Post #5: Cris Tovani "Why Do I Have to Read This?" Chapter 6 Analysis

    In Chapter 6 - The Mask of Invisibility, Tovani describes her fascination with introverted students,  exclaiming how talking is not the only way students can display their thinking. She also presents several intriguing activities to use with students who wear the mask of invisibility, particularly thinksheets, to help provoke higher-order thinking and disciplinary literacy. 

    Out of all the different masks Tovani has discussed throughout this text, in my experience, the mask of invisibility is one of the more challenging masks to combat. Unlike the other masks, the mask of invisibility can often go undetected, which can be dangerous as certain students can fly under the radar and not receive the appropriate attention they need to develop literacy. The good news, however, is that there are nonverbal forms of communication and assessment that we as teachers can utilize to monitor what students know and need. Throughout this chapter, Tovani repeatedly references a specific tool known as "thinksheets." Tovani exclaims that thinksheets can be designed to be very versatile and benefit students' learning significantly more than traditional worksheets. She states that "Worksheets typically have one right answer. Thinksheets hold multiple responses and are designed to help students show thinking so their teacher can see what students need next to grow. They are not intended to be isolated activities to keep students busy" (Tovani, pg. 134). This statement from Tovani spoke volumes because during my experiences in the classroom thus far, I have noticed that traditional worksheets do not usually satisfy students' learning needs. Most of the time when a worksheet is assigned, students try to look up the answers and copy and paste them from the Internet, which defeats the purpose of the activity. Thinksheets, however, invite diversity of thought and encourage students to think independently, which traditional worksheets often fail to do. Thinksheets also can be used as a form of assessment. such as an exit ticket (Tovani, pg. 139). As aforementioned, for students who dislike or are afraid to speak and share their thoughts verbally, thinksheets are a fantastic way for us as teachers to gauge what a student knows and provide students with concise feedback that encourages their future thinking and literacy development. 

    As the chapter goes on, Tovani individually approaches other variations of thinksheets such as double-entry diaries, inner voice sheets, vocabulary builder sheets, silent reading thinksheets, and so on. The beauty of thinksheets is that they can be applied across all disciplines as a way of monitoring student learning, especially for those who wear the mask of invisibility. As teachers, we have to be extra observant of students who do not make their voices heard because they are the ones who get lost in the shuffle and slip through the cracks, hindering their learning development. However, the use of thinksheets, as Tovani presents, is a fantastic way of providing these students a comfortable platform for their thinking, which can hopefully be used as a stepping stone to turning the "invisible" students, as Tovani states, into being visible.