Tovani I Read it But I don't Get It

First off, I love that Tovani uses real quotes from her students about their frustrations with reading. Many of them are comments that I made when I was a high school student, and they are complaints that I hear now almost daily in my practicum.

I believe that one of the most integral concepts that we as teachers need to understand is the difference between our students being “Resistive Readers” or “Word Callers”. Tovani explains the difference as a matter of reluctance vs comprehension. While resistive readers know how to read, their struggle is that they simply don’t want to. Word callers read the words but can’t truly understand or remember what they read. Resistive readers will find ways to fake their way through class by allowing other students to answer the questions that the teacher poses. Often times these readers don’t feel as if they have a purpose for their reading other than to complete the assignment. Giving students an access point to read the texts helps students find this purpose. These can be double entry diaries that help students connect the text to their thoughts and background information.

Word callers may need more attention because they don’t think of reading as something that requires critical thinking. They can pronounce the words but they stop there. They never look for a deeper understanding of the text.