Cris Tovani is open and honest in what she shares with the reader, but also in what she shares with her students. She openly tells them of her struggles as a reader and I think that in part, it is this honesty with her own struggles that makes the strategies she teaches so meaningful. You can read Chapter 1 "Fake Reading" on-line here.
From this book, I have borrowed the idea of "Literary Histories" and often open my reading/writing workshops with this. So I thought we could start by sharing our own literacy histories before we meet!! Post your responses in the comments below - and be sure to comment on what others write as well. (I'll post my own reflections in the comments section.)
Most everyone can remember a book that has had an impact on his or her life. Often this book is connected to a pleasurable experience. It could have been the first book you learned to read. Or it could have been a book that troubled you. An important book doesn’t necessarily have to be well loved. Think about your history as a reader. Recall a book that sticks out in your mind and share with us the title/author and two reasons why this book is important to you.
Literary histories can often determine how we read and write. Past reading experiences influence our reading and writing. What are some positive or negative reading events that affect the way you read today.
I've also posted a Word document of these questions on our wiki if you'd like to use this with study groups or students in your own districts.
2 comments:
I've written about this in my Writing Frameworks blog - but a book that has had a great impact on my life was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. As a child, I always dreamed of being Jo. She was strong and could do almost anything. She was also a writer - my secret passion. I never cared much for the other books by this author - but I still have the first copy given to me by my aunt and Godmother. And I'm waiting for the day to pass it onto Amelia as her aunt and Godmother!
Probably the most influential book for me, a book that brought me into ELA teaching in the long run, was Great Expectations. In my 9th grade "honors" class, I picked this book because it had a high weighting factor in the grading -- papers about it would be graded more generously, according to my teacher. I tried read the first chapters -- Pip and the Marsh and the Convict, and found it unbearable. Like many "good" game-playing students, I lunged for the CliffNotes, and got an A on the paper. Ugh. Feels much better getting that off the chest.
I ran into the book again four years later as a Political Science Major at University of Toronto, and the book made me cry -- sappy, I know, but I could identify with the loneliness of Pip as an expatriate American in a very large pond. I neglected Political Science work to read and re-read it. Dickens changed my major -- and three years later I found myself on a road to becoming an ELA teacher.
I like this conversion because it tells both sides of the story of the "good students" in HS ELA classes. Many students find that they are rewarded for not reading. Many teachers are in denial about this (as I myself often was while in the classroom). Other students find themselves drawn into a book deeply when the context and connections are right.
Which brings us right back to Chris Tiovani. As a dutiful game-playing honors student, I'd be hard pressed to monitor and scribe my conversation voice if I were required to turn such notes in, rather than a cliff-noteable essay. It's a beautifully tiered structure in that it offers struggling and proficient readers productive accountability for reading.
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