| Book Summary |
| Introduction
After teaching elementary school for ten years, Cris Tovani taught remedial reading and regular English at the secondary level. Today, she enjoys teaching high school students full time while consulting nationally and training beginning teachers at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado at Denver. Ms. Tovani has been a key participant in grassroots education reform in literacy instruction through the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC) where she worked in staff development. Tovani confesses that, as an adolescent, she was a �Fake Reader� who could read extended text without comprehension. I fooled everyone by attending classes, reading first and last chapters, skimming through Cliffs Notes, and making B's or better on essays and exams�I read aloud beautifully and could decode even the most difficult words. The problem surfaced when I had to use, remember, or retell what I had read. I couldn�t do it. I expected that meaning would arrive if I could pronounce all the words�(pg 4) Tovani�s reading history combined with her experience in classroom teaching and literacy staff development enable her to connect with the realities of both struggling adolescent readers and their teachers. In I Read It, But I Don�t Get It Tovani uses an engaging anecdotal style that urges classroom teachers to recognize the Fake Reading of struggling readers and models time-efficient remedies proven to promote reading comprehension and learning in all content areas of the curriculum. |
| Focus of the Book
For years, both educators and the public have assumed that reading instruction is only an elementary curriculum focus. However, students continue to develop as readers during their secondary school years by extending and consolidating their ability to understand what they read. The need for a continued focus on reading development for both struggling readers and their more proficient peers is real. Tovani describes the common experience of secondary teachers with students at all levels of reading: a sea of blank stares. She argues that this common experience can frequently be traced to �Fake Reading�. Instead of applying the hard work of thinking when they read difficult text, students learn to combine their minimal understanding of a text they�ve read with the many clues that a teacher gives in class. The more difficult a text is for a particular group of students, the more common Fake Reading is. Tovani models proven classroom techniques for modeling research based remedies for addressing poor reading comprehension. Part One diagnoses the problem of reading without comprehension. Part Two models strategic reading that promotes comprehension. Tovani focuses on seven of the reading strategies that researchers have found most productive for promoting comprehension:: -using what you know to make sense of what you don�t know -asking questions before and during reading as well as after -drawing inferences to extend understanding outside of the text -being aware when the text stops making sense -using a variety of strategies to correct the situation when meaning breaks down -evaluating what is important and should be given attention -creating new meaning using information gleaned from the text Each chapter concludes with a concise list of classroom activities that further promote strategy use. She is careful to connect each activity directly with theory through statements about what good readers do e.g. Good readers don�t remember everything they read. They use tools to hold on to their thinking so they can return to it later. Access tools allow readers to use the text to justify and support their thinking. (pg 34) Part Three contains sample handouts Tovani labels "Access Tools". She uses these in her classroom to provide structure as students practice the strategies. I Read It, But I Don�t Get It is pragmatic and sparsely written. Tovani concentrates on showing teachers what she does to incorporate strategy instruction in her own classroom. She minimizes theoretical discussion about reading, crafting text that jumps from anecdote to anecdote. In Part I, where Tovani must establish the research base for her book, a slight four out of 21 pages offer direct explanation of concepts. And only 16 out of the 54 reference citations in this slight book link to foundational research. The bulk of the citations are to children�s literature she uses in the sample activities. Instead of facts, she packs her text with examples of how she uses each tool and the dialogue she engages in when using them with Tim, Mary and their classmates. The approach reveals an presents an intimate peek into Tovani�s classroom that teachers easily connect to. Online customer reviews at amazon.com are consistently positive. It was these positive ratings that prompted me to purchase the book: [January 14, 2001] A Reader: Cris Tovani's book is fabulous! As a reading teacher, it helped me to find ways to help my students understand what they were reading AND to help them understand when they were understanding. [May 11, 2005] Jan Fleming-spillane: In my opinion, she did one of the greatest things she could have done for struggling readers - sharing her own struggles with reading and comprehension, and how she overcomes them. By doing this she showed them that good readers are made not born, and that they too can succeed. [September 30, 2005] D. Ellison: This is one of the most helpful books about teaching struggling readers that I've ever read. The strategies were immediately applicable to my work with learning disabled teenagers, and the book is written in a very clear and conversational style. It's like sitting down for a great discussion with a master reading teacher. Highly recommended. |
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| Harvey, S & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Engance Understanding. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publsihers. |
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| Zimmerman, S & Hutchins, C (2003). 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help your Kids Read It and Get It! Three Rivers, Michigan: Three Rivers Press. |
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| My Response to the Book
