Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Chapter 9 and Final Thoughts

(Page 121) “I think most of us became teachers because we love our content so much…We love this content so much, we’ve dedicated the better part of our lives teaching it to others. I don’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.”
I think this statement from Tovani pretty much sums up why, if we really love our content area, we need to teach kids to read in our classrooms. Tovani makes it clear that it is impossible for the English teacher to teach students how to read everything…content area teachers are the expert readers in their subject areas. I really enjoyed this book because it is easy to read and has so many practical strategies that are fairly easy to implement.

I’ve really enjoyed reading your comments on this blog. Thank you for your thoughtfulness in your responses. As your write your last post, please give me some feedback on how the book has impacted your classroom or approach to teaching as well as your thoughts on the blog itself. Is this something you’re interested in doing again? What did you like about it? How do you think it could be made better?

I hope this was a rewarding experience for you!

Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Chapters 7 and 8

(Page 92) “We (did) something called a fishbowl in front of the class…we would sit in front of the students, modeling what we wanted them to see, while they watched and then talked about what they saw.”
I loved how Tovani and her colleague acted as if they were in a group working together in front of the students. The students were easily able to pick out what were and were not good practices while working in a group. It was obvious to the students what was expected in group work after a demonstration and discussion of it. It took me a while as a teacher before I figured out just how important modeling is. There were times when I just told students to do the work but never showed them HOW to do the work. Once I figured out I really needed to model to them exactly what to do, their production greatly increased.

(Page 103) “The aim of assessment is primarily to educate and improve student performance, not merely audit it.”
So often we get caught up in the cycle of teaching the material then testing the students on it, but who does that help? (Other than helping us have something to put in the gradebook, of course.) Really, how often do we have to take tests in the day-to-day activities of being an adult? If we spent more time looking at where kids are performing and how we can get to them to the next level, they will be better served. I heard Ellin Keene (Mosaic of Thought) speak in January, and one thing she said that really resonated with me was “Kids who think well test well.” I think if we really concentrated on finding out where our kids are and teaching them how to think (more modeling!) then we wouldn’t have to worry so much about end of course tests and HSAP because they would be good thinkers and do well on those tests without us freaking out about them.