Chapter 2 and the Double Entry Diary

Chapter Two starts with Tovani's anecdote about how you can ask students to connect with text but not allow them to take it far enough.  She talks about having her class use sticky notes to record their connections with various parts of a text, but their connections turn out to be really quite superficial and don't seem to indicate any greater understanding of the text than before.

Enter the Double Entry Diary--an "access tool" that helps the reader slow down and begin to track thinking.  The student takes a sheet of paper and divides it down the middle into two columns.  The left side is for copying down directly from the text any quotes or words or ideas that they relate to; the right side is for thoughts, feelings, and inferences that stem from those chosen words of text.  The teacher can set up parameters for the right side by directing the student's reflection with options (visualizing, selecting most important aspects, how that part of the text affects the reader's thinking....)  I've made a Double Entry Diary example and uploaded it:

This is my art teacher self coming out--I want to create a visual aid for what I read!!  But I think this is a valid tool that has the potential for working in various subject areas.  For example, if I had students read about an artist, say Jackson Pollack, and then try to connect with his work, they would need to go pretty deeply into some critical thinking to find ways to support their connections.  His work is not that accessible for adults, much less kids.  But this is a great way to organize thought and refer back to text for supporting evidence.

Tovani also outlines her "essential elements of comprehension instruction":

• Select interesting text at the appropriate reading level for students
• Model how you read--how you make sense of the text and what you do to negotiate difficulties.
• Suggest possible purposes for reading that particular text (ex: knowledge of a previously unknown subject)
• Show different ways to hold thinking while reading so the reader can come back later and remember what they read and use it further.

She points out that making time for teaching comprehension strategies really translates to giving up some content for teachers, which is not desirable but may be necessary.  After all, why keep throwing more content at them if they aren't retaining much of it?

I really like this solution-based way of working through text.  We'll see what she has for us in Chapter Three!