HELPING STRUGGING
ADOLESCENT READERS
If you are a middle grades parent with a struggling reader, you may want
to buy this book -- for yourself, and perhaps for your school's professional
library. Teachers who participate in our daily MiddleWeb Listserv chat say
it's one of the best books about adolescent reading problems they've ever
come across. The book was written for teachers, but parents will learn much
from Chris Tovani's insights.
We don't have a deal with the publisher to promote this book. We simply
admire it and want to point frustrated parents and teachers to the experience
and wisdom Tovani has to share.
As a matter of fact, you can read the entire text of this book online -
for free!
Read the complete publisher's
description, open PDF files of each chapter, and find out how to order
I Read It But I Don't Get It:
Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers
By Cris Tovani
Foreword by Ellin Oliver Keene
Stenhouse Publishers
Copyright 2000
152 pp/paper
ISBN: 1-57110-089-X
$18.50
I Read It, but I Don't Get It is a practical, engaging account of
how teachers can help adolescents develop new reading comprehension skills.
Cris Tovani is an accomplished teacher and staff developer who writes with
verve and humor about the challenges of working with students at all levels
of achievement - from those who have mastered the art of "fake reading"
to college-bound juniors and seniors who struggle with the different demands
of content-area textbooks and novels.
The book features:
-- Anecdotes in each chapter about real kids with real universal problems.
You will identify with these adolescents and will see how these problems
can be solved;
-- A thoughtful explanation of current theories of comprehension instruction
and how they might be adapted for use with adolescents;
-- A What Works section in each of the last seven chapters that offers simple
ideas you can --immediately employ in your classroom. The suggestions can
be used in a variety of content areas and grade levels (6-12);
-- Teaching tips and ideas that benefit struggling readers as well as proficient
and advanced readers;
-- Appendixes with reproducible materials that you can use in your classroom,
including coding sheets, double entry diaries, and comprehension constructors.
From the "I Read It" foreword:
"I Read It, but I Don't Get It is going to sound very close
to home if you work with middle or high school kids.... And it's going to
equip you with a huge cache of new ways to approach and extend the kids'
comprehension, whether they are reading the lunch menu or Tolstoy....
"Cris...deeply understands and cares about adolescents and...understands
reading, inside out, upside down, and backwards. That's a powerful combination
in this era when so many students have applied their considerable intellectual
capacity and energy to fake-read for the whole of their school lives."
-- Ellin Keene
Read
a teachers' discussion about this book from MiddleWeb's Booklist listserv
Read (and print) an excerpt
Chapter Four: Conversations
with Cantos: Tracking Confusion to Its Source