to teach, Tovani also reminds her readers that she doesn’t “…see how we can be teachers of this content without spending at least some of our time with students helping them learn how to read about it” (121). It is a basic aspect for us to aid our students in the way to read about our subjects, which will therefore have an impact in the rest of the classes our students will take.

Thanks to this book I have been gifted a glance to real classroom experiences that many teachers have had, and from which I’ve learned about many possible ways I could respond to similar situations in my future classrooms.

I felt in this final chapter, that Tovani wanted to thank her readers for the read, but what is most important she wanted to state her passion and belief in every teacher that truly has a love for the art of teaching.  She then states that her book "...will help you in your teaching only if you trust yourself enough..." (122), about knowing what you know, and looking for methods that will serve the purpose you wish to use them for.

I’m very glad I choose this book, it contains very useful information that future and current teachers can find of use. The main point that I’ll take from this book and hope to always remember when I find myself struggling to help a struggling student will be, to breathe, have patience, remember what it is to find myself struggling with a reading, remember my purpose as a teacher, and as Tovani states that “we’ll never have all the answers” but it is a duty for us to try to find as much answers as possible. Now, I end this reading, by promising that I will start a new beginning with what I have learn from it. 

Assessments...

Chapter 8 of Tovani’s book talks about Assessment. Honestly, being this one of the first times that I’ve had to really read and try to understand what an assessment is and what use it has for teachers and students, created some confusion, even though somehow it makes some sense with some of the readings aspects that Tovani talks about. The book seems to be forming a fun circle, as it makes connections to topics that were spoken about in the previous chapters.

The importance of allowing students to progressively achieve their proposed goal for their reading, keeping in mind that assessment can be done in more than just one way in the classroom, giving “…students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their thinking” (103), are basic important aspects that the author describes must be addressed within the teachers lesson plans. Throughout the book, Tovani has given her readers many examples of what has worked for her in her classroom, providing in the appendix section templates of sheets that she has utilized in her class.

Tovani also advices teachers about the importance of getting to know our students a bit more in a setting other than the classroom, because she believes that this would let our students know that we truly do care about them; this will make them feel important to us. But this is also a useful method by which teachers could also find out a bit more about their background, their interests and possible hints for the way they could be taught more easily for a better understanding of topics the read. Assessments that she speaks about in this chapter that serve this purpose are “Conversation Calendars” and “Quick Conferences”, which I feel that both will be a useful tool for me when I become a teacher; I like the idea of communicating with my students both in writing and personally, like these methods work like respectfully.

A connection that both Tovani and I make, regard the Standardized assessments that are given to students at a district and statewide level. I agree with her in the aspect that these types of assessments “…aren’t helpful…because they rarely inform daily instruction” (103), but rather serve simply to compare student to student and school to school. But she advises that “assessment…is about showing kids how to recognize when they are confused and when they are understanding text…” (114) because to her this is a more approachable way that assessments can truly “…test what [students] learned about themselves as readers” (114).

I’ve always been a student that likes to see the progress I’ve made in every class, from year to year, etc. This was one of the points that really interested me from the reading of this chapter. Tovani explains that she creates and keeps a “File folder Collection of Work Samples” of each of her students. These serve great purpose for the teachers and students alike, because besides being a tool for teachers to “…use the folder as a way to demonstrate proficiency or recommend remediation” (113), it also gives students like me something to really feel good about when looking back at the progress I’ve done. 

Forming small-group discussions

Chapter 7 was very straightforward in concise with for the topic of small group work. Tovani mentions that group work is a great mechanism by which our students can interact, deepen their understanding, clarify some points, and listen to each other’s opinions on a the subject in matter. She also emphasizes the need for these groups to be “small” because otherwise they can become too big for their discussions to go anywhere, and for everyone to have a chance to be heard. She also points out that “small-group settings also allow [teachers] to meet more of the individual needs in [our] classroom” (pg: 93). She explains that she could “group struggling readers…for a while and help them with a decoding strategy” (93) and this to me also rang as useful way to detect students that might have a learning disability which we discussed in class this week.

But along with all of these great benefits in group work, just like Tovani, I have had these questions in mind:

1) “How does a group work [succeed] with someone who monopolizes the conversation?”

2) “What does the group need to do to make sure everyone’s voice is heard?"

3) “How do people in the group hold their thinking when they read, so that they remember what to talk about in groups?”

4) “Is a facilitator necessary, and if so, what is his or her role?” (pg: 91)

The input that students can give us regarding their needs within a group work assignment, are a useful tool that Tovani suggests for teachers to utilize to answer questions such as the ones above. I must say that I also believe this point is a very important one for these types of assignments; we have all probably been a situation where group work is simply annoying and a waste of time. Students can let their teachers know what they like and dislike of group work activities, and then with the help of the teacher, formulate “norms” that they all agree to do, setting then fair responsibilities for all.

