Thursday Thoughts: Interesting Literacy and Learning Links

Exercise Your Brain
 
Face Memory Test from the BBC’s Science: Human Body and Mind site. Skills like memory are the first to go when we're tired. This test assesses your ability to remember how long ago something happened - your 'temporal' memory. What can your brain remember?

Interesting Literacy and Learning Links

Ted Talk: Nancy Kanwisher: A Neural Portrait of the Human Mind. Brain imaging pioneer Nancy Kanwisher, who uses fMRI scans to see activity in brain regions (often her own), shares what she and her colleagues have learned: The brain is made up of both highly specialized components and general-purpose "machinery." Another surprise: There's so much left to learn.  

Kindergarten Readiness Test Gains Ground. A new readiness assessment this year that rests on teachers' observations of children's work and play hopes to build a detailed picture of what students need as they begin the school year. Education Week, October 8, 2014.

How to Improve Literacy and Numeracy Skills (and Scores if You Care About Such Things). Skills can only be improved in individuals, and the only way to do this is to use a recursive loop of assessment and teaching tailored to individual students' needs and interests, and to promote the reading and writing processes and thoughtful reflection. Huffington Post, October 6, 2014.

I Just Wish to Be Like Me

by Matt Zahn

The following is a college application essay written by Stern Center alum, Matt Zahn, that talks about his struggles with dyslexia and his determination in finding his own success:

Life is full of ironies. Throughout childhood kids are constantly seeking to be like everyone else. They long to be part of a larger group where they can identify and blend, such as the soccer team, scouts, band or the local ballet troupe. Groups offer a comfort and stability from the angst of youth. Before long, high school, senior year and college applications roll around. Suddenly kids must stand out from the crowd. They can no longer afford to blend in. Young adults must stand on their own two feet, advocate for themselves and navigate the college admissions process. For most this is a dramatic and uncomfortable change; for others, however, being different has been a way of life.

The scene: a Norman Rockwell classroom, the sound of children running by laughing candidly, the raw warmth of recess-sun-kissed skin, the smell of Fritos hanging in the air. This is my life in third grade. The matronly teacher, Mrs. McCloud, herds the children into the circle of chairs to read Dr. Seuss’ I Wish That I Had Duck Feet. Everyone follows along with their fingers, each taking a turn to read paragraphs rhythmically. It’s my turn to read. Letters float off the page before me.

                                                             Iw ish
                                                             thatI haddu ckfeet
                                                             An dIca nte llyouw hy.
                                                             Youca nspl asharo undin duck feet.
                                                             Youdo n’tha vetok eepth emdry.

Suddenly, I’m sweaty and fidgety. I lean back on my chair so far I fall over. The class erupts in ripples of laughter. All order is lost. Phew.

Thursday Thoughts: Interesting Literacy and Learning Links From the Past Week

BRAIN TEASER:
 
Glance at the picture below. Then stare at it and see what happens. Cool, right?
 

By arranging a series of patterns, images, and colors strategically, or playing with the way an object is lit, the brain can be tricked into seeing something that isn't there. In this case the frontal view of this man’s face can be interpreted in the brain as a profile view instead. Do you see it?

Why I Read: Founder and President, Blanche Podhajski

by Blanche Podhajski
 
I love literacy because of precious memories. My mother and big sister worked in beautiful stone buildings that housed the libraries in my home town. I remember them bringing home treasures of books they would read to me as a preschooler. 

That’s probably where my love of language began. Curious George, Madeline and Babar became as close friends to me as Ruthie who lived down the street.
 
Learning to read when I entered Kindergarten couldn’t happen fast enough. But I was disappointed just reading sight words like run, jump and Spot which characterized instruction in my educational era. I was so much more excited when Miss Avery taught us about “magic e” in first grade and then showed us how to rhyme by changing initial letter sounds. I was off and really reading!

I remember curling up into a chair a few years later with the entire Freddy the Pig series. I felt especially proud that I could decode the title of Freddy and the Ignormus. I enjoyed talking at the dinner table about what an “ignormus” might be.

Why I Read: Development Director, Ed Wilkens

by Ed Wilkens

Last night at our weekly dinner and chess rendezvous, my father handed me a scrap of yellowed vellum with the quote, "Richer than I you can never be. I had a mother who read to me"―Strickland Gillian, written in my great Aunt Josie’s hand.
 
“Because you inherited Mom’s love of reading and have made it your life’s work,” he said. “First with your own girls and now with their children, books always have mattered so much.”

I know raising a strong reader is much more than merely displaying and sharing a love of books, but I do believe that is how it begins. So, indulge me if you will, as I reflect on what that has meant to me. I’ll leave the technical and scientific accounts to those more knowledgeable and skilled than I, but I will claim both a love for reading and a mission to help others develop the same appreciation.

A Chapter Here, A Comic Strip There

by Suzanne Loring

Bedtime stories are a long-standing family tradition in my family. Growing up I was read to every night before bed, a chapter here, a story there, and now do the same for my two boys who are two-and-a-half and nine months old. Each night after brushing his teeth, my two-year-old picks a book off his bookshelf and the three of us hunker down in one of the big bean bag chairs we have sitting on the floor. Even though my oldest climbs around during the story and my youngest usually tries to eat the book, we have a great time making truck noises, turning the pages, and pointing out funny things in the pictures. It’s important to me that we are carrying on a family tradition and having a lot of fun together, with books, every night before bed.

Creating a daily reading routine with your child is more than just fun; it helps build vocabulary and listening skills, develops your child’s imagination, and encourages a love of reading. It also creates quality time between reader and listener and can be a wonderful conversation starter. And in thinking about your child’s future a 2007 study by The National Endowment for the Arts, To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence, found that children who read for enjoyment score higher on reading and writing tests and have greater success later in life. Talk about a win-win-win situation.

How Many Ounces Are Left?

by Brenda Buzzell

The early years of childhood are a wonderful time to help your children develop vocabulary skills that will greatly benefit their later reading comprehension skills. Research clearly links vocabulary development to successful readers. Children love to use big words, and the words of mature language users, such as precious, enormous, delightful, and exhausting are words that children will later be reading. However, in order to understand what is read, a child needs to know the meanings of 90-95 percent of the words being read (Lyon, 2009).

It is never too early to begin introducing your child to mature words. Hart and Risley’s classic study (1995) showed that starting at 18 months there is a word exposure gap between children of professional parents versus those from families of poverty. By age four this gap has grown to a 32 million word difference.

Gratitude

by Laurie Caswell Burke


As I observe the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I sometimes marvel at how frantic people allow themselves to get. They rush around at warp speed trying to find the perfect gift, make all the cookies, buy the tree, trim the tree and pen holiday cards. For me, the holidays have always offered a chance for reflection. I make an effort to not get caught up in the hubbub, and instead make time for friends and family any time they want to see me. 

I notice more and more that the line after Thanksgiving is often, "We should get together after the holidays." That seems ironic—isn’t getting together with good friends and being grateful for family what the spirit of the holidays is all about? Each year, my husband Tim and I try to take time to look back on the year and remember all the things that we have to be thankful for.

Our daughters Kate and Molly are always quick to come to mind. And we will be eternally grateful for the Stern Center and the role it has played in helping them both achieve their accomplishments. 

President's Message: Early Opportunity

by Dr. Blanche Podhajski

Early education is back in the forefront.  President Obama is not alone in valuing the importance of quality experiences during the earliest years.  Educators have long expressed concern about disparities on the preschool playing field.

Children of poverty have been reported to have the fewest of these quality experiences and by four years of age lag behind their peers in basic language skills that predict becoming literate.