Customer Reviews

Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an English teacher, I didn't think Tovani provided enough usable strategies in "I read it, but I don't get it", though I can understand how reading teachers or those teaching language arts at the middle school level could appreciate it. "Do I have to teaching Reading" is much better: there's more graphic organizers, more lesson ideas and more discussion of the actual teaching of reading. In a great many ways, this is a revised, streamlined and updated version of her first book; if you are considering "I Read it", buy this book instead, since it covers almost everything she talked about there with more. I do want to plead with the author and publisher, however, that when you make the appendices for future books, that you include blanks of every figure shown in the book...there were several charts and such that I would have loved to have a clean copy of.

This is a very great, practical, realistic book. It is a very easy read, and is only 120 pages total. If you already know alot about reading comprehension, it is nothing earth-shattering, and you may only pick up a few things from it. But, if you are a relatively new teacher, this book could help you significantly. Tovani's writing is very simple, easy to follow, and straightforward, and you can tell she is still a classroom teacher and not some out-of-touch researcher, since all her tips are very practical. Even if you already know alot about comprehension, this book will probably give you a few new things to think about, and it can easily be read in one weekend. It will not be a waste of your money!!

We are all reading teachers. We must teach the students to read so they will be able to succeed in all subjects.

This book has strategies for all teachers. The author makes some good points when describing an encounter with an industrial arts teacher who said, "students don't have to read in my class."

This book will show you how to make connections in your subject area to reading.

If you teach a student to read, they can do anything.

This book really speaks to the reader and teachers. Cris Tovani is very hilarious when makiing comparisons to other subjects and students. This book is a must have for teachers that experience the hardships of trying to get students read with a purpose.

This book is short and to the point but filled with valuable information for teachers who want to strengthen reading comprehension in their classrooms. I highly recommend this book as a starter text for both teachers who are motivated to learn more about content area reading and those who may be hesitant. It's a great title for a collegial study group.

For someone looking for some practical strategies to help struggling readers make progress, there isn't a better place to look than this book. Tovani provides a number of strategies along with templates and appendices to help teachers put her ideas into immediate practice. And the strategies are good ones that should provide help to teachers, something too often sorely lacking in these kinds of books.

Tovani is also an excellent writer who provides a number of inspirational anecdotes from her own teaching and workshop experience. She writes about how her strategies can be used in a variety of curricular settings because, in this world of "writing across the curriculum," teachers in every subject area need to be able to address reading issues. And many of her anecdotes illustrate the "push back" we often see from teachers who feel this is just another thing they're being unfairly asked to do.

If there is a weakness in her book, it is that she doesn't show how to make that important transition from a reader who needs these strategies to a reader who has internalized these strategies and become a good reader. It seems from her approach that college students and young people working their first jobs are going to be pulling out double entry diaries and the like to help them interpret what they have to read. This is unlikely, of course, but it isn't clear from Tovani's work how to wean students from her strategies and what to do if good readers rebel against using them since, for good readers, this constant use of graphic organizers and so on could interfere with their joy and success in reading.

Still, the struggles that many students have with reading makes a book like this useful and necessary as do the struggles that many teachers have helping their students improve their reading skills. Tovani clearly knows what she's doing and her work is a great asset to those of us trying to improve instruction.

Talk about insipring, this book is a must-have for secondary-level teachers of every content area. Cris Tovani is still a teacher and uses her methods in her own Reading and English classes, so the methods she proposes for reading comprehension are supremely practical. She tells tells humorous stories from her own classroom as she tries to "find ways to make students carry more of the thinking load in our classrooms" (19). The appendix has a variety of activities and graphic organizers to help students hold their thinking.

As an English teacher, this was a useful read. The chapters were short, and there were nice teaching suggestions at the end of the chapters. However, I would have liked to have seen more concrete lesson plans and blackline masters. I had to read this book for a class, but I will definitely hang on to it as an instructional resource.

I was assigned this book for a class this semester in my grad program. As a science teacher, I went into the class thinking, "Why do I have to take this class??" After the first day, I went to buy my textbook. That night we were assigned the first chapter. I sat down, to read just that chapter, but ended up reading the entire book. Tovani's style of writing is so easy to read and follow. There are items discussed in the book that you can incorporate into your first day of class, and things to use all year. I feel that with these ideas in place, my students are going to do much better in my class. My eyes are open now to the need for teaching reading in every subject. I would reccommend this book to first year teachers and well seasoned teachers alike. Thank you Ms. Tovani for writing such a great book!

Whether you teach math, English, science, or any discipline in a school, this book will make you a BETTER teacher. In addition, when you apply Tovani's suggestions, your students will IMPROVE. This book is worth taking personal time outside the classroom to read. It will make your time in the classroom more purposeful.