For the topics to be discussed in group, Tovani also suggest for them to be “powerful pieces…many times short and provocative pieces encourage students to read and discuss” (pg 99), which will spark in each student thoughts and questions that they wish to share and answer respectfully. After sharing their thoughts about their reading with their members of the group, students might not agree other members of their group, taking them onto a great start for a discussion.

Tovani once again adds the importance of modeling what an assignment should look like, and again the art of drama come in handy to engage students to observe “good and bad” behaviors. To demonstrate a small group work, she invited a coworker of hers to interpret the “good” students, and she interpreted the “bad student. The good student exemplified what it was to be a good member of a group; she had the material ready the class, she had done her reading and placed her thoughts on sticky notes in the book. Mean while, Tovani as the bad member of the group, modeled the behavior of a student that wasn’t doing their part of the work for the group; she didn’t even have her book. These behaviors were observed by the students before they began to work on their assignment together, and it helped them realize that the attitude of the first “student” was one that would take them to succeed in the assignment.

What are your thoughts??

In chapter 6, Tovani emphasizes the importance of helping our students find the correct method(s) for them to put their thoughts onto a paper. She does speak about the traditional stick notes and highlighter methods, which at the beginning of their used don’t tend to be completely effective, but she does state that the more they are used and modeled by the teacher for their correct used, they often succeed for their purpose. For Tovani, the importance of students writing down their thoughts and or questions is a fundamental key to see the progress a student has gotten in their reading and writing skills, because “…asking questions is a signal that you are constructing meaning. Readers who don’t ask questions are often disengaged and unable to remember what they’ve read” (pg: 80).

But besides these useful methods, Tovani also integrates other methods that she believes are just as good as the good ol’ highlighter. The first method she talks about was that of “whole-group thinking” which is the placing of student’s individual work on a “public” chart. This posting Tovani says will begin the stepping stone process that students need to learn how to mark important text in their reading for future reference; “when some students are having difficulty seeing a strategy in use, I chart other students’ thinking” (pg: 75). I do believe this is a useful tool for students understanding of the options they have to mark down their reading thoughts; it is a really good way of creating a good class environment where this allows peer support. But from my perspective her “comprehension constructor” method directs much more of the students thinking process, it “…help[s] students name their thinking and make it visible” (pg: 76) as the teacher develops these sheets with in mind “…how [he/she/] would read the piece and what [he/she] would need to do as a reader to get through it” (76).

I would have to say that the “double-entry diary” is one of my favorite forms for students to put down their thoughts on paper, especially because it easily can be used for any class’ subject. I like that students can extract the quotes that provoked them thoughts or questions and write them down onto a table, where then they would write down their “connection” or question in the adjacent box. From this step, students could get together and discuss their thoughts and findings, “all readers can benefit from the talk of others…they will have the support of the group and can try ideas with others” (pg: 84). On a final thought, I must say that reading this reminded me of these methods being taught to me during my grade school education; I was gaining lifelong skills without really knowing, which is very impressive, and proves that these methods do in fact work.  

"Why Am I Reading This?"

This next chapter’s title is “Why Am I Reading This?” which basically is a question that students usually ask themselves and teachers when it comes to their reading assignments. The chapter focuses in the importance of us as teachers looking for the best methods for teaching of our certain content areas, having a good communication with our students regarding the purpose of the reading, and providing them with useful information that will allow them to comprehend and retain important information.

Tovani recommends teachers to “be selective about what kids read. If everything in the text isn’t important or well written, don’t assign it all…” (65), meaning that we need to be aware that sometimes children are required to do reading that more than likely won’t serve any purpose for the assignment they have to complete once they finish the reading. For this it is also very important to inform our students what they should read for (the purpose of their reading) so that they may have a better focus for their reading. This partially answers the chapters opening title/question. It is a motivation mechanism that tends to work for any type of reading. This way, students feel that they aren’t simply handed something to read just because, or that they need to memorize every single detail they read. “Clear instructional purposes often give guidance for how the reader might hold her [/his] thinking… [it] can greatly improve a reader’s comprehension, because the reader has an indication of what to read for” (59), and for this to occur, teachers need to have a well planned lesson for each reading assignment. As teachers we need to know what it is that we want our students to know, therefore we must let them know what is expected of them to understand from their readings. Once students know the purpose for their reading, they can be advised to take notes, write down questions and seek the answers within the reading, and if the answers can’t be found they can certainly bring them into discussion with the rest of the class.  

For the benefit of teachers and therefore their students, Tovani suggests what she calls “instructional focus sheets” (55), which are just a form of helping teachers focus in what it is that they seek to accomplish in any given lesson and assignments. Even for teachers, it can be hard to stay on track, there can be moments of concern that they aren’t either quite sure of the purpose of their lessons, and Tovani demonstrates that it is ok to have these moments, but it is of great need to have the ability to sit down and put ourselves right on track. This is the purpose of those sheet; they consist of the questions:

1)      “What is essential for students to know?”

