Chapter 5 Tovani

Chapter 5 is entitled "why am I reading this", and for good reason. The chapter focuses on what teachers are assigning and why they are assigning it. Tovani urges teachers to know what they are assigning and what is expected of the students when they read it. Some teachers blindly teach curriculum that they think they ought to and others don't know how to get students to turn off their reciting voice. Several elements are presented that interrupt students reading and hurt their chances of deeper understanding and value for the text. This will ultimately turn them off to reading of any kind if it is not remedied. The beginning of the chapter urges teachers to "kick it up a notch" or at least that's how I see it. The figures shown are all great illustrations of self challenging quizzes that get the teacher in the learners shoes. If more teachers would do this, I think they would realize the problem areas and figure out how to manage their time more effectively. Most often in my high school I saw the schedule as follows: bell rings, kids get in seats, meet and greet, kids get out books, teacher begins lecturing and encourages note taking, bell rings, catches teacher off guard, students hurriedly pack up, teacher blurts out some instructions on homework, and finally encourages students to study what they have...learned. What did they learn? They learned that the teacher can talk in their reciting voice from lecture notes they have had for the last 10 years. This doesn't give off any indication of enthusiasm for the subject, current issue encoporation, or personal relation of the subject to the students. As teachers, Tovani encourages us to give a purpose to why we are teaching, and what we are asking the students to read. In the previous scenario I explained a typical day for myself, and in that day the worksheets or reading assignments were given in the last 10 seconds where all the students wanted to hear was "have a great day and by the way you don't have class tommorow". We need to give more direction to the students about what they are reading and why it is important. As college students, we have chosen career paths, and in each of those paths we have reading to do. Some of us do this reading for entertainment, and some of us do it because we have to read it to pass. For entertainment I like to read science articles; they keep me current on science issues, and they keep me looking forward to the future. Some articles in my classes however are very dull, involving cytocianin red algae blooms causing eutrophication in the fresh waters of lake michigan. I give myself purpose in reading these articles but students won't do it themselves. We need to encourage focus in purpose and encourage students to find things they like to read as well. I think the author omitted a good point as well; if there is time, why not assign students a reading assignment of their own choosing.