The Ugly... Uh oh...

Now the ugly...

Yay for myelination and all the creating stuff! What happens when reading development isn't all candy canes, unicorns, and cotton candy?

The war on word poverty
It isn't a novel, profound idea but when children are not exposed to literacy experiences, they will already be playing catch-up in Kindergarten. If words aren't heard, concepts cannot be learned. This is due the neurons and myelination I spoke of earlier. Feelings aren't experienced.

Disclaimer: the following statistic floored me to the point that I had to put my book down, walk around, and talk to my husband to pull it apart..
Todd Risley and Betty Hart found that by five years of age, some children in impoverished-language environments have heard 32 million fewer words spoken to them that the average middle-class child. We aren't just talking about their physical situation the child is likely to be in. We are talking about a mental impoverish state, as well. Linking this together, the pure lack of books will have a lasting effect on word and world knowledge needing to occur in the early years. There is an incredible importance to reading and talking to young children. The rest of their lives depend on it!

The effects of ear infections on early language development
The underlying pieces here show that if kids have reoccurring ear infections as a child, their language development can be affected. One example in the book illustrated a child hears a new word "pur", the second or tenth day he or she hears "pill"; another time he or she hears "purple". Overtime, the mishearing of words can create vocabulary development and phonological awareness, two of the most important precursors of reading.

The possible effects of bilingual environments on learning to read
Uh oh... what happens if there is two languages in the home and they aren't spoken equally? How could the brain ever make heads or tails of the language vastness that surrounds them? The good news is the overall plasticity of the brain in young children yields itself to certain advantages in learning language.Three principles influence their bilingualism and learning.
First of all, ELLs have their home language and it will be increasingly for them to tie their concepts and words to their home language. By doing so, it will increase their overall understanding. However, when there is an impoverished environment at home during their first five years of life, there is no cognitive or linguistic foundation to tie to making it more so difficult to obtain a second language when the first one is not solid.
Second. the overall importance of creating a second language is the quality of the first language. The phonemes and the level of phoneme awareness is essential for the Kindergarten teacher. It is through this avenue that students will be able to continue to build upon what they are learning.

The First Story- Hello Euphoria.

The next two blogs will look at the Good and Ugly of Reading Development. I am focusing here due the digression in the chapter. Wolf begins to look at the two stories. The first story encapsulates the how and why's of child development in the perfect conditions. Whereas, the second story argues what happens when reading and healthy emotions are not tied to language and literacy. In the last blog, I spent some about how emotional connections are made when young children begin to experience text. This blog will entertain the ideas behind the what and when in the foundations of reading.

Can't it all be good.. 

What's in a letter's name
Symbols make letters. Letters form words. Words form individual meaning. Words put together into sentences, sentences into paragraphs. Big meaning occurs. But, what is in a letter's name? How does a= /a/? Furthermore, how do we identify the letter as a letter? Before identifying can actually occur new neurons have to develop. These neurons become visual cortex "specialists". After the brain creates new neurons and pathways, the more learning occurs the more refined the brain actually becomes. Naming objects and naming letters are the first two pieces of creating a modern, re-arranged literate brain. The brain actually changes to cause the brain to read. So, what is in a letter's name? The all-creating power to develop neurons and pathways to create meaning. Socrates... why you had to be so grumpy?

When should a young child begin to read
This always stirs up a little bit of controversy. Using myself as a case study, I learned to read in Kindergarten. However, I had a momma who read to me constantly-- she probably read to me while in the womb. Interestingly enough, in the United States, some two-year-old can name all the letters, but some five-year-old (particularly boys) must still word hard at this (Wolf, pg. 93)
So, do boys learn to read slower? It was found by behavior neurologist Norman Geschwind that most myelination of the angular gyrus region was not fully developed till school age, being between the ages of 5 and 7. He hypothesized that myelination occurs at a slower rate in some boys, which could provide the reasoning for why boys learn to read and becoming fluent readers slower than girls.  '
What I can conclude from other studies conducted in this section, ideally children should be reading by seven. In contradiction, writer Penelope Fitzgerald advocates reading comes in its own biological timing. Just let the myelination occur in its own timing!

Where do we start?

Wolf pulled apart several different points in her chapter titled "The Beginnings of Reading Development or Not." In this blog, I am going to focus on serious wordplay, laughter, tears, and friends, and what the language of books teaches us all.

In the next few blogs, I want to explore what's in a letter's name, when should a young child begin to read, phoneme awareness and the Wise Mother Goose, the war on word poverty, the effects of ear infections on early language development, and the possible effects of bilingual environments on learning to read.

I am going to afford myself a little bit of time for each; not going into incredible detail, however. There is just so much amazingness... I don't know what to do with my bad self! 