2)      “What two places may cause students difficulty?”

3)      “What will you model that will help students negotiate the difficult parts?”

4)      “What do they need to do with the information they are reading?”

5)      “How will they hold their thinking while they read?” (55)

"Real Rigor"

One of the reasons I really like Tovani’s book is because she is concise and gets right to the point she wants to talk about in each chapter. For this chapter titled “Real Rigor”, she emphasizes that every student in our class will have different reading abilities. Even though we must provide them a textbook that they will all read, we can ease the anxiety some of them will have and find other methods for them to understand the material we are studying and not fall behind.

I know all of us have been in a situation where the information we are reading, just doesn’t stick, but that doesn’t mean we will never understand it. To this Tovani suggests to “provide a choice of reading materials. Don’t limit students’ ability to think about your content because the textbook is too hard. Collect accessible text related to your field” (pg: 49). Sometimes all we need to do is find the right material that will teach our students in a way they comprehend. I know the textbook will be their primary resource for any given topic that will be dealt with in the class, but we shouldn’t limit them to only go by the book, this is the beauty about reading.

Tovani has explained that her methods haven’t always been seen as correct by teachers she has gone to help “…Some teachers might be confusing rigor with unrealistic expectations. Is it rigor to assign a tough textbook chapter when no one in the class can understand it?” (pg: 40). The author also states that there is a chance teachers can find “alternative texts” for cases where the comprehension of an assigned reading isn’t working for a student. Alternative texts serve the purpose of addressing very similar readings that the teacher can substitute for students that are struggling with a required text. An example presented in book was that of the case of a student that was struggling with Huckleberry Finn, Tovani suggested to the teacher to allow the student to read Finn, which she does confess that it “…doesn’t have the same literary genius as Mark Twain’s … but it does give students something that’s a bit easier to read, as well as a way to explore similar themes” (pg: 43).  Obviously, in order to give the correct alternative text, teachers must do some research to identify books like this that will serve the same purpose, which is not an all that easy task, but it surely can be worth it.

Giving them other resources, which she calls “accessible text” will deepen their comprehension, and often causes them to have more curiosity. Accessible text is simply a tool that we can use in any given situation, but its main purpose is that of helping students understand something that isn’t making a connection to them after reading it off the textbook or an assigned reading. Tovani states that “when I use text that is interesting, well written, and appropriately matched to the level of my students, my life as a teacher gets easier” (pg: 39), because of course the main purpose is to teach our students and teach them right, but having a class of 25 or more students will be difficult to make sure that we teach every student right. Why not look for an easier way to make it happen? Why not help them help us make it happen?  

Modeling reading

Chapter 3 in this book is titled "Parallel Experiences"; to me this title simply defines one of the key actions which Tovani continually states that would help us as teachers understand what it is to not understand a difficult text that we read, just like our students. Difficult readings for students often involve unknown vocabulary, boredom, and  their level of reading comprehension. As discussed in my previous blog, a good form of helping students understand certain terms within a reading is by prompting them to look up their definitions and related them to something they are already familiar with.
Addressing the issue regarding difficult contents of reading, Tovani advises teachers to exercise their abilities to comprehend difficult texts "...to see how I as a good reader would negotiate the difficulty" (pg: 29), as a way to put ourselves in the place of our students, and try to "...identify what they are struggling with" (pg: 29). This will create a deeper connection between student and teacher if we, as teachers, are capable of having empathy for the student in regards to their reading skills. Speaking of which, the level of reading of each student is different, and it is another important aspect that teachers should study in their selecting of text books. An example that Tovani gives was about one of the times she went to an English tenth-grade classroom to help them read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which she took up and read for herself before her lesson. This helped her see what certain problems her students could encounter and how she would go by to address them.
After having had the chance to read the book, Tovani was honest and said that the book was boring until she got to the "exciting" portion of it. This to her seemed very important as a goal to keep her students engaged in a difficult reading; she knew the book would be a tedious read for most of the students and that more than likely they would stop reading it after a few pages because of this. So in order to help find some sort of interest in the book, she decided to present them the pages where "...gory parts, as well as the evil monster's deed" (pg: 32) began to appear. She began her lesson by reading out loud and formulating questions that the students could relate to based on the reading, as a way to "model [her] thinking". Now from my perspective, this was a good step Tovani took to engage the students in their required reading, but what happened next proved to be, from my perspective, more of an important point for the students' reading comprehension skills.
After modeling her thinking strategy for a bit, she decided to pass on the reading to the students and asking them to continue with their own questions about the reading and write them down on a piece of paper. This allowed her to identify students that were struggling with the reading, as they weren't capable of computing any questions to ask. So then, Tovani advices teachers to be "...the best reader of the content they are teaching" (pg: 35).

