Cris Tovani's "I Read It, But I Don't Get It"

As my current self, I love to read. As soon as I see a book that I might be interested in I hop on to Amazon.com and buy a copy to throw on my bookshelf. It is rare for me to find a text that I struggle with. However, I have not always been an avid reader. All through high school I found myself completely bored with reading. I hated to read back then, so sitting here now reading through Cris Tovani's book "I Read It, But I Don't Get It," I can really sympathize with struggling readers or students who are merely uninterested in reading.
What I really appreciated about this book was the strategies it supplied for teachers to help students who are struggling. One such strategy which I felt was of particular use was the strategy of connecting the reading with the struggling student's own life. This helps them to feel connected with the text which will make it easier for them to follow along and grasp the concepts presented within it. It may be difficult for students to make these connections between their lives and the text, so the teacher must help to facilitate them.
Another thing that the book talked about  which I thought was important was that teachers must be good models at reading for struggling students to get a better idea of how they should be approaching the text. Reading is more than merely understanding each word and sentence, it requires the reader to make connections between each individual piece of the text. While this may come naturally to us English majors, for students who are struggling it is much more difficult to make those connections.