Book Chapter: Chris Tovani

Tovani chapter
Tovani, Cris. (2011). "Annotations: A Trustworthy Source of Data." So What Do They Really Know: Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

If you are interested in reading workshop at the high school level and haven't read Chris Tovani's work, you should. I have seen her speak twice, and I purchased her book when at the WSRA Convention. Her methods are things that I have incorporated to some extent, but I want to do more of it as we move into true reader's workshop.

In the chapter, Tovani provides concrete techniques about how to get kids to annotate, having them begin with asking questions of a text. As with most skills, one key is model, model, model. The other is feedback. She explains multiple ways to use this strategy, including teaching that not all questions have answers, that many questions will be answered if one continues reading, and that this can help them isolate their confusion.

She also explains her strategies for dealing with logistics like students not being about to write in books, and how to deal with all those sticky notes.

Because Tovani has and continues to be in the classroom, she can predict issues that may arise, like a student refusing to annotate and the most likely causes for it and her ways of addressing those issues.

The most important part of this article is how Tovani uses the annotations to assess students' comprehension, to plan mini-lessons, and to direct individual conferences.

In order for students to see the value in annotations, I believe they need to see their teacher valuing them. If we say they are important, but we never look at them, they won't believe us. Striving readers have probably been given lots of advice on how to read better, and for many of them, it hasn't worked, so they may not trust that this technique will either. If we use their annotations effectively as a way to see into their thinking process maybe they will buy in.

Tovani has used the annotations as a pretest, for immediate feedback, and to create mini-lessons. A goal of mine is to use annotations more effectively in my own classes with these ideas as a guide.