In his introduction, Tough discusses the cognitive hypothesis-the commonly held assumption that success depends primarily on cognitive skills. How is the cognitive hypothesis reflected in the curriculum? What are your experiences and thoughts?
According to Tough, today's success is reflected through students' mastery of cognitive skills such as the ability to recognize letters and words, calculate mathematical problems, and identify and solve patterns. He also notes that to develop these skills is to practice them repeatedly-- "Practice makes perfect!" From my experiences, I have worked with children in developing their literacy skills through Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention which is aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Within this program, the students and I engage in leveled books which feature sight words and vocabulary to learn and become automatic for the learner. Thus, promoting fluent readers.
Like Tough says, "what matters most in developing a skill is starting earlier and practicing more" (p. xv). For students to learn sight words, they need repeated exposure to the new sight word and practice reading and writing the word multiple times. I've been in classrooms where students participate in routine activities like letter/sounds, spelling, math facts, and vocabulary. For instance, constant practice of math facts through timed-tests and "Around the World" help the learner to develop calculation fluency which relates to Shift 3 in Mathematics which states that students are expected to solve basic computations with speed and accuracy.
We also work on developing our phonemic awareness through repeated practice of letter-sound correspondence. For example, when teaching phoneme segmentation, I use the strategy of "finger tapping" to tap out each individual sound in the word. This activity helps students to break words down into individual sounds. I find that students enjoy the Alphabet Song/ABC Song/Phonics Song to help them learn the letter names and sounds. This is a great activity for enhancing students' visual, auditory, and kinesthetic skills- students stand up and draw the letter in the air with their finger or move their body to create the letter.
As a substitute teacher, I always try to help my students think in a deeper sense about what they're reading using the following comprehension skills/strategies: metacognition, schema, inferring, questioning, determining importance, visualizing, and synthesizing. These skills are essential in strengthening students' cognitive skills. For example, schema helps the learner to connect prior knowledge to the text and deepen comprehension.
According to Tough, today's success is reflected through students' mastery of cognitive skills such as the ability to recognize letters and words, calculate mathematical problems, and identify and solve patterns. He also notes that to develop these skills is to practice them repeatedly-- "Practice makes perfect!" From my experiences, I have worked with children in developing their literacy skills through Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention which is aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Within this program, the students and I engage in leveled books which feature sight words and vocabulary to learn and become automatic for the learner. Thus, promoting fluent readers.
ReplyDeleteLike Tough says, "what matters most in developing a skill is starting earlier and practicing more" (p. xv). For students to learn sight words, they need repeated exposure to the new sight word and practice reading and writing the word multiple times. I've been in classrooms where students participate in routine activities like letter/sounds, spelling, math facts, and vocabulary. For instance, constant practice of math facts through timed-tests and "Around the World" help the learner to develop calculation fluency which relates to Shift 3 in Mathematics which states that students are expected to solve basic computations with speed and accuracy.
We also work on developing our phonemic awareness through repeated practice of letter-sound correspondence. For example, when teaching phoneme segmentation, I use the strategy of "finger tapping" to tap out each individual sound in the word. This activity helps students to break words down into individual sounds. I find that students enjoy the Alphabet Song/ABC Song/Phonics Song to help them learn the letter names and sounds. This is a great activity for enhancing students' visual, auditory, and kinesthetic skills- students stand up and draw the letter in the air with their finger or move their body to create the letter.
As a substitute teacher, I always try to help my students think in a deeper sense about what they're reading using the following comprehension skills/strategies: metacognition, schema, inferring, questioning, determining importance, visualizing, and synthesizing. These skills are essential in strengthening students' cognitive skills. For example, schema helps the learner to connect prior knowledge to the text and deepen comprehension.
- Rachel Green