I Read It, But I Don't Get It

The book I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, was a very good piece of information that helps teachers and readers, such as your students and yourself. Therefore, some of the certain parts of the book I would like to discuss would be Chapter Two: The Realities of Reading. The idea of the section called, “I’ll Do Anything but Read,” gives teachers ideas about some of the possibly students they could have in their classroom (14). That student could be somebody that doesn’t like to read, and is a “resistive reader,” who survive from listening to their teacher and fellow students (15). Personally, I had a lot of friends that were “resistive readers,” and didn’t care to read that much, and would wait to hear ideas and the summary from other students or friends. However, it is up to us, as teachers to help guide them to understand the purpose of reading. Henceforth, in Chapter Three: Purposes for Reading, gives the idea that every text we read has purpose and meaning behind the context. Most students determine what is important, “in the text, what is remembered, and what comprehension strategy a reader uses to enhance meaning,” these students who read difficult text often come up with these complaints such as, “I don’t care about the topic; I can’t relate to the topic; I daydream and my mind wanders; I can’t stay focused; I just say the words so I can be done; I get bored,” giving the idea that some of these students behave like this because they don’t have a reason for reading (24). Yet, these students often believe that “They pronounce the words, finish the assignment, and rarely come away with a thorough understanding. It is a waste of time; they haven’t constructed meaning and can’t use the information,” but it’s up to the teachers to show the importance of reading and understanding the purpose of the text (24). Hence, the next idea that I thought was important and a good topic to discuss would be from Chapter Seven: What Do You Wonder, giving the reader the idea to always have questions and to wonder what is going on within the text. This thought comes from the idea that, “Questioning engages readers especially in relation to difficult or uninteresting material. If readers look for answers to their questions, they focus on the text and their mind is less inclined to wander,” as its our job to help guide and raise questions within our students to allow them to become better readers in the future (85).