I Read It, But I Don't Get It

I immediately notice the realism Tovani takes in her approach to teaching. It’s clear from reading that she has a lot of experience in education and understanding how adolescents operate. She reminds me a lot of myself and how I felt after high school. I had gotten through all my schooling without the ability to comprehend difficult books, articles and even movies by faking reports and reading as little as possible. It was easy to pass assignments with basic information written down. Though passing high school was relatively easy because the opportunities and assistance I had received throughout, I had an epiphany about my reading abilities during one of my years at the community college. When I struggled to complete what I think now was a simple assignment and others could with ease, I felt I would always be less intelligent than my peers. I felt stupid. I think the biggest thing I have taken from my college education is my improvement of understanding difficult texts through the countless hours of reading and studying History and English.

She brings up a good point about how reading is being perceived as just repeating words and comprehension is something totally different. Teachers should help student’s ability to critically think, by using existing knowledge to draw connections, getting students asking questions about the text and drawing inferences, and determining what’s important to them. It’s up to educators to not overburden their students with a lot of text to cover, but rather focus on constructing meaning from the more important parts of the text. I think it’s important for adolescents to know that learning how to read is a lifelong process. Reading isn’t something we fully know how to do just because we can define words or repeat them. Experience and making connections to those experiences is the main factor writing is difficult for younger students. I also think that teachers need to make sure students realize how reading is important for real life application. Students often wonder if the lessons being taught will actually be needed in their lives going forward. By letting students know that learning how to “read” can help people understand things like tax returns and how to not miss out on a refund.