Ch 3 Parallel Experiences: Tapping the Mother Lode

Tovani starts of the chapter with a story on how she was having a workshop for all the teachers in the school on a Saturday and then again the following Monday during school. As you could imagine some of these teachers were not too excited to have to be here to learn how to teach their students reading. Most teachers understood and appreciated the help that Tovani gave but some decided that they couldn't help their students read because they did not do any reading in their class. After probing a couple of questions to an angry industrial tech teacher the teacher and Tovani soon realized that the students had to read directions which can sometimes be very inconsiderate text. Then they also realized that they have to "read" blueprints in this class. Tovani had recently had an experience with blueprints and not belong about to read them. So she expressed to the teacher that you need to be able to read different things that only you as an elective teacher can give.
She then moves into a story how she presented to a class of math students how she thought about the problem when she was reading the math textbook. As someone that was mathematically on the same level as the regular students she actually went through and showed how she started to read through the text to understand the math. Tovani and the math teacher soon realized that the teacher sometimes takes for granted that they understand things about the text that they don't realize the students may not know.
She ends the chapter with a story on how she was coming into an English class to try to show the students how to get through a hard book like Frankenstein which they were having to read for their class. She expressed how she fake read it in college herself and had a hard time reading it for the lesson she would be giving to the students today. She then truly had to figure out ways to get herself through the book so that she might find ways to help the students get through the book. She piqued their interest by giving them the most interesting art of the book to start off with. She then gave a history on the author and why she made the book. She also explained  how the book was separated so that they had a better understanding of the layout.
I found this last part to be the most interesting because I am having a really hard time with a reading that we are having for this class. Unlike the considerate text that Tovani uses the text in this reading is extremely inconsiderate. I read through it once without picking up a single piece of comprehension. After reading it a second time I picked up on only a couple of things. Then I literally had to reread the beginning part like five more times to even get a decent understanding on the intro. I don't understand why we have to read things like this. I find that it discouraged more than encourages if the reader can finally comprehend. It's not exciting for me to comprehend.

Ch 2. The “So What?” of Reading Comprehension

Tovani has a student named Erin that likes to test the boundary as a student. This student would consistently say “so what?” to any comment that any other student says. The other students would shut down after this student would make her comments. So after she made an assignment for her students that twenty other teachers were going to come and observe she decided to use Erin as inspiration for her modeling. She decided to say tell her students to ask themselves “So What?” when they are answering the questions about their reading. The students really engaged in this assignment and came up with some really engaging answers. 

She was really concerned and stressing about how Erin was going to make her look to the teachers that were coming to observe. We all have or will have those Erin’s in our class. But what do we do when those  “Erin’s” have a point? Tovani talks about how she sees that the assignment is not engaging the students. So in a way it is like the students asking her “So What?” Why are we teaching these things to our student’s. I am sure that we have the best intentions when coming up with these lessons but I think we truly need to ask ourselves “So What?” for every assignment. We need to make sure that our assignments have meaning for our students and ourselves.

I was asked the question about motivation in a comment in a previous blog. I feel that relating to lesson to the students lives is essential for the students to actually learn something. I don’t know how many times I have learned or memorized something for a class or a test so that I can pass it. Then after the class or the test is over the information and everything that I learned just disappears. I passed the class but I really didn’t learn anything. Then there are some classes that certain assignments and lessons really stand out to me and I still remember and look at fondly. Why are these assignments so special? It’s because I took personal meaning from them and actually learned something from them through that personal connection I made. So how can we make these assignments an lessons more motivational to the students? Choose content and mediums that they will be interested in, ask them questions that they have to either put themselves in the shoes of what they are reading or ask if they have ever had that instance in their own lives. In the book a student was talking to Tovani about her connection with the reading they were doing and the student finally started to understand that a character in the reading was poor and then related it to her own life when her and her friends were making fun of a poor kid at school. She then realized how her actions were hurtful and the kid probably couldn’t help his appearance because he was poor. Our lives are so complex and we have so many things that happening our individual lives that we can find these connections fairly easily to relate them to our students. 

