Tovani Chapter 1

Book: Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?

Summary: Tovani's purpose of the book is to teach teachers how to teach students how to think about what they read. She offers some core skills that will aid in comprehension of reading, and she explains what "content-area reading" is. 

I love how Tovani is very upfront and real with the students and teachers she is influencing. She makes a good point that we should want students to know the core of reading skills instead of teaching them tricks that they may or may not understand or use. Luckily for me, my content area is English. I like that schools are encouraging and requiring teachers of other subject areas to teach reading skills because these skills will need to be used in other classes and throughout life! They will need to reuse information that is read.

Another thing I love so far about Tovani's writing is her style. She adds humor to the text and knows how to "grab" the reader's attention! There are things we can learn from her writing style. :)


One thing that I found helpful was the "Fix-Up Strategies" (6). They are very practical strategies that will help anyone with their reading. 

I think of myself as a life-long learner. As a teacher, I’m going to constantly look for ways to improve the reading skills in my room and to make sure I'm focusing on the students' learning and not just the proclamation of my content area.


Tovani, Cris. Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?: Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2004. Print.