December 9, 2006
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Topic: A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step…developing thoughts on education
I’m making progress. In school as a teacher, in school as a learner, and in life as a participant. I’m thinking more and in a more structured way, and with a better understanding of my thought process (meta-cognition). I am sequencing things more to improve my memory and understanding of things, visualizing, and making connections to things I’ve read, seen, heard, and experienced. On Thursday, I attended a teaching workshop on a literacy program called Wilson, which is designed for struggling readers of all ages, and a few more things about learning jumped out at me.
The Wilson reading program is a step-program. Students start on step 1, practicing sound segmentation, where they break single-syllable words like cat into 3 sounds, “c” “a” “t.” The word ship, although it has 4 letters, also has 3 sounds, “sh” “i” “p” We explain to students that the two letters “sh” form one sound. As a way to help students learn these things, we have them tap their fingers as they say each sound. Why? Because research shows that the touching sets off different parts of the brain, making learning to read a multi-sensory experience. The more senses involved, site, sound, and touch, the deeper the learning in the brain.
Another great insite I picked up from the workshop was how the reading program emphasizes mastery of one skill, then adding one new skill with continued review of the previously learned skills. All too often, I’ve noticed how my own learning has been linear, with few stops to go back, review, and then go forward again. In order for learning to go into long-term memory, it needs to be used often. For example, when first learning a person’s name, it is suggested that you repeat the name and use it often in conversation to help you remember it. A few weeks ago, I taught a lesson to my students where they were asked to read and “think aloud” after each paragraph to capture the main idea. More than two weeks later, I did another reading lesson on similes, and had students use the “think aloud” strategy again, and many of my kids had that light-bulb look, where they were making a connection to the skill we had done in the past. I think it’s so important as a teacher to try to continually introduce old material into new lessons. A good theory, and a re-inforcing skill, meaning that as a teacher each time you help your kids practice old skills, the more you will remember to do this.
To recap, I’ve discovered that it’s useful to always build on past learning, and to use of multi-sensory learning.
On Friday, I had a really successful lesson/discussion with my 6th graders, a first step in a long journey through the school year. I wrote up a short 6-paragraph story about a student who hates reading, who goes on to write a story about his hatred for reading, develops a love of writing, and then discovers that reading can help fuel his writing. The student begins reading and writing about problems in his community such as violence and moving to different foster homes, and eventually he decided to go to college for journalism. The students applauded after reading it aloud, and it was by far my finest moment as a teacher on several levels.
I had students volunteer to read a paragraph and “think aloud” after each one, a great way to have students practice this skill. At the end we had a discussion about the types of things that students are expected to know after reading something (meaning, what they will be tested on…but I never call anything I do ‘test prep!’) This includes capturing the main idea, sequencing the story, describing characters, etc. This showed me that I can write stories that connect with my students,
that I can use my own love of writing to teach, and that I can “test
prep” and engage at the same time. I’m looking forward to writing up a number of stories, fictional and non, likely written through the eyes of a student, that incorporates a specific skill for students to learn.I’ve been watching CNN int’l for the past couple of hours, completely wonderful start to my early rise this Sat. morning. There was just a 1hr special on the science of happiness with Dr. Sanjay Kupta, and it tied in nicely with what I’ve been trying to do in my classrooms. The CNN show talked about how people are naturally more productive and creative when they are happy, and it seems that the default emotion in many classrooms isn’t this. What works for me and I know other teachers, is to have conversations with students like adults, to encourage them, to not yell at them. I’ve seen too many kids angry at other kids and teachers, to know that it is on the teachers and administrators to create a positive culture. The soft skills we teach of positive attidude, positive psychology, working in a team, all these things can carry over to academic learning.
Below is a list of things I need to look into that came up in the program…as always, I appreciate your comments and questions.
cnn-happiness and your health
daniel gilbert – happiness
dali lama, practicing happiness,
barbara fredrickson – science of positive psychology
dr. jullie holland – drugs and the brain
play-dough = childhood happiness
domino blocks…classroom activities, metaphors
upcoming cnn int’l special on nobel prize winner muhammad yunus, pioneer of micro-lending in 3rd world countries
Comments (3)
Funny, the Wilson program seems very close to what was commonly used in the US before the Civil War to teach reading. Every idea keeps getting recycled, but until we start picking reading strategies individually (the right one for each student) we’ll never break that 1/3 mark. I’ve found NY Board of Regents documents from the 1850s showing about 1/3 of students “getting it,” and that percentage has never budged, because we are always trying to educate “a classroom” instead of each student.
randomly came on your xanga. nice insights. i really enjoyed reading them
The Wilson program is changing the teaching methods all across the country. I work with kids and have noticed that over the past few years, kindergarten teachers often use the tapping methods. Some educators also teach specific hand motions (almost like sign language) that go along with the different sounds. There is a whole alaphabet song that uses the hand motions to go along with words for that particular letter. Also “chunking” the words into smaller sounds in helpful, instead of sounding out each individual letter. The English language is so bizarre anyway, it doesn’t make sense to teach reading by sounding out each letter.
You seem like a enthusiastic teacher. Have fun! Have you read “The Essential 55″ by Ron Clark? You might appreciate it. It’s a fun book about the high standards one teacher expects from his Harlem students, and how the kids live up to those standards.