Pros and Cons I expected to be �wowed� by this book because the reader reviews are so positive. So I was a bit confused by my ambivalence after I read the book myself. Re-reading the book and reflection on notes I made during reading, call attention to the strengths of this book: 1- By focusing on pragmatic application Tovani does not get bogged down in theoretical, philosophical or political discussions about reading. The author gives just enough explanation of theory to provide context for her anecdotes and no more. 2- The brevity of the text makes this book very accessible to her over-worked, time conscious audience: practicing secondary teachers in the content areas. 3- Tovani acknowledges and validates common teacher experiences such as the classroom full of empty stares and pressure to cover content. 4- She also gives expression to the experience of struggling readers who have been told to simply �try harder� without being given appropriate tools. 5- The book gives concrete examples of best-practice in action that helps to demystify reading instruction. It is humbling, but I have to admit that I did not �get it� when I read this book the first time. I think the problems I have with this book derive from the combined effects of my purpose in reading, my cognitive style, and the text itself. My purpose in Reading: I think my appreciation of Tovani's book was impacted by two facets of my reading purpose. First, during reading, I positioned myself as a reader outside the education community because I wanted to evaluate this book from the perspective of the people I serve through educational consulting. I hoped this would be a book I could give to teaching parents to help them proactively support their students� reading development into late adolescence. I expected a book that would give a clear explanation of the basis for comprehension instruction coupled with concise, accessible application of theory to practice. Though these elements are not missing, I do not think they are elaborated well enough for my intended audience and the book is rife with language that assumes the reader has a significant amount of background knowledge in reading theory (e.g. strategic reading, access tool, comprehension strategy, reading workshop, construct meaning) Also, I think the classroom focus of Tovani�s anecdotes blur the potential application of strategy instruction to other contexts. Second, time pressure led me to scan through this book, reading in a less linear fashion than I might otherwise. I chose to begin with a quick read to get the gist of the book. Then I went back to consider the text more deeply by jumping through the sections, analyzing the text structure, trying to follow the author�s argument, and reflecting on connections. My Cognitive Style: I tend to be an analytical thinker. This leads me to constant scanning for the �why� and �inter-connectedness� of thoughts in my reading. However, this book does not easily support my thinking style. Even on close reading I discovered places in the book where Tovani skips important connections between thoughts, follows inconsistent patterns of thinking, or fails to clarify the significance of a new key concept through text structure or typeface. Tovani readily acknowledges that, "As you read this book, you will quickly notice that it isn't a comprehensive work about reading instruction. Isn't intended to be." (pg 21) As I have a fairly good theoretical base to build on, I was not overly concerned with this statement. However, I was surprised that such a small book required so much work on my part for comprehension. I found that the loosely connected, anecdotal style of writing requires a lot of work to make the pieces of this book fit together. Many teaching parents in my target population are also analytical thinkers and they lack my background knowledge. I wonder if they would be willing to stretch themselves enough in terms of global thinking to appreciate the pragmatic modeling Tovani provides. Nature of the Text: In his web-published article, "Serving the Strategic Reader: Reader Response Theory and Its Implications for the Teaching of Writing," Florida A & M University journalism professor Gerald Grow discusses the concept of �considerate text�. Considerate text contains clear text structures and is clear in regard to which parts of the text are connected. It leads the reader to construct similar meaning to that which the writer intends. Grow suggests that considerate writing helps all readers comprehend better. Poor readers are given connections they need to make connections as they read slowly. Good readers are provided familiar conventions of print they depend on heavily when they choose to scan or read in a less consecutive manner. Grow says writers can "plan for this [recursive form of reading] by designing different entry-points, through the use of subtitles, pull quotes, picture captions, infographics, and the like. Make the entry points real, not tricks to lure readers�Allow readers the freedom to decide how much time to spend on your work. Help them make that decision. And, if they only want to skim, embed markers that help them skim. Use conventional signals (such as topic sentences) to identify the topics readers may be skimming for." (click here for link to article) Critique of Chapter 3 I found the whole of Tovani�s book lacking in the sort of details that mark considerate text but Chapter 3 is probably the weakest. I was misled by the chapter�s title, text structure, and organization. The title, �Purposes for Reading: Access Tools�, led me to falsely predict the chapter�s main focus before I began reading. I based my prediction on colon placement in the title and connections I made between the chapter title and organization of the book. Because a colon usually indicates a subordinate clause, I assumed Purpose for Reading was the main idea with Access Tools supporting purpose in some way. The Table of Contents, which I also reviewed before reading, supports this assumption. It connects the third hrough ninth chapters thematically under the section heading, �In Support of Strategic Reading�. My prior knowledge of reading strategies led me to recognize the seven chapter titles in this section as reflecting seven of those strategies. Since I knew that reading purpose is one of those strategies, I expected purpose to be the focus of Chapter 3. My predictions proved incorrect. During reading, my false predictions were further reinforced by text structure in the first two sections of Chapter 3. The first section of chapter three predictably introduces the role of reading purpose accompanied by an example of how to make students aware of reading purpose. So I expected Tovani would follow the familiar ab ab ab text format in which explanation is followed by example. I confirmed my prediction when I read the concluding paragraph of this section where a transitional sentence introduces the next sections of text: �Once students see the importance of establishing a purpose when they read, its time to teach them different purposes for reading.