I READ IT, BUT I DONT GET IT

I Read It, But I Don’t Get It

After reading Cris Tovani’s book I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, I learned many of her strategic learning strategies. Not only did I learn and take note of many these strategies Cris gives great tips throughout the entire book on how to employment these strategies in my future classroom. After reading the first couple of pages I really enjoyed the sense of humor she has when describing students on the first day of class. When Cris explains establishing expectations she states that teachers need to keep their expectations clear and simple. “Before I share what I expect of student’s, I want them to know what they expect from reading workshop”(3). I really liked how she did not put up with any bullshit from the students who were complaining about the work that was possible in her class. Instead she told them how she didn’t want to grade 25 different reports, she told them how she cheated on her report in the second grade. I also enjoyed how after her telling the students that she had cheated they opened up and explained how they fake read since the third grade and Cris explains that she did the same thing. Another aspect of this book that caught my eye was when she explained that if she wanted her students to become better readers than she needed to become a better reader herself. If teachers had the ability to think like this when it comes to teaching I think every student will benefit so much. Imagine a teacher who thinks they know it all and don’t believe they have any room for improvement. How do those teachers help students become the best learners they possibly can if they wont even try to learn new ways to teach students? One of m favorite parts of the book is when she describes how to disarm the defenses. “By the ninth grade, many students have been defeated by test scores, letter grades, and special groupings”. I was able to relate to this one line because I almost quit going into education because I felt defeated by all three of the things she mentions. She goes on to explain how reading has totally lost its purpose and pleasure in today’s classrooms. This book is filled with so information that I could go on to talk about for a long time. I will definitely be keeping this book as a tool for myself to help the readers that she describes in this book to become better readers. Not only will I use this as a tool for my students but also as tool for myself to learn many more ways on how to become the most efficient reader I possibly can.