Serious Wordplay

Wolf introduces this section first by explaining how early readers begin by feeling a connection to the text by feeling loved. She continued with this quote, "The association between hearing written language and feeling loved provide the foundation for this long process, and no cognitive scientist or education researcher could have designed a better one." This step focuses on the understanding of pictures, through their visual systems developing in the first six months of life. By eighteen months of age, the child comes to the realization that everything has a name. Wolf showcased this by being one of the biggest eureka moments that is insufficiently noted in the first two years of life. Jean Berko Gleason emphasized when a child learns the name of something new, a major cognitive change occurs. In doing so, the oral language system is developing while conceptual understanding occurs. Lastly, Wolf notes, "the more children are read to, the more they understand all the language around them, and the more developed their vocabulary becomes." Personally, I am so appreciative to have had a mom who knew the importance and surrounded me with books!

Laughter, Tears, and Friends
In this section, Wolf states the claim and the importance of laughter, tears, and friends in the overall development of child development. Reflecting back to my childhood, some of my earliest memories are surrounded around the people I love! Through reading to children early in their life, they are able to make connections to the text and the feeling of being loved. Because feeling love also ties in to feeling safe, together, these feelings bring together a child's emotional development and reading. Stories like The Frog and the Toad, the plot lines guide emotion into being well taken care of. The story models what it is like to care and help one another. Another point made by Wolf provides the overarching example that stories read to young children yields the thoughts and feelings made by them on a regular basis.

What the language of books teaches us all
When I think about the language of books, phrases like "once a upon a time" and "in a land far, far away" instantly pop in my head. In working with a child to develop their reading skills, phrases like I provided above are essential when moving from an emerging pre-reader to a notice reader. They are essential to determining the overall time and place of a story. Additionally,figurative language elements such as: allusion, alliteration, metaphor and simile create language within a story that strengths the imagery and overall story.

One question that came to my mind after reading this section determines how did we ever learn the meaning of words like: the, then, because, of, and? Wolf makes the argument of children learning to use this words as logical connectors used regularly in speech and written language. While working with Holbrook and company through the ALA protocol, this was one aspect I found particularly fascinating. After we negotiated meaning of the concept to one true meaning of the text, together, teacher and student, we compared our student-created text to that of a higher-level text. Through this process, it was the connector words English language learners find the most struggle. As we are teaching our students to navigate text, it is important to take time to show students the connections to influence the connections that make within themselves- break the words down to aid in the meaning.

Baby Geniuses

Finally! The main course showed up! The previous chapters, although intriguing, were really technical and super-wordy. I have found a bit challenging to keep the whimsical tone in the blog, and not to go all APA-research style on y'all. This book has forced me to read the hard stuff and contextualize it all. Maybe the name of this blog entry should have been "Heather Contextualizes It All". I really have felt like I have been standing in a room of filing cabinets, attempting to find the correct spot in my brain for all the information. Something a   little like my picture above.

I have even felt like I am looking up from the floor from time to time. However, through the struggle, I am reminded that it is all apart of the bigger picture of being a learner. This is what we ask our students to do in our classrooms on a regular basis. Read it and make meaning. We ask them to do it for seven hours straight. Still apart of the struggle.

I want to talk about the following TED talk for just a moment.
Patricia Kuhl: The Iinguistic genius of babies 

In this TED talk, she speaks specifically to the what happens to the American babies when exposed to different languages in the first 12 months of life. She challenges what really happens in the brain during the first months of life. I bring this TED talk up due the real connections in this chapter. When the brain begins to pick up new language, the brain activates. In Patricia Kuhl's study, she intertwined two languages and focused on babies from 0-6 months. She and her team wanted to know the impact of different languages on the brain in their earliest development.

Tying this is to Proust and the Squid, it was proven that as early as an infant can sit on a caregiver's lap, a child can associate reading to being loved. Because both events occur, before a baby's first birthday, it is important to also note that by talking to our children, neuronal pathways are taking shape while we don't realize it. The language development is obviously a lifelong experience. Specifically, it is found the first five years of life are the most important. In ages 2-5 years of age, kids will learn between two to four words a day. Sweet neurons on fire!

Look at them go!

In chapter four, Wolf identifies five forms of development: phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphological and pragmatic. During phonological development, children are dissecting the sounds. C=/k/, A=/a/, T=/t/. They are also listening, distinguishing, piecing, and learning to maneuver the words- all at the same time. Semantic development focuses on increasing their vocabulary; they understand the meaning of the words and moves their vocabulary forward. Syntactic development is specific to the grammatical relationship of words, influencing the word order in sentences and its impact of the overall meaning. Morphological development is the child's acquisition of the smallest units of meaning. It is the "s" making words plural or the "ed" making words past tense. Lastly, pragmatic development enhances the social and cultural rules of words. It provides students the understanding on how words can be used in countless number of situations.

