What Works

The importance of mental modeling.

Tovani believes that teachers need to slow down the way they think so they can notice what they do as expert readers in their own content field. By slowing down and thinking about how we read our own content information we, as teachers, should be able to design strategies to teach our content. She suggests that we give students models on how we read for our content field. If we, as teachers, have difficulties with a certain part of our text, it only stands to reason that our students will have the same difficulties. We need to identify how we worked our way through the text and model that behavior for our students.

Mental modeling:

Mental modeling does the following:

1. Gives students insights into how good readers and writers make sense of the text.

2. Allows students to see options that are available to them. Students can see how good readers and writers decide what to do.

3. Helps students understand the complexities of reading and writing and that they are ongoing thinking processes.       Page 27 of Chris Tovani’s book “ Do I Really Have to Teach Reading”

Tovani also gives us ideas on how to keep our students focus on a difficult text. She explains that when she is struggling to stick with the book, she first has to figure out what is causing her to want to abandon her reading. She lists:

1. Lack of background knowledge

2. Difficult vocabulary

3. Long descriptions that interfere with comprehension.

From my own personal experience I found the Harry Potter series to be a pleasant read except for the final book. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows started very slow and dragged on chapter after chapter when Harry and his friends were searching for the horcruxs that would allow them to defeat Lord Valdemort. On many occasions I found myself wanting to put the book down and just wait for the movie. In her book Tovani tells us how she modeled staying with the text with a group of 10th grade literature students who were reading Frankenstein. She'd read this book herself on many occasions, she also found the beginning of the book to be long and tedious. She knew that the students she was going to be helping would most likely become bored and lose interest in this book. She decided to bring them an excerpt from Frankenstein starting on page 53. This is the page where Dr. Frankenstein starts to assemble body parts to create his monster, allowing the students to get a glimpse of what is to come. In order to keep my own attention in the Harry Potter book, I had to do the same. I skipped ahead allowing myself a glimpse of the excitement to come. That was enough to help me make it through the slow part.

On page 35 Tovani gives us the essence of modeling our reading for students:

1. Identify what students are struggling with.

*Reading text for the second time* reading difficult or uninteresting text* starting a book* making sense of graphs* understanding how to read a word problem* making sense of poetry.

Teaching points: good readers have a variety of strategies they know how to use flexibility, depending on the task at hand. Teacher modeling can help students learn to identify what strategies are best suited to the needs of a specific text they will be tackling.

2. Select a challenging piece of text to model reading for students that will allow you to experience the same difficulty they will face.

*Use a piece that is unfamiliar and challenging.*Target thinking and how to handle the struggle.*Notice what you do as a good reader of that material to overcome the struggle.

Teaching points: good readers are aware of their thinking. They know what they are doing when their reading goes well. With understanding breaks down, they can consistently apply strategies to reconstruct meaning.

3. Share with students how you overcome the struggle. What did you do as expert reader of the content to get through the text?

*How does rereading the text benefit your thinking?*How do you stay engaged in an interesting, difficult piece?*How do you start and stay with the book?*Do you notice titles when reading grants, work problems, or poems?

Teaching point: good readers automatically apply new strategies to aid comprehension when they begin to struggle with text. Teachers can help readers develop their strategies if they are not yet automatic for students.

By modeling these skills we are providing our students with the tools to be successful in their apprenticeship of being advanced readers.

So what?

Double entry diary

In chapter 2 Tovani tells us a story about one of her students that disrupts class and stifles the other students ideas. This particular young girl would often cut off her peers ideas by saying, "So what?", in a bored and condescending manner. Tovani was concerned that this girl's behavior was going to affect the demonstration that was scheduled for the next day involving several teachers from other schools. She wondered if she should send this girl out on an errand so that she wouldn't disrupt this demonstration. Or should she just explain to the visiting teachers about the young lady's typical behavior, knowing that all teachers have a student just like her in their own classes.

After agonizing over this dilemma it came to Tovani that she should say "So what?" first and take the power of the statement away from the girl.  Making use of the phrase to help the class extract meaning and develop comprehension in reading. Developing meaningful connections to the reading through the question "So
what?".

The day before, Tovani's students had been working on using sticky notes to help make connections from their reading to themselves. The students had been given the task to read an article and to write two or three different connections they made to the article to their own life experience. When reading the sticky notes, Trovani was disappointed feeling that the students connections were weak and superficial, and perhaps had wasted her time on this project.

Then it came to her that perhaps she could put the students "So what?" to good use in approaching the sticky notes. Tovani decided to use a double entry diary that utilizes the students connections to the text and the phrase "So what?".

The following is how Tovani describes a double entry diary on page 12 of her book" Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?"

What are double entry diaries?
A double entry diary is an access tool that students can use to hold their thinking. Like sticky notes or highlighted text, access tools help students slow down as they read and began to track their thinking. Here's how to do a double entry diary:
1. Ask students to divide a piece of notebook paper in half. The fold should be lengthwise or" like a hot dog bun".

