Cris Tovani’s I Read
It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers is
no doubt a must-have for teachers, especially up-and-coming and new teachers.
Why? Because, frankly, I’m still baffled at the thought of having to teach
middle school to high school students how to comprehend what they’ve read.
I admit, my bafflement really is unfair: especially towards
any future students that pass through my classroom that are not as proficient
in reading and the English Language Arts as in other fields of learning.
From early on in my college career, it became apparent that
if I were to teach anything at all in the universe, it would be Literature
reading and the English Language Arts – because I’m damn good at it and I also
happen to love it. I have to constantly remind myself that not every other
person in my immediate vicinity will possess the passion and skill to engage in
English Lit. the way myself and my peers in the field will and do.
That being said, part two, section eight of I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, ‘Outlandish
Responses: Taking Inferences Too Far’ made me feel like an English Teaching
alien. But, of course, I managed to dig a bit deeper into my English-Reading
history as a high school student and realized: I, like the rest of my school
mates, had to be continually instructed in the various methods of critical
reading and analysis. I remember reading novels, short stories, and poems and
remembered my rather strong emotional responses to them; but having a piece of
writing move you emotionally is not the same as truly comprehending a text and analyzing
it for the clues authors leave about what they’re trying to tell you. Needless
to say, I’m humbled, and must remember that reading and writing aren’t these
skills people are born with/or automatic.
- Angela H.
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