In the next blog, I am going to spend some time pulling apart several different points continuing in Chapter 4, "The Beginnings of Reading Development, or Not. These include: serious wordplay, laughter, tears, and friends, and what the language of books teaches us all. 

See you there. 

Chapter 3: The Birth of the Alphabet and Socrates' protests- Part 2

In the second section of Chapter Three, Wolf discusses the protests by Socrates and why he didn't agree words should go into writing. In today's blog, I want to take each apart look at them, teasing them out and develop my own meaning.

Socrates

 

 

 

Socrates- the man, the myth, and the legend.... No. This doesn't seem right. We are not going John Pesenti here. However, Socrates left this earth with a deep legend, but nothing he ever talked about or theorized was written down. The things we know about him were talked about, shared through the generations, and never moved to written word by the man himself. Through his student, Plato, we were able to get some information written. Plato didn't necessary agree with Socrates about converting talk to the written word scribed many of their spoken dialogues. As Aristotle was mentored by Plato, he used these writings to be enamored by reading. Isn't that what we do as humans? If Momma doesn't like what we do, we are sure to do it and the granddaughter changes it and makes it better. :) I have story for this, but it will cause me to digress significantly, so let's move on.

In Chapter Three, the protests of Socrates, pending your Discourse, we could even question if these have become true. Socrates earnestly believed written word posed serious risks to society.

First Objection: Inflexibility of the Written Word
Due the Socratic method following the idea of answering, questioning, answering, questioning, the way we use his method in our classrooms around America would probably make him flip over in his grave. Or maybe the poison fried out his brain... anyway. Socrates truly believed that unlike the "dead" discourse of written words that when words were spoken that they had life. Spoken language had meaning, melody, rhythms. When they were spoken back, they could be dissected and pulled apart for further meaning. Socrates' subtle concern was could be mistaken for an actual reality. "Because they seem... as though they were intelligent and therefore closer to the reality of a thing, words can delude people, Socrates feared, into a superficial, false sense, that they understand something when they have only just begun to understand it" (Wolf, p. 73).

Since all of our teaching is within the confines of the written word, I think it has caused an inflexibility within our students. How many teachers have their students read and write within their classroom and never afford their students to talk about meaningful topics? To question ideals set forth by our culture? Why in a society where we are beginning to "talk" more and more through written language that we don't encourage them to use their voices?

Second Objection: Memory Destruction 
Throughout Socrates' teaching, he taught others through speech. Because nothing was ever written down by Socrates, his students had to hear everything and etch it to their memory right away. Socrates concluded "preserving the individual's memory and its role in the examination and embodiment of knowledge was more important than the indisputable advantage of writing in preserving cultural memory (Wolf, p.75). In the text, Wolf shares an interaction between Socrates and young Phaedrus. Socrates caught him using what is believed to be the first note-taking for a speech he was going to conduct at Lysias. To aid his memory, he wrote down key ideas and tucked it into his cloak. Because of this, Socrates launched in a diatribe about written words and their inability to aid instruction. (Meaning he rips his butt, up one side and down another.) He badgered him with the he was taken away from the true meaning of their words.

Since all of our teaching is within the confines of the written word,what would happen if we removed dictionaries from our classroom and had our students pine their way to meaning? What would this look like and how could it change classroom culture?

Third Objection: The Loss of Control over Language
 It is believed that Socrates did not actually fear reading. He feared the superficial understanding. He wanted his students to have a deep understanding and real awareness of words. As Socrates put it, "Once a thing, is put in writing, the composition, what it may be, drifts all over the place, getting into the hangs not only of those who understand it, but equally of those who have not business with it; it doesn't know how to address the right people, and not address the wrong. And when it is ill treated and unfairly abused it always needs its parent to com to its help, being unable to defend of help itself (Wolf, p. 76-77). Written word gave Socrates an uncertainty about the who, what, and how of reading. Who would read the text? What would they meaning be? How would they use it?

In the next part, Wolf begins to dissect how the brain learns to read over time. So, the adventure continues!

Chapter 3: The Birth of an Alphabet and Socrates' Protests PART ONE

GOOD GRIEF! This chapter is full of content! From Greeks to the Akkadians, back to the Greeks to Egyptians, to Socrates to Plato... so much information. Due to this, I have decided to break it up into two parts.

