“Do I really have to teach reading?”

This is a question many teachers ask, wondering how they can add a new element to an overloaded curriculum. The answer is yes; if teachers want their students to learn complex new concepts in different disciplines, they need to help develop their students’ reading skills.

In Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?: Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12, author Cris Tovani takes on the challenge of helping students apply reading comprehension strategies in any subject. Tovani shows how teachers can expand on their content expertise to provide the instruction students need to understand specific technical and narrative texts. Inside the book you’ll find:

• Examples of how teachers can model their reading process for students
• Ideas for supplementing and enhancing the use of required textbooks
• Detailed descriptions of specific strategies taught in context
• Stories from different high school classrooms to show how reading instruction varies according to content
• Samples of student work, including both struggling readers and college-bound seniors
• “Comprehension Constructors”: guides designed to help students recognize and capture their thinking in writing while reading
• Guidance on assessing students
• Tips for balancing content and reading instruction

Tovani’s humor, honesty, and willingness to share her own struggles as a teacher make this a unique take on content reading instruction that will be valuable to reading teachers as well as content specialists.

In So What Do They Really Know?:Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning Cris Tovani explores the complex issue of monitoring, assessing, and grading students' thinking and performance with fairness and fidelity. Like all teachers, Tovani struggles to balance her student-centered instruction with school system mandates. Her recommendations are realistic and practical; she understands that what isn't manageable isn't sustainable.

Tovani describes the systems and structure she uses in her own classroom and shows teachers how to use assessments to monitor student growth and provide targeted feedback that enables students to master content goals. She also shares ways to bring students into the assessment cycle so they can monitor their own learning, maximizing motivation and engagement.

So What Do They Really Know? includes a wealth of information:

• Templates showing how teachers can use the workshop model to assess and differentiate instruction
• Student work, including samples from linguistically diverse learners, struggling readers, and college-bound seniors
• Anchor charts of student thinking
• Ideas on how to give feedback
• Guidelines that explain how conferring is different from monitoring
• Suggestions for assessing learning and differentiating instruction during conferences
• Advice for managing ongoing assessment

Tovani’s willingness to share her own struggles continues to be a hallmark of her work. Teachers will recognize their own students and the challenges they face as they join the author on the journey to figure out how to raise student achievement.