I Read It, But I Don't Get It by Chris Tovani

Chris Tovani’s I Read It, But I Don’t Get It was chalk full of useful tips and reading comprehension strategies. As a student who struggled reading harder material in my British Literature class in high school and other texts in general in high school, I found Tovani’s strategies to be immensely helpful not only for me as a reader, but as a future teacher. As Tovani mentioned throughout the book, even seasoned readers need helpful comprehension strategies to get through a tough text. This was something I had forgotten about and it will forever stay with me. Without even realizing it, I became aware of certain strategies I use when I am reading a text. What I loved about this book, however, was that it opened my eyes to new strategies that I can use when I am reading a text that is way beyond my understanding. There have been many times throughout my college years that I have been assigned a text and had no idea where to start. None of the reading strategies I knew of helped me get through the text, and I was left feeling not smart enough to even finish reading it. I can completely relate to many of Tovani’s students’ struggles. As a future teacher, I think it will be so important to know different comprehending strategies and understand that many students have never been taught these crucial methods to understanding texts that are harder to read.

One of my favorite tips Tovani gives in the book is to be aware of the voices in your head when you are reading. There are four different voices that can be talking inside your head when you read, and you must understand the difference between the different voices. When reading, you have a reciting voice, conversation voice, interacting voice and a distracting voice. I am guilty of relying solely on my “reciting voice” far too much. When Tovani pointed this out, a light bulb went off in my head. I didn’t understand why sometimes I couldn’t comprehend a text that seemed simple enough. I now know it was because I was only using my reciting voice. I plan to make this distinction to my students at the beginning of the year and remind them throughout the year that just a reciting voice leads to no comprehension. Being aware of the different voices in your head when reading is the first big leap to comprehension. Once you are aware of those voices, you can employ one or many of the strategies Tovani writes about in her book. There are too many wonderful strategies in this book to write about: thinking aloud, purposeful highlighting, making connections, reflecting, questioning, predicting, visualize, text to self/world/text, wondering. The list can go on and on. I Read It, But I Don't Get It was a great read that will be extremely useful to me as a reader and in my career.