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.
What a fantastic strategy!
ReplyDeleteI admire Tovani for taking the power of the phrase "So what?" as an opportunity to create something meaningful from classroom disruption. (When life gives you lemons…)
Encouraging students to dig deeper than simple surface connections to make personal connections is critical. By exploring questions and answering questions they would be able to make significant connections, create meaning and understand content from their reading.
This is a great example of a teacher multitasking in the classrooms. She’s addressing discipline, she’s teaching literacy strategies and she’s differentiating for the "So what?" girl.