"The "So What" of Reading Comprehension" Chapter

After reading this chapter, I feel that I it has made me realize that I do process information that I read the way Tovani explains that is a useful method in helping students actually understand the material they are reading, even though, due to the fact that it has become a gained skill, I often don't notice this process anymore. I basically have acquired it well, that I no longer need to take the step by step process consciously, I just proceed through it subconsciously, like many of us do.
The "thinking strategy" steps that Tovani utilizes in her teaching of reading, start with the reading of the text and at the same time creating "connections" with it, proceeded by the establishment of questions, "a conclusion", and other thinking mechanisms. This was followed by the great "So What?" question, where the student steps out of the text and asks, well, what about this? What is the purpose of me reading this? "How does this thinking help you better understand the text?" (pg:17) Then the final step is returning the thinking back to the reading; be it finding evidence to what a conclusion or another end thought after the thinking process.
Tovani was inspired to create this "So What?" thinking strategy after her experience with a student that utilized this question as a way of "shutting down other people's thinking" (pg: 11) , but then Tovani realized that she could use this question within her method for the benefit of her students, and as a way to turn her students sarcasm and smarty pants behavior around.
In the creation of this strategy, Tovani established "four principals [as a] guide [for] most of [her] instruction]", which are basically the working of the previously mentioned strategies: "assess the text", "modeling", "define a purpose", and "teach students how to hold their thinking and give them opportunities to use the information they've held" (pg: 17-18).  I think for this last step mentioned previously, the application of group assignments is very useful, especially for students that are being introduced to a new subject, which could be used in my case within my Theatre and Spanish classes; most students aren't exposed to either until they reach their high school education.

Comprehension of terms

For my first post about my reading, I choose to talk about the importance of us as teachers understanding that we have the power to help our students’ gain good reading and comprehension skills. Within this understanding, we must begin by assisting our students in the comprehension of words and helping them obtain good thinking skills that are required during their reading.

For the subject I will be teaching, which is Theatre and Spanish, I do believe that all of which Tovani speaks of in the first chapter of his textbook does apply to it. Theatre and Spanish both deal with a lot of literature. I want my students to be able to understand what they read, especially since they will be interpreting in occasions what they read, be it for a play, a monologue and what not. For the second subject I’ll be teaching, I can also apply all of this, which reminds me about the Primary and Secondary Discourses spoken about in James Gee’s article. The better we teach our students how to learn, “…teach kids how to be strategic readers is to help them become more thoughtful about their reading”, and better progress they will have during their whole education.

 I have, like everyone else during our grade school years, struggled with the understanding of certain readings I was required to do (especially since I spent some five years out of the country); nonetheless I was given great teachers during my high school education, that helped me get back right on track. To add to this, Tovani accentuates in her writing that one of the main tasks that students need to do during their reading is to identify “terms” that they aren’t familiar with to see what they mean. “This activity help[s] students learn to slow down and look for definitions of unfamiliar terms, a useful strategy for reading any textbook” (pg: 7), which was a strategy that two of her colleagues, Amy and Ann utilized to help their students in biology and English. I think that this strategy reflects an answer to “What is the difference between learning to read and reading to learn?” 

First Blog :)

Hello LLSS 438 classmates! this is the very first time I write a blog, and I know it might be the same for some of you. The closest I've been to writing a blog I suppose would be on my Facebook page, within the "Notes" section; the type of blog I considered that was probably a journal. I think I wrote it in a sort of poetic manner. I have selected Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? by Cris Tovani, mainly because it was one of the two only books that I could get that addresses the grades that I will be teaching in the future, and out of the two the one that caught my attention the most. I'm one of those readers that likes to actually skim through the first pages of a book to see if I can really engage into the reading and understand the content, and this book has so far been a good read. 
Unfortunately, I have never been attracted to create a blog, maybe because I simply didn't know what they were actually about. But anyway, I'm very excited to see how this turns out. Hopefully it will be fun and useful for all of us. I usually have a good time writing, even though sometimes I do run into a writer's block moment and I have to take a breath, maybe a drink of water, and a good old stretch to be able to set me thoughts straight again.
I can't lie, I'm nervous about this, but hey, what can come out of this? The importance of this is to grow, to expand and gain more confidence in our reading, writing, and teaching. 
Before this class I have actually experienced with a bit of blogging as I became a member of the Education department at UNM. In my Educational Technology class I was introduced to a very helpful blogging site called Edutopia. This a blog that I have read recently because it related to our class; it tells the story of a teacher seeking to find a way to motivate her students into reading. 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/infographics-students-reading-history-sarah-gross