Tag Archives: cognition/learning/understanding

Cultural Difference and Learning

Posted on January 19, 2019 | Leave a comment

“It bears mentioning that cultural differences have nothing to do with intelligence and aptitude. It is hoped that the cognitively savvy educator will appreciate the unique perspectives—literally—that students from various backgrounds may have and exploit those differences to optimize and expand the learning opportunities for all students in a classroom.”

Excerpted from: Rekart, Jerome L. The Cognitive Classroom: Using Brain and Cognitive Science to Optimize Student Success. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2013.

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Term of Art: Graphophonemic Knowledge

Posted on January 17, 2019 | Leave a comment

“The understanding that words are made of sounds and sounds are written with letters in the right order. Students who understand this can blend sounds associated with letters into words and can separate words into component sounds for spelling and writing.

Students should be assessed to determine if they can hear sounds in spoken language prior to letter-sound instruction.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Why Read?

Posted on January 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

“…What is reading for? We read in order to understand thoughts: either someone else’s thought, or our own thoughts from the past. That characterization of the function of reading highlights that another mental act had to precede it: the mental act of writing. So perhaps we should begin by thinking about the function of writing. I think I need milk, I write that thought on a note to myself, and later I read what I’ve written and I recover the thought again: I need milk. Writing is an extension of memory.”

Excerpted from: Willingham, Daniel T. The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2017.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference

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What Is Awe and How Is It Evoked?

Posted on January 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

“In a classroom setting, many students can feel stressed about exams or class projects because they feel as though they may not have enough time. Perhaps by inducing a sense of awe in these students, the successful teacher can allay some of the perceptions of time ‘crunch.’ Though this particular connection is admittedly one without further empirical support, it is intriguing to consider. Furthermore, because awe is a positive emotion, even if it doesn’t help assuage undue test anxiety, it will at least brighten a student’s day for a moment,

How does one evoke awe? Images of natural splendor or beauty, moving musical passages, or brief anecdotes about the successful exploits of famous individuals may all achieve this goal.

Effort actually influences our sense of how soon or far off something feels. Tasks and events that are believed to require effort and be taxing actually feel as though they are temporally closer than easier tasks. This only holds true if there is an actual deadline for completion. With a deadline or due date/time in place, it feels as though there is more time to complete the easy task and less time to complete the challenging one (Jiga-Boy, Clark, & Semin, 2010). Without a deadline, more effortful tasks seem farther away in time than they actually are.

These findings suggest that ambiguous or vague deadlines may actually result in greater levels of procrastination because to the student it feels as though there is more time to complete the project than perhaps is actually warranted. Thus it is recommended that firm deadlines be implemented and adhered to whenever possible.

Finally, time does indeed appear to fly when people are having fun (Gable & Poole, 2012). This fact provides yet another reason (as though any were needed) to introduce as much fun and frivolity as possible into classroom sessions because if hard-to-reach students feel as though the day is speeding by, there is less of a chance of them associated associating the school with tedium and toil. After all, a happy student is likely and engaged one.”

Excerpted from: Rekart, Jerome L. The Cognitive Classroom: Using Brain and Cognitive Science to Optimize Student Success. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2013.

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Term of Art: Readability

Posted on January 3, 2019 | Leave a comment

“A measure of how easy it is to comprehend a text depending on a number of variables. These include vocabulary, sentence complexity, format, writing style, and topic, plus the reading comprehension level, interest, background information, and decoding skills of the reader.

Some methods of predicting the readability of a text are used to gauge whether an individual can successfully read and comprehend a passage. One such method is to read a section of a passage and count the number of words that are unfamiliar to the reader. If, for example, the reader encounters more than three unfamiliar words, the readability may be too difficult.

In educational settings, a text’s readability is often measured in grade level. For example, a history textbook with a readability of 9.3 means an average ninth grade, third month student should be able to read and comprehend it.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Term of Art: Learning

Posted on December 23, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Process of acquiring modifications in existing knowledge, habits, or tendencies through experience, practice, or exercise. Learning includes associative processes, discrimination of sense-data, psychomotor and perceptual learning, imitation, concept formation, problem solving, and insight learning. Animal learning has been studied by ethologists and comparative psychologists, the latter often drawing explicit parallels to human learning. The first experiments concerning associative learning were conducted by Ivan Pavlov in Russia and Edward Thorndike in the U.S. Critics of the early stimulus-response (S-R) theories, such as Edward C. Tolman claimed they were overly reductive and ignored a subject’s inner activities. Gestalt-psychology researchers drew attention to the importance of pattern and form in perception and learning, while structural linguists argued that language learning was grounded in genetically inherited ‘grammar.’ Developmental psychologists, such as Jean Piaget, highlighted stages of growth in learning. More recently, cognitive psychologists have explored learning as a form of information processing, while some brain researchers, such as Gerald Edelman, have proposed that thinking and learning involve an ongoing process of cerebral pathway building. Related topics of research include attention, comprehension, motivation, and transfer of training.”

 Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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A Student Self-Assessment and Reflection Tool

Posted on December 23, 2018 | Leave a comment

This student self-assessment and reflection form has been kicking around my to-do folder for a couple of years now for a couple of reasons. The first is that I could never determine the best way to categorize and tag it (and I post it now because I have decided to take a much more casual attitude toward categories and gags, mostly because I realized this blog has a search function); the second is that this material, I am confident, remains solidly in the authors’ copyright.

Who are, to wit, Jay McTighe and Carol Ann Tomlinson. The book is Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design (Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2006). If you’re interested in curriculum design in general and in particular, in this case differentiating for struggling or idiosyncratic learners (or both), you probably know the names of these two distinguished experts. The book is excellent: I read it twice, taking extensive notes both times. Then I passed it along to assistant principal under whom I served. Every time I visited his office, I noticed that the book was close at hand.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Socrates on His Own Self-Knowledge

Posted on December 21, 2018 | Leave a comment

“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.”

Socrates

Quoted in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers

Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

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Term of Art: Learning Disabilities

Posted on December 19, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Chronic difficulties in learning to read, write, spell, or calculate, which are believed to have a neurological origin. Though their causes and nature are still not fully understood, it is widely agreed that the presence of a learning disability does not indicate subnormal intelligence. Rather it is thought that the learning-disabled have a neurologically based difficulty in processing language or figures, which must be compensated for with special learning strategies or with extra effort and tutoring. Examples of learning disabilities include difficulty in reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia), and mathematics (dyscalculia). Learning disabilities may be diagnosed through testing, and children may be enrolled in programs offering special help; left unrecognized, learning disabilities may result not only in poor classroom performance, but also in low self-esteem and disruptive behavior.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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H. Lynn Erickson on the Public in Public Education

Posted on December 15, 2018 | Leave a comment

“The public needs to be informed that the 21st-century requires a higher standard for curriculum and instruction. This standard includes the development of critical and creative thinking; the ability to put knowledge to use in complex living, learning, and working performances; and an instructional program that gives teachers flexibility in engaging students with process and skill development.

The United States has a responsibility to educate its citizens and future citizens to the new standards and requirements. The equitable distribution of computers and technology into all schools should be a national concern and priority. School districts can systematically design curricula to integrate and focus on needed knowledge, processes, skills, and attitudes, but teachers have a right to expect the time and training to design curricula; learn new teaching methods and technologies; and collaborate in school, business, and home partnerships.”

Excerpted from: Erickson, H. Lynn. Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction: Teaching Beyond the Facts. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 2002.

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