My thoughts on.... I Read It, But I Don’t Get It

When reading I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, the first section that caught my eye was the section on already learning things in elementary school. I personally have heard secondary teachers say this to me, as I was not the best reader in elementary school and this reflected on my abilities in middle and high school. I think that it is important that teachers not assume things about their students; for example, one of their students could be English Language Learners in high school, and they are just now learning to read. Of course, this wasn’t taught to them in elementary school, because school was learned in another language for them. Later in the section, it was talked about to assign books and readings that students will like. If they don’t like the reading, then they probably won’t read it or even take interest in the reading. How are students supposed to take interest in a reading if they don’t understand it? By assigning something that students WANT to read, they will gain understanding and practice to make them a better reader. Another entry that caught my eye was the section on double entry diaries. I think this would help students a lot in annotating and reading rhetorically. I know in high school I struggled a lot with annotating. I didn’t understand what it was or why it was necessary. This strategy would have helped me a lot. Lastly, the section on teaching questioning caught my eye. A lot of students in school are afraid or simply do not want to ask questions in class. Questions are super important and is what drives discussion. Students need to be taught about questioning and how questioning can be turned into a common activity that students partake in school. By asking questions, students can interact with the text, clarify information in the text, and can even be motivated to read through the questioning.