Parents, I have some excellent news for you. Ready? Basically, it's this. Any child can be made successful in any learning environment. Yes, it's true. You have access to an incredible tool that will help you make this happen. This tool is brain science. Thanks to modern technology’s like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scientists have been able to come to a much richer understanding of how the human brain works, and having made important discoveries in recent years, we are now better positioned than ever to help children be successful in learning, and reading is the key.
Reading increases brain connectivity, arousing the areas associated with language acquisition, heightening the connections between the left temporal cortex and the rest of your brain. Reading activates neurons in the central sulcus of the brain, actually providing the reader with sensory motor input, which means that, to the brain, the happenings in a book are translated as real experiences. Reading involves several brain functions, including visual and auditory processes, forming pathways that translate sounds into symbols, reading with correct rhythm and emphasis, comprehension, etc., and all of this increases our memory capacity. Reading increases our attention spans, makes us more empathetic, makes us more imaginative, and well … it does lot of good for the brain. It is a must. How do you like that? Pretty good news, right?
Okay, well here's the bad news. You've probably heard it from teachers before but given our new understandings about how the brain develops, how it works, and how each of us can employ it to our greater success, you have to commit to a level of involvement with your child that you might not have prior to now. I mean, it's common sense really. How much time does your child spend at school versus the time they spend at home? Who has the most influence on your kids? Surely, it isn't a teacher. Even a teacher who has an excellent relationship with your child is only going to spend a short amount of time with them each day. About 90% of an influence on a child is in your hands. Okay, well, good parenting anyway, is not a passive engagement. It is an active one, and if you take proactive steps with your child, I come back to the good news. You can truly enable their success.
So if hearing the bad news hasn't put you off from reading the rest of this article. You're not rationalizing about how little time you have, how tired you are when you get home from a day of work, or how disinterested you think your child is. If you're ready to engage with your child, the revelations of modern brain research can help you help your child. What I will share with you here is a brief encapsulation of some of what we've learned. There's a lot more out there for those of you who really want to get hold of this information and use it effectively. What I offer you here are a few tips that may help you with your middle school learner.
Get up and move.
If you've ever given any time too serious exercise, you must know that when you're done with it, not only has it not deprived you of energy, it is added to your energy, and if you do this consistently, you discover that you're a more energetic person than people who do not. Also, have you noticed that after you exercise, you think more clearly and more effectively? It's true. You do. We all do. Exercise is food for the brain. Brain science tells us so. Exercise increases blood vessels leading to your brain and necessary oxygen flow to it, especially to parts of the hippocampus, aiding memory. “Exercise causes the brain to release brain-derived neurotropic factor, which is essentially food for the brain”. (Sprenger, 2014) You could say that learning and movement go together like a melody to music. Before engaging the brain, join your child in engaging the body. They will know how if you show how.
Sometimes we worry so hard, as parents, about whether our kids like us that we don't worry about whether or not they respect us, and we don't lay down the kinds of rules we need to really help them. Take your kids away from their screens, their cell phones, their game consoles, their televisions, all of it. Get them outside, have them raise their heart rate consistently to 120 beats per minute for 20 to 30 minutes, and then get them at their homework. They will do better. If you want to do better too, join them in this exercise. Model how to be a healthy effective human being to your kids.
Family Literature Circle
Among the things children require in order to reach their full potential, they need to feel special, to feel loved, and to feel safe. They need predictability, guidance, and exposure to language, exploration, and books. Want to make your family closer, while at the same time strengthening their reading fluency and comprehension? Try a family literature circle. This is gathering a group together to discuss a book in depth. The conversation is guided kids’ responses to what they read. You can lead one for your family. Your best resource will be your child’s teacher, who will be happy to help you accomplish all of the following. I know if a parent asked me to help with this, I would leap at the opportunity with tremendous appreciation.
Step 1 - Choose a book the whole family will enjoy. Make it a work that will challenge the least fluent family member.Here’s a great online resource to determine the readability of a book.https://www.webpagefx.com/tools/read-able/check.php
Step 2 – Assign roles for each family member in the circle.There’s a nice list of roles here http://www.literacysolutions.com.au/resources/literature-role-cards.php
Step 3 - Agree to a number of pages to be read daily. Each circle member makes notes from their reading through the lens of the role they are performing.
Step 4 - Whenever possible, fluent readers should read aloud to less fluent readers.Our brains are not hardwired for written language, but they are hard-wired to interpret sounds into symbols.When a fluent reader reads aloud, it supports phonemic awareness and will help your child learn how good reading should sound, including the emotional play-acting of reading in character.
Step 5 - Have a meaningful meeting about the book once a week.Here is a great resource for helping you prepare for these discussions.http://www.litcircles.org/Discussion/prep.html
However You Do it, Read with your Children.
Yeah, this will take some time and dedication, and with time being a precious commodity, one could easily resist taking my advice, but think what would come of it if you did these things. You would have a happier, healthier family, connected by learning, shared interests, and care. With such an engagement in reading, you would be doing incredible things, according to the best modern science, in support of your child’s success and yourself. There is really no down side to this. There’s nowhere to go but up.
Sources Cited:
Wiring the Brain for Reading: Brain-Based Strategies for Teaching Literacy
Marilee Sprenger - John Wiley & Sons - 2013
Phonemic Awareness. (2016, September 09). Retrieved June 25, 2018, from http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading-basics/phonemic
Jan, H. (2008, December 01). Developing Fluent Readers. Retrieved July 8, 2018, from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/developing-fluent-readers
Fluency. (2016, September 09). Retrieved July 8, 2018, from http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading-basics/fluency
Preparing for Discussion. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2018, from http://www.litcircles.org/Discussion/prep.html
Readability Test Tool. (n.d.). Retrieved August 6, 2017, from https://www.webpagefx.com/tools/read-able/check.php
Literature Circle Role Cards. (n.d.). Retrieved July 17, 2018, from http://www.literacysolutions.com.au/resources/literature-role-cards.php