Accessible Texts

    In chapter 4 of "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" Tovani focuses on the idea of making texts accessible.  Accessible texts are those that are interesting, written for understanding and at an appropriate level for the reader.  Some examples of accessible texts can be newspapers, magazines, internet pieces, vignettes, maps, letters, recipes and are rarely textbooks.  Tovani goes on to explain that not all students are going to be at the reading level they are "supposed" to be, and that a reading in which one student might see as difficult but manageable might be too difficult therefore abandoned by another.
    Tovani's first solution to this problem is most applicable in Literature classrooms, it is to find alternative  texts for students to read.  When a student is not at the level in which the text is requiring he or she to be at in order to decode it, an alternative novel or reading is assigned that illustrates similar themes and ideas as the original required piece.  To me this makes perfect sense!  Why waste a students time by having them read something that they can not make sense of on their own.  Most of the time when a student is lacking understanding in a text they "get by" by receiving information in the classroom either from peers or the teacher.  When this occurs its as if the learning process was skipped, which can have negative consequences on the individual's future experiences with reading along with the individual's cognitive development.  This process of being able to decode texts is crucial not just for the reading process but the learning process as a whole.  Without this process a learner will be deprived from developing their own knowledge.
    Another solution introduced by Tovani is what she calls Text Sets.  Text Sets are a variety of different forms of texts categorized by units of study, or themes relative to the content of the course. For example a text set for a U.S. History classroom could contain the following separate Text Sets: American Indians, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Slavery etc.  Each individual topic would make up one Text Set, within that set you would have several texts that vary in genre, length, and format relating to that particular topic.  I think this idea is wonderful and can be applied in any content.  As a future Health teacher I always wonder how I will sort the various perceptions on topics such as Diet, Nutrition, Addiction, Emotional Health and Well Being as new research is always changing the focus points of these topics thus changing the content.  I think Text Sets will be a great way for my students to explore the many different opinions on Health topics rather than me just sharing what information I believe is most important.