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

My first reaction as I was reading Cris Tovani’s I Read It, But I Don’t Get It was to feel incredibly privileged. My experiences related to reading and comprehension were quite different from the ones described in the book. I grew up with parents who read to me, read with me, and encouraged me to be reading on my own frequently. My mom is also a primary school reading interventionist so her specialty is literally helping young kids develop the skills related to decoding, fluency, and comprehension. As a result, it has been a rare experience for me to encounter literature that I felt like I couldn’t make meaning from. It’s not that there weren’t times when I struggled to understand a text or to make meaning, but from a young age I was given the skills to be able to overcome my confusion with a text, and for that I’m incredibly grateful.

As I was reading and looking through some of the appendix materials, I recalled times in my schooling experience when my teachers used approaches similar to the worksheet found on page 129 (related to identifying places in a text where a reader is stuck). I’m sure these assignments were incredibly helpful for some students, but I honestly remember struggling with these assignments a lot, simply because I struggled to identify places where I had been stuck in a reading. Looking back, I’m sure there were places in the readings where I had to reread something to make sure I understood it, or where making a connection to my personal experience helped me to understand a confusing part, or where by continuing to read past a difficult section I was able to figure out what was going on. But to me this didn’t feel like getting stuck, it just felt like reading (a point that Tovani makes), and so with worksheets like the one that focuses on sticking points, I found myself making stuff up just to get it done.

The second reaction I had to the reading was to realize what an incredible resource this book could be to me, especially since it offers perspectives and experiences that aren’t primarily similar to my own. As a teacher, I recognize that an area of difficulty for me could be helping students who “read it but don’t get it”, simply because that is not an experience that is super common to me. It was helpful that the text broke down the process of constructing meaning from reading because it helped me to examine the process that I go through without thinking about it.

Overall, I’m excited to use this book as a resource in my classroom.