Class # 7: The Reading Process

Tonight’s class really opened my eyes to the reading process and how I tend to take for granted that I can do this process with relative ease. Not everyone is as fortunate as this and because of this we need to look at task analysis. As a teacher, if I am to understand my students better I need to reexamine the details of task processes, such as reading and writing. I need to be able to break down complex behaviors, such as reading, into its component parts, in order to assist me in identifying and fitting in the appropriate assistive technology more easily. Many of the day-to-day tasks that we perform, without even attending to what we're doing, are really quite complex and are comprised of many smaller, specific sub-tasks that we perform in a certain order. Being a Biology teacher, during our study on the brain, I spend a short period of time talking about these processes and how at first learning something can be so hard, but after practicing it over time, turns into a task we can do without even thinking fully about the task. I often use the example of learning to tie your shoes. I get the students to try and think back when they first learned this task and how it felt and have a short discussion about this. Then I get then to take their shoe off and demonstrate for me their ability to tie their shoe. (Some have to share shoes if not wearing laced shoes that day-but we improvise!) Then I take my shoe off and untie it and ask for a volunteer to provide me with directions in tying my shoe and I follow their instructions word for word. I have yet to have a student that could break this seemly easy task down into all of its component steps so that I ended up successfully tying my shoe, but yet they all could do it themselves with such ease. We talk about how for some, simple tasks such as tying ones shoe, can seem so hard and frustrating and even impossible for others. I get them to remember how frustrated they were getting when their directions were not helping me in getting my shoe tied and how they just wanted to quit. Then we get into some great conversations on what happens when a step is left out or not there or a part of brain not working right and unable to do its job. These conversations often lead to questions about stroke patients and how they need to learn these complex tasks all over again even though before the stroke they could do it with relative ease. I find by doing this activity students gain a greater appreciation for the things they can do, understand that everyone is not the same and that some people may not be able to do seemingly “simple” tasks and the importance to take care of what we have and not abuse it (such as protecting head with helmet in sports and riding bikes, proper nutrition, sleep, the use of drugs etc). I really liked the activity of having to sit back and make note of all the different smaller tasks involved when we read a piece of text. By doing this, I gained a greater awareness of why so many have difficulties with such a complex task. There are so many areas that a student can have a deficit in that would affect the end product, being able to read and comprehends a piece of text. There is so much brain play occurring when we read. We talked about the importance of our students needing a rich language experience when entering school before experiencing print and how they need to be able to table those when learning to read. Printed words are really a representation of our oral language. Efficient reading involves accuracy decoding and speed of response and why we read is to get meaning from print. If any neural pathways go awry due to an accident, lack of nutrition etc, the reading process can be compromised. Tonight we looked at the levels of phonemic awareness and how this language is important before looking at print. For efficient reading one needs to be able to make the connection between sound and symbols. We also looked at the complex brain processing that occurs in the brain when we read. The electric to chemical transfer of the neurons need to be efficient and if it is not then it can affect things like reading. In Biology 12 we look at the drug ecstasy and how it affects the neurotransmitter serotonin and synaptic transmission. By affecting the synapse it can lead to poor concentration and forgetfulness which can affect learning and memory. A lot of students do not realize the complexity of the brain and how neurons work and the importance of them working in synchrony. They do not realize how drastic a hit or two of a drug such as ecstasy can alter this natural balance. We also looked at Marilyn Jagar Adams model of reading and how reading involves the constant connection and collaboration between various processors of the brain. We talked about the phonological, orthographic, meaning and context processors and how these processors must work efficiently and fluently together for reading to be successful. In the later part of the class we got into groups and created a concept map on the reading process. I was unable to attend class this particular night and watched the recording at a later date. Below is my concept map on the processes involved in reading. I really enjoy using inspiration myself and with my students. Inspiration is an excellent piece of software for concept mapping!