� (pg 26) However, the rest of the chapter does not address different purposes for reading and the section formats do not parallel the established pattern. Instead, the text is procedural, explaining the instructional tools she calls �access tools�. In skimming, I thought maybe I missed her explanation of how establishing a purpose in reading can be developed through these tools. But slower reading and deeper analysis reveal that thought is not developed anywhere in the chapter. Text structure continued to mislead me as Tovani discusses Thinking Aloud during reading in the next section. Her intent is to explain that this is a useful instructional tool for helping students become more aware of the thinking processes that aid comprehension during reading. However, before developing that thought, she digresses with details about reading research and mental modeling that distracted from the main idea. In addition, she failed to make it explicit that Thinking Aloud is one of the four categories of access tools that she uses in her instruction to promote reading strategy use. It took me several re-readings and some deep analysis of the chapter�s text structure for me to understand how this section connects to the rest of the chapter. Tovani's organization of key ideas also contributed to false predictions I made while reading chapter 3. In the summary paragraph I mention above, Tovani first mentions access tools and gives an unenlightening explanation of what they are: �Access tools are specific materials and strategies that help students organize and synthesize their thoughts as they read. They make material more accessible.� [pg 26]The implication is that she would elaborate further as the text progresses. When that elaboration did not occur immediately, I flipped through the book to the final section, titled Part 3 Access Tools, to see if it would shed any light. Subsections of Part 3 are titled � Double Entry Diaries�, �Comprehension Constructors�, and �Coding Sheets�. These subsection titles reflect three chapter subsections with similar titles that are sandwiched between �Thinking Aloud� and �Modeling� in chapter three. So I made a logical text connection between Access Tools in chapter three and Access Tools in the final part of the book. Unfortunately, in making that connection I did not recognize that Thinking Aloud should be included in the set of tools. Though Chapter 3 is pivotal for understanding the remainder of the material, I think the book�s organization hides that fact. The reader is expected to understand that Tovani introduces four access tools in this chapter. One is also supposed to understand that these tools are useful for more than supporting students in creating a purpose for writing. A fact I did not find apparent until she uses them in different ways for each reading strategy. In my opinion, the foundational role of the information about access tools in chapter three would have been more clear if she had separated the material about access tools into a separate introductory chapter and made clearer transitions between sections, chapters, and parts. |
| Conclusion:
My experience reading this book underscores one of Tovani�s themes: Meaning does not come magically, it requires work. The work may be unconscious for more proficient readers or when reading less difficult text. However, meaningful reading only happens through application of strategies that are appropriate to the text and the reader in each situation. Through this book I�ve become more aware of the strategies I use as a reader and how those strategies help me to construct meaning when the text is difficult. My empathy for struggling readers has increased and I have a new understanding of the important role that strategy instruction plays for more proficient readers. This new awareness should make me a better teacher as I try to help adolescent readers and those who provide their instruction. Despite my personal problems with Tovani's writing style, I still might recommend her book to selected individuals. Research has proven that explicit teaching of reading strategies helps all readers. Tovani models how to do explicit strategy instruction. Clearly, Tovani�s audience is teachers whom she challenges to: -- rethink instructional roles and examine current teaching methods -- avoid pressures to cover content -- sidestep the temptation to feed students information -- don�t reduce the opportunities to read because students struggle -- teach them strategies that help them read the assign material -- assign interesting, accessible text -- be confident in their experience as proficient readers (pg 21) She extends this challenge through example, rather than argumentation, moving beyond theory to practical application in a way that many teachers find engaging. I think that I Read It, But I Don�t Get is a resource I�ll consider for promoting meaningful staff development in a school setting. I would like to experiment with using this book combined with a readers guide for staff development of teachers. However, before I promote the book widely among the teaching parents I consult, I want to pursue ways to scaffold reading of this book so that both its application outside the classroom and the text structure are more transparent. Cris Tovani has worked closely with Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis in association with the PEBC in Denver. Their book, Strategies That Work appears to be a more detailed treatment of the same basic material with a focus on younger students. Pairing these two books together may give the necessary scaffolding that I anticipate my target audience would need in order to accept and apply the practice of reading strategy instruction. Another book to consider for scaffolding is 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help your Kids Read It and Get It! Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins are also associated with PEBC. Their book is written for both teachers and parents. |
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