I Read It, But I Don't Get It

In I Read It But I Don’t Get It, Tovani gives teachers stratagies to help students who are struggling with reading comprehension. One of the problems commonly found among students struggling with reading comprehension, is ‘fake reading’. This idea of fake reading compels us to reexamine what exactly reading is, and how it is not simply making sense of the words in the text, rather reading is about constructing meaning.

A few strategies in the text, used to help encourage this construction of meaning, which I especially like, are to become a passionate reader of what you teach, and model good reading. I personally have found success in applying both those strategies in the classroom. I worked with a small group of students on Fahrenheit 451, a text that was above their reading level and proved to be quiet challenging for them. They needed some extra support, so I spent some time working with them, reading the text out loud with them and talking about the book. I personally find the book fascinating, and I didn’t hide that from my students as we read and discussed it. Pretty soon we were all engaged and talking excitedly about how we relate to the world in Fahrenheit 451, and I was proud to see my students applying themselves and becoming excited about the text. Did I do some profound thing? Not at all. I was just engaged and excited about the text, and it helped. I believe students can sniff out pretty quickly when a teacher isn’t invested or motivated, and I believe students can recognize and respond well to when a teacher is.