Chapter 2: The "So What?" of Reading Comprehension

In this chapter the author starts off talking about her struggle with a student in the classroom that finds the material to be irrelevant and dry. Whenever a student proceeds to point out a connection they found within a text she proceeds to ask "SO WHAT?" in the most sarcastic, demeaning way possible. The author, being the teacher, was having other teachers come to observe her class tomorrow and she did not know how to retain the disruptive/blunt student. As she shifted through the students connections that they found through the text, she found herself asking the same question: SO WHAT??

From here, she found that she had not shown them how to create/find a meaningful connection to a text. She then created the double-entry diaries. The double-entry diary consists of two columns, the left column consists of a quote or description from a scene in the reading and the second column possess the record of the strategy being taught for example: I'm wondering...., This reminds me of....., I'm confused and this is how I got unstuck...By allowing the students to find a meaningful connection we are allowing them to deepen in their understanding of the text and helping them to remember. Just like the author, I too learned a lot of facts in high school and college but I only remember a certain amount. The reason being exactly this, without a meaningful connection no one has a reason to remember material but if you find a way to relate it to yourself or to see how it is interesting to you in a personal matter the material will be more likely be remembered and recalled.

Recalling information is very important especially in undergraduate years. I remember having to learn a broad spectrum of biology terms and models. At the time I never saw the meaning for all of the memorization, extremely late night studying and 4 red bulls in one study session until I came to my final years. In my final semester as an undergraduate student I had the opportunity to take Virology (study of viruses) with Dr. Hofkin. In this class, I finally found the purpose behind all of what seemed to be meaningless work, which was to better my education in my secondary Discourse so that I may tackle more complex material and come closer to literacy in my field of biology. I went from draw the stages of DNA replication to if you had the chance to find a vaccine for a virus would you rather work with a single stranded DNA, double stranded DNA, single stranded RNA or double stranded RNA virus and why. I finally saw the amazing mysteries and findings within the field of biology which all came at an ease with my ability to recall information. Now I know that the only reason why I was able to recall certain information was that I only found meaningful connections with certain information. If I knew that this was the most efficient way to remember material in my classes, I might have approached school in a more proficient way. Therefore, I hope to show the relevance of finding a meaning full connection to material so that my students won't have to struggle or relearn material later on. Instead they will recall information that they found a meaningful connection and will be able to build on their secondary Discourse and move towards mastery.