The first concept that stuck out to me in this book was the idea of "fake reading". From what I gathered, the meaning of fake reading seemed to be when a student could succeed in classes while reading as little as possible and fooling the teacher into thinking they have read the whole book all the while not really comprehending the depth of the text. This is how I succeeded and made it through much of my educational career thus far was by figuring out how to do the least amount of reading while still passing English classes. However, this book has highlighted this point and made me look back on my own reading experiences and I realize that I don't remember much of what I've read in the past. I know now that I was never really taught comprehension strategies in order to help me actually understand what I've read.
The next concept that I found was that of "decoding" and "word callers" (15). I myself believe that I fall into this category when it comes to reading. I simply think that if I read the words, meaning should come with it but "when reading the words alone doesn't produce meaning, word callers assume the material is too difficult and not worth the time it takes to master it" (16). I have fallen into this rut even in my higher education. If I didn't understand the reading, I tried to read it again. However, when that strategy failed I often would just give up and choose to take a hit on my grade simply because in my thinking, it wasn't worth the effort to attempt to understand it for a few grade points.
As a "fake reader" myself, I enjoyed reading about the different access tools such as thinking aloud, marking the text, the double-entry diaries, and comprehension constructors. I feel like in my education, the only thing that was emphasized was marking the text. Even then I don't remember my teachers necessarily showing us how to do it. As the book brings up, modeling for students how to use each of these strategies is important. I also like that the book included actual examples of these access tools in the appendix for reference.
While these access tools are useful for engaging with the text, I, like the students in the book, would still become confused while reading. One quote stuck out to me because it embodies the thinking I had when I ran into this problem: "They rarely stopped while reading a piece to try and repair their confusion. They kept doggedly on until they finished the 'assignment', even though they had no idea what they were reading" (36). I believed that once my eyes finished reading the last words of the assigned reading, I was thus finished and had completed my assignment.
While I had earned decent grades in most all of my English classes, I wish now that teachers would have been able to notice what I ,along with everyone other student, was doing and teach us strategies for comprehension. I think though as a teacher, it can be difficult to identify such students because we can falsely assume that since the student is earning decent grades, they are comprehending what they are reading.
For me as a future educator, I will utilize this book and model for students how to effectively read a piece of text. I will also strive to create assignments in which they must utilize their new-found comprehension of the text, rather than having them complete monotonous "book reports" that can easily be done without actually reading the book.
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