Ch 1 Introduction: "I'm the Stupid Lady from Denver..."

I found this chapter and the text to be very interesting and very easy to read. Even though I have to read this for an assignment I am liking how easy it is to follow along. I really enjoyed the first story about how she went to Denver to work for the day to teach the students reading and comprehension. She read the text the students were reading about viruses. She found it very boring and said so in her lecture. The teacher came up to her afterwards and asked how she could say that viruses were boring? He then told her about all kinds of interesting articles he read on them and how they might cure cancer. Her final remark was awesome!! I actually clapped when I read it. She said, “Then why aren't you using those articles with your students?" So awesome!

Then she talks about her purpose. The purpose of what this book and her life’s work it trying to accomplish. She is trying to find the best way to teach students how to start being proficient readers and writers while comprehending the material. A good point that she made is that learning to read is an ongoing thing. It doesn’t just stop in elementary. I definitely see this as true because I don’t feel that I became comfortable with reading until I reached my mid college years.

Tovani feels that we should teach the students a few good strategies and not gimmicks or techniques. If we can give them some core strategies and they can master them they will be better prepared to take on any reading. Along with her teaching regular high school students she spends most of her time helping other teachers better able to teach content reading.

When I entered college it wasn’t a teacher or a class that helped me to start to understand the text and become a better reader. I used to hate to read. I would try to get away with the smallest amount of it as possible. If we had to read a book for class I would only do the smallest amount necessary. In college I was introduced to fantasy books by a friend I worked with. I then started a series and was so interested in the content that I was unable to put them down. I soon read the whole series and was hooked. I started to get my hands on other fantasy series. I was loving to read so much that I even moved into fiction, self help, and even a couple non-fiction. I was soon addicted to reading. I would hate to have to drive because I couldn’t read. Then I got into audio books. I now never have any music on and always have an audio book playing in my car. Then I can read my other books on my free time. I now currently love to read because the content pulled me in. I believe comprehension has to do with content.

6/24/12 All about blogging

I have never really heard of blogging or read a a blog before. So this experience should be interesting. I am pretty good with a computer so getting this done was not too difficult. I did watch the movie Juile and Julia and I am pretty are that had to do with blogging. What i gathered from blogging bliss is that it is a personal diary that we are keeping our notes and personal opinions on the particular book that we are reading. I am excited to try something new. It was easy enough to make and I will start next time with my thoughts on the book as I read.
I read this blog that this lady did about all the books that she has and her ordeal with trying to either find more space for them or try to get rid of some. She seemed pretty reluctant to get rid of many books. As an avid book reader myself I found this blog most interesting.I consistently find it hard to find places for all my books. I wish that I could just fill my apartment up with book shelves but there is only so much room.
I feel that if the students were to get into blogs they might find what they are reading more interesting because they are able to give there true opinion on the content and say things the way they really feel. I had a class where we had to give a weekly report on an article that we read. I had so much trouble with this because I tried to make it like a report. After my Professor saw that I was having trouble with it she suggested to me that I write it like a letter to her as my best friend. Once I got into this role as describing the articles in a letter to a best friend I blossomed and was able to understand the content better and really understand how I felt about it.
When I first thought about blogs I thought they would be short little paragraphs about once a day types of things. A lot of the blogs that I found were not done on a daily basis but very sporadically. I also noticed that the blogs were very long and contained pictures in them as well. I found this to be a neat idea. As an artist and a lover of pictures I would definitely incorporate pictures in my personal blog if I had one.
I found that the tone that most of the blogs that I read were like talking to friends. They were not trying to educate but just trying to to say what was on their mind about a certain subject. I think that this is what makes blogs special. It is getting information out there but in a very personal matter. A way that is interesting and that regular people can relate to. This makes me very excited!