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.
This sounds like an interesting read. It reminds me of some of the points made by Rosenblatt with regard to transactional theory. Good stuff. I am looking forward to reading more of your blog.
ReplyDeleteI like that this teacher is not only modeling good comprehension strategies but also reflected teaching. She came up with the "so what?" after a bad event, but turned it around and now has a way to get the students thinking and communicating positively.
ReplyDeleteSandra
Absolutely. After trying out something new in the classroom, I always had to make notes on my lesson plans about what worked and what didn't. Flexibility is key and sometimes "bad events" make a good lesson even better in the long run.
DeleteI love the "so what" question. Asking our kids why they should care about what they just read is a different way of processing the words on a page. This reminds me of Jeremy in the class example. He was given his first start at the "so what" question by highlighting passages that were relevant to him. Sometimes I find myself looking at the words on a page, but 2 pages later I don't remember what I've read, so I have to go back and start all over. The techniques you mention are quite interesting, and I look forward to hearing more.
ReplyDeleteI love how Tovani turned the "so what" question from her student into a great teaching model. It takes devoted and creative teacher to take a negative "so what?" into a positive learning experience.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as thought this book really pertains to your teaching career in Spanish and theater.
I have not seen reading broken down like this before but I see in my own reading some of those steps. I don't know that I do them all but I do some. I like the idea of students questioning what they read because this would help them find purpose in the text and relate it to real world situation that make sense to them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that group assignments can really help students learn. The more advanced students can help the ones who don't quite understand and they can have a group discussion and learn from each other.
ReplyDeleteI like the method of breaking reading down into the four steps. At our level, we seem to do those four steps naturally. As teacher, "modeling" is so very important. And then the "so what"... gotta love that! This makes me think of the "mosaic of thought" reading and discussion.
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