2. On the left-hand column of the paper, students copy directly from the text. They might write quotes or individual words.  Students can also write a summary of what they read. The writing on the left-hand side represents literal information from the text.

3. On the right hand column of the page, students share their thinking about the word, sentence, or summary that they wrote on the left-hand side. The writing on the right-hand side represents inferential and critical thinking.

4. Teachers choose how students will structure their thinking, based on what they ask for in the right-hand column (i.e. questions, connections, visualizing information).
5. Students choose what text they will use to apply the strategy or strategies chosen by the teacher as a focus.

The next day during her class the students had assembled, the visiting teachers were in the back of the room watching asTovani explained to her students how she wanted them to lay out and use a double entry diary. The left column was for the connections like the ones they had made on the sticky notes the day before. The right column she wanted them to write the phrase "So what?".  She told them that after they made the connection she wanted them to ask "So what?", as she mimicked the young girl's condescending tone and attitude. The whole class laughed except for the "So what?" girl. She explained to the students that she wanted them to dig deeper than just a simple connection, she wanted them to make this connection personal, so what does this make you think, so what does this make you feel, so what's so important about this. If they could answer these questions they would be able to extract more meaning and content from their reading.

On page 17 figure 2.4
The "So what?" Thinking Strategy.
Is laid out in a circle with arrows running for each word from left to right. These word and strategies are:

Text
Connection
More thinking strategies: ask questions, draw conclusions, visualize, shift and sort, recognize confusion.
So What?
How does this thinking help you better understand the text?
Bring the thinking back to the text

After this lesson the young disruptive girl never disrupted the class with a condescending "So what?" again.
She became more engaged in her studies to change her attitude. 

Thinking strategies / Fixup strategies

Tovani believes that teaching a few strategies well is the key to the success of her work. It is not necessary to have too many techniques, gimmicks or a grab bag full of tricks. She feel it is more important for students and teachers to" master a few core skills"
On page 5 Tovani gave this explanation of:
 Thinking Strategies Used by Proficient Readers and Writers
"the strategy is an intentional plan that is flexible and can be adapted to meet the demands of the situation. Strategies give readers options for thinking about text when reading words alone doesn't produce meaning."
She also states "good readers and writers monitor their understanding as they read. They recognize when the text is making sense and when it is not. Some of the strategies good readers and writers include the following:"

                              
                                            Thinking Strategies:
1. Activating background knowledge and making connections between new and known information.
2. Self questioning the text to clarify ambiguity and deepen understanding.
3. Drawing inferences from the text using background knowledge and the clues from the tech's.
4. Determining importance in text to separate details from main ideas.
5. Employing fix up strategies to repair confusion.
6. Using sensory images to enhance comprehension and visualize reading.
7. Synthesizing and extending thinking.


The next set of strategiesTovani introduces us to is called Fix Up strategies.
This is strategy whereby a reader can get unstuck when the text becomes too difficult or confusing.

You can find the following lists of fix up strategies on page 6

                                    Fix Up Strategies:
1. Make a connection between the text and your life, your knowledge of the world, and other texts.
2. Make predictions: stop and think about what you have already read.
3. Ask yourself questions about what you've read, then try to answer them.
4. Reflect in writing what you've read.
5. Visualize.
6. Use print conventions.
7. Retail what you've read.
8. Reread.
9. Notice pattern in text structure.
10. Adjust your reading rate either faster or slower.

At the end of Chapter 1 Tovani warns us that there are no easy answers and that teaching strategies for the sake of teaching strategies isn't the goal. She reminds us that  "meaning doesn't arrive because we have highlighted text or use sticky notes or written to right words on a comprehension worksheet. Meaning arrives because we are purposefully engaged in thinking while we read."

In reading this book  I can't help but make a connection to James Paul Gee's theories on literacy and discourse. Many of the strategies discussed in Chapter 1 of " Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" Involves primary discourse, secondary discourse, and meta-learning. Of course we know primary discourse to be the information and behaviors and knowledge and way of thinking that we learned from our families and close peer. Secondary discourse in the knowledge that we've acquired through our formal education or outside influences. Meta-learning meaning to build on our existing knowledge. When we apply these aspects of G.'s theory to thinking strategies and fix up strategies to Tovani's book we see that they match up well, she talks about activating background knowledge, drawing information from the text using background knowledge, self questioning, making connections from your own life, your knowledge of the world, another text.

Do I Realy Have to Teach Reading?

Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? 

 This is an important question that many teachers have to ask themselves. As a physical education instructor, I had not viewed myself as someone who taught reading. It was my job to teach kids how to be physical and how to develop healthy attitudes about eating and nutrition. On many occasions I've read through the New Mexico state standards and benchmarks for physical education and they never had anything about reading and writing.

This brings me back to the original question, “Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?” This is more than just a question it is the title to the book I chose to read for our class.

