I Read It, But I Don't Get It

Chris Tovani’s book I Read It, But I Don’t Get It” has shown me the light on how to get some of my students who are struggling with being able to comprehend a book. This book could not have entered my life at a better moment. In my freshmen English classes we are reading To Kill a Mockingbird. The test scores are sad to see. I begin to wonder while grading them, are my students lazy and not reading the book or are they not understanding what is happening. I have picked up some skills in this book that I am taking with me to my classroom and teaching to see if there is some way that I can improve their test scores. 

Within this book also I recognize some skills and activities that my English teachers have used in my educational years. The House activity that Mrs. Tovani used in her classroom is the same activity I was given to do when I was in high school. I remember vividly at looking at different points of views and perspective and highlighting certain information. However, that connection between reading and how to set purpose never clicked because my high school teacher never made that connection known. I was alway under the impression that it was just an activity we were doing. 

There is a question that I have about comprehending reading that was bugging me the whole time as I was reading. Is using background knowledge and experience the only way to get kids to comprehend their reading? Every chapter of this book had something more or less to do with this idea of using background knowledge. After a while it was repetitive and my eyes began to skim over that information because I felt like I had heard it a million times already. I understand it’s significance, and that it is very beneficial to the learning of how to really read. I just feel like there has to be another way for those privileged kinds who haven’t had enough experience  with hardship and lack street skills. 

One activity that I found that would be so much fun and beneficial to a classroom was the book sharing. I love the idea of allowing kids to go back and remember a book that had a lasting impression on them. It’s like going back in time and finding that love of reading. I always go back and read certain books over and over again because it made such an impact on me like The Great Gatsby.