Tovani Chapter 6
This chapter was pretty awesome because Tovani starts with
her conducting a workshop in which she projected a very interesting picture.
The picture was of a navy seal climbing a rope out of the ocean with a shark
about to attack him. Tovani had the class to discuss the picture and come up
with an analysis of the photo. The she told them that it was a fake picture
created in Photoshop by combining two pictures together. She did this to show the class that reading is
more than just reading word on a piece of paper. Rather, it is about the
analysis of the information and the connections the reader makes to the
reading. It’s about “thinking even when reading a picture” (p. 68).
In this chapter Tovani expresses the importance of active
reading and how students need to learn and practice this in order to become
strong readers. By actively reading text, students will be able to grasp more
of the information and relate it to their lives. They will make more
connections and the reading will have a more lasting impression on
students. Once again she gives us some
tools to use to help students actively read.
She discusses “marking texts” and discusses how having
students mark quotes, write down questions, respond to the text, and make
statement is what will help them grasp more of the information presented in the
text. She brings up utilizing post notes and highlighters once again but this
time she discusses using them a bit differently. She states that post it notes
should also be used for students to post questions and points that stuck out to
them while reading the text. She also discusses how students should use
different colors of high lighters to signify confusing parts, important parts,
as well as the instructional purpose.
She then continues her workshop with a article that she uses
to et her students thinking. Here she brings up more info about the
aforementioned tools but also discusses using a bulletin boards. I really liked
the bulletin board idea because I have used them in the past where students
controlled what the board was used for. They would post questions they had
about the readings of period of study. They used it to create a timeline that
was updated after every reading. This was a great because it put the
responsibility in their hands and allowed them to address issues they had
directly with the text. This inspired me
to resurrect the board for next school year. Tovani ended the chapter with some
more teaching points, which are:
1.
Teach students that the authors left clues for
them to help them understand the readings.
2.
Teach student that they can create visual
representations of what they are reading
and making meaning of.
3.
Model for students how develop and take
effective notes that will help them understand and remember more information
presented in the text.
4.
Share what techniques help you be a better
reader.
I would love to see that photo! Active reading is truly one of the most important tools for students to learn. I think the coolest part about it is that you don't have to be an expert or know all the answers, you just have to ask questions and be engaged with the content. My question would be: how can you engage students who are extremely limited with their selective attention? Like, how can you make active reading appear important when in competition with social media or short bubbles of text on the Internet? Mostly a hypothetical question, but if you have an idea, I'd love to read it!
ReplyDeleteThese are some great strategies! I think combining visual literacy and the meaning-making behind that can really activate another part of the student brain. It's nice to be able to think about literacy in different ways, and for both visual and non-visual students, the focus on images as literacy can change perceptions and help them make predictions and inferences. I also really like the bulletin board idea. As someone who is about to start my first year of teaching K-12, I am putting together a pretty good arsenal of things to try from all of these different blogs!
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