        “Do I Really Have to Teach Reading” --- by Chris Tovani   Content Comprehension grades 6-12

You can get a coppy at http://www.amazon.com/

Chris Tovani is a full-time teacher working at Smoky Hill high school in Aurora, Colorado. She divides her time during the day by teaching three morning classes, two in reading workshops for students struggling reading, grades 9-11, and one in English to college bound juniors and seniors. In the afternoons she works with other teachers in all disciplines. She and these teachers have become motivated to help their students understand difficult text such as math, science, and social studies.

In addition to teaching full-time at Smoky Hill high school, Ms. Tovani travels the country teaching middle and high school teachers how to help students in comprehension strategies.  In her book, “Do I Really Have to Teach Reading”, Ms. Tovani writes “more and more of my instruction with students at my high school and with teachers nationally is in the content areas, because teachers outside of English classrooms are being called upon to assist struggling readers throughout the day.”

In her early years as a teacher she was frustrated by students who could read fluently, but were unable to comprehend what they read. She knew it could to be done, but she didn't know how. Later in her career she involved herself in a nonprofit group called the Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC).  Through her involvement with the PEBC, Ms. Tovani became interested in a body of research called “certain strategies used by proficient readers of all ages.”  It is this research on proficient readers that has inspired her to pursue her work of teaching students and teachers.

On my next post I will start introducing my readers to some of the ideas strategies and tactics that are introduced in Chapter 1.

A personal note, I chose this book because of the title “Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?”  We were all given a list of books to choose from, but this title caught my attention. In many ways it mirrored some of my thinking. I'm no fool I know you can't judge a book by its cover, or even its title. Deep down I knew that it would answer some of the questions that I would need to make it through this class. That it would be written in a way to reach out to content instructors who might not view themselves as reading teachers.

Those of you that have read my earlier posts know that I'm dyslexic. Reading and writing never came natural to me. From my own experience I know that reading and comprehension is essential to our students’ success.  Do I have to teach reading? My answer is yes. My students may not read as much in my PE class as they do in English, social studies, or literature. But they do have to read and comprehend what they read. They have to read and comprehend instructions to games and activities. They have to read current events, both physical and nutritional. Reading is reading!

First posting

Blogging: I know that it's been around for a long time. I've never bothered to read one, and I surely never thought that I would be writing one. I've never felt that I had talent when it came to writing. I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of trying to get my thoughts and ideas across to people through wrtten expression. I've always been self-conscious about having poor spelling skills, and reading skills for that matter.

My fears date back to my early childhood. I was labeled as a special education student. I couldn't read and my handwriting was atrocious. I'm 48 years old and I'm still haunted by my early school time experiences. The teachers didn't know what to do with me, or how to help me. I spent half of every school day in the special education room. I was socially promoted all the way through high school. I think about this quite a bit now that I'm older, it seems that I was given a C so that I could participate on the school's athletic teams.

My parents seemed to be the only ones invested in my progress. My mother took me from one doctor to another to try and find out what was wrong with me. I was given exercise to strengthen my eyes. I would spend hours lying on my back tracking a ball swinging from a string connected to the ceiling. I was prescribed bifocals when I was eight years old even though I had 20/15 vision. In the evenings I would sit at the dinner table trying to read, while my mother or father would dart prisms in front of my eyes. None of it seemed to help.

After I graduated high school I informed my family that I was going to go wrestle for the University of New Mexico. My father did everything he could to dissuade me, he knew that it wasn't going to be like high school. There would be no social promotion and he knew that I was destined to fall flat on my face, but as far as I knew everything would be the same. Some how I would end up with a passing grade.

As you can imagine that's not what happened. After failing miserably my first year in college, I was called to the Dean of Students office, he informed me that I would need to vacate the residence hall and that I would be withdrawn from the university. I begged and pleaded and was able to convince the Dean to give me one more chance. He told me I had to take and complete English 100, Math 100, and a special reading class sponsored by the university. He also made it very clear that any grade under a B would send me home.

That summer my father took me to see a doctor in New York City. The doctor diagnosed me as having dyslexia, he told us after extensive testing that I had one of the most severe cases that he'd ever worked with. He put me on a regimen of vitamins, mild stimulants to help me focus. For the first time in my life there was a reason for my issues. Up to then I believed that I was just STUPID.  I started reading children's books that summer, I remember the first book that I ever read on my own was "Go Dogs Go" by Dr. Seuss

Long story short, I returned to the University of New Mexico and fulfilled my obligation to the Dean of Students with a great deal of help from my family and friends. It wasn't untill I was 20 years old that I was able to read at a 12th grade level for approximately 30 minutes at a stretch.

I graduated from the University of New Mexico after eight years of study with a bachelors degree in University Studies. I was 25 years old. I had made it through school and I had no intentions of ever going back. Now I find myself in school again having to face my fears.

I can't say that I've enjoyed this process of blogging but it is good to know that I can do it. Well, that's enough about me for one day.

As I was investigating Blogs on Wikipedia I came across an article called Blurring with the mass media. It echoed some of my initial thoughts on blogging. I viewed blogging as a way for people to push their views and ideas on the Internet. That they would be able to as the article states" get around the filterof the mainstream media." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog#Blurring_with_the_mass_media