Tovani Response

Chris Tovani’s I Read It but I Don’t Get It really made me rethink how I approach a text or novel reading assignments for students in my future classes. As a student here at EWU I have adapted to life here and the pace of reading that is required for college classes. The more I read Tovani the more I realized that I was not a strong reading in high school, and if I wouldn’t have found a love of reading in 11^th grade, I am sure that my school career would have been very different. As a teacher who will encounter students who have not discovered the love of reading, this book will help with reading strategies that I can use to help them get by with the reading assignment they are doing. I recall how difficult it was for me as a student in high school if I wasn’t well read when the assignment was due, and I will use that knowledge as well to help my students who struggle with reading.

One of the greatest reading strategies that I found from this book was the breaking down of the book and giving more explanation for each section of the book that we will be reading. I found this strategy helpful from both students and teachers point of view. As a student, having the book broken down before reading really helps in making sure that they are looking for the correct information. As a teacher, this strategy helps one to make sure the students looking for the correct information and understanding the concepts in the textbook or novel that the students are reading. This book really opened my ideas about assigning reading in my class and how I will structure the reading for the students ahead of reading. I know that as a teacher I will try and use the resources presented in Tovani’s book to help my struggling readers learn to engage with the text in levels that they will need in college and beyond.