Betsey,

This is for you in the event that you are blogging. First, thank you for using the site and contributing to the discussion. I am especially pleased to read in your recent blog that identifying the difficult vocabulary words with your students and constructing meaning for them really made a difference in their comprehension and understanding of the lesson. This is the essence of Tovani's book--taking the time to help your students learn the process of learning will create more competent learners, not just in your class but in all their other classes as well. Thank you for sharing your experience and illustrating the concept so eloquently. See you next meeting. I will try and find a treat that is not so DRY.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 really spoke to me since I started notes for a new chapter and I went through a sentence that my students had no comprehension for one single word much less stringing the words together for to make a viable thought. It all was perfectly clear to me but my students had lost sight of some basic vocabulary and couldn't decode. We went through and determined which words were giving us trouble, then figured out what they meant or found good examples of them which took some time, however, the result was that the remaining lesson went much more smoothly.

I've never done this before

There's always a time to try something new in your life especially once your over 50. What's blogging anyway? Is it a communication thing? Back to the book, I am excited to try new things, obviously. Having been at the education game as long as I have. Fake reading doesn't apply only to Language Arts or History or a content area that is primarily reading but equally to my subject of math as my students confided when they did poorly their most recent test. They explained that my agonizing over the explicit and very particular directions that I wrote were for naught since they preferred to look at the problems and guess what was to be done. This was the strategy that they had employed since forever. Success in math was based on the most succesful guessing of what it took to solve a problem.

So, the lesson that I learned was this is definitely a universal problem and it applies to ALL content areas. When you least expect that you might be a victim, you most certainly are!

Hello

I just wanted to sign up and practice before the real event :)

Welcome to the I Read It, But I Don't Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers discussion board. We will meet weekly during prep periods to discuss this book. Each group may decide on meeting times for book group discussions. As soon as the books arrive, I will get your copy to you. I will provide post-it notes for you to use as you read. I have created this discussion board for you so that groups can "drop in" on what other groups are discussing. When we try new things in our classrooms, we can share our successes or obstacles with everyone in our book club. I hope you all enjoy the book and come away with new insights on our students and their struggle to comprehend the material. I think an important focus is to keep in mind that students today need to be taught how to learn. Yes, we all have important content which they need to learn, and we know that material like the back of our hands, but they need to be coached and coaxed into learning how to learn the content before they will really comprehend with a deep understanding the lessons we deliver each day. I hope you enjoy Cris Tovani's book. It is one of my favorites.