In the first part of the chapter, Wolf argues for three different claims in accordance to the alphabet.  Making these claims, she is attempting to answer the question: Does the Alphabet Build a Different Brain? I am in hopes I will also be able to synthesize the question through my writing. (Hopefully, I can do this quickly. I am in Blue Springs, MO for mini vacation to visit my dear friend, Rachel. The ribs are already on the grill and fireworks are going off outside my window. :) )


First Claim

The Alphabet is more efficient than all other writing systems

Specifically, this is the Greek alphabet I am talking about here and within its form of twenty-six letters. Wolf claims that a reduced number of symbols reduces the time and attention required for rapid recognition. This causes the brain to use fewer perceptual and memory resources. I think of it this way... a computer can have several processes occurring at one time. In this instance, twenty-six programs being used. All are opened and being utilized in a variety of ways. They can be organized in different ways and be used interchangeably. The computer can work faster. However, if the same computer needs to have 900 programs opened at the same time. It would be increasingly more difficult for the computer to do the same tasks.

In terms of which parts of the brain are being used, it has been found the alphabet reader learns to rely on more the posterior of the left hemisphere. Whereas, Chinese readers actually recruit areas in both hemispheres. Specifically, a study was conducted in the 1930s by three Chinese neurologists, they focused on a bilingual gentleman who developed alexia (lost the ability to read) after suffering a severe stroke to the posterior portions of his brain. In their conclusions, they found the gentleman was still able to read English although he was completely unable to read Chinese.

In conclusion, it was found that different parts of the brain are used for different aspects of reading. In that, the alphabet does not build a "better" brain, but a brain different than other writing systems due the overall developmental efficiency.

Second Claim
The Alphabet stimulates novel thought the best

Well, how do we define novel thought? I believe it to be the open thoughts within the brain, most of them never being uttered or written down. Wolf gives an meta-view explaining that the promotion of developmental intellectual thought in human history did not originate with the alphabet but within writing itself. She cites Vygotsky (I love LEV!  I should make a shirt. Maybe that would be too Big Bang Theory-like...) stating that his beliefs revolve around the idea of putting spoken words and unspoken thoughts into written word releases and by the process, changes the thoughts themselves.

So, Lev, let me see if I am picking up what you are putting down... If I speak or think something, by the time I write it will be different. I could see your point. If I was to make a sign for the jerk in traffic who cut me off on I-70 here in Kansas City, I wouldn't write "You are a jerk!". I might actually delineate something else. Seriously though, when I write my thoughts, I feel like the ideas come to life through the words.

Third Claim
The Alphabet facilitates reading acquisition through Enhanced Awareness of Speech

This section was a little dry and used a lot of big words. So I was kinda confused... Help me out. What I could get is that by having fewer characters in the Alphabet, it is easier for the brain to recognize what is being understood, due to the phonemes (letters that make up sounds). The sounds streamline the efficiency even better. Through this, a conscious, systematic analysis of speech occurs, the letters create the sounds and the sounds create the words.


Things that make you go "Um." Or is that my stomach? Someone save me some ribs!

Until later.

Chapter Two: How the Brain Adapted Itself to Read- The First Writing Systems

What is the first thing people learn to write first? Thinking back to my childhood, I remember writing nothing but squiggles. (Mostly because my mother still has them well-preserved in her garage.)

 In Wolf's book, she speaks specifically to the first things ever written. The first form was considered symbolic representation. It moved away from the basic lines from previous to develop a more abstract like numbers. The lines has a simple representation, the system of symbols created represented something of more grander.

The top is the early writing and the bottom is what the child meant.

Back to our first writings, it goes very much on the same journey. We start with lines, sometimes they are straight or curvy. Upon inquiry, the child could tell you what they mean but only to them. As time goes on, the art of writing becomes coached. We are told the alphabet and how these symbols represent other things. As we mature so does our writing.

Wolf continues to speak to how the brain need to form new pathways based on the new symbols. It has been found the temporal and parietal lobes participate in the new understanding. The temporal lobes has an incredible range of auditory and language-based process; together, these contribute to our ability to comprehend word meaning. In a similar way, the parietal lobes has a wide range of language-related functions. These areas are generally called "association areas."

With the new pathways in the parietal and temporal lobes being able comprehend language, there is a third area is needed. There is a juncture of the three areas called the angular gyrus area. This area is connection area causing a link between different kinds of sensory information. In other words, it is fine and dandy when the parietal and temporal lobes can understand the language. But, if no sensory input is given, there would be no understanding.

Pay close attention to the light blue and purple areas of the brain.

It is also believed through research that by teaching new symbols, our ancestors pass on the knowledge of reading and writing.



Neuroscientists Gabrieli and Poldrack have found through their research that pathways and to and from the angular gyrus region become intensely activate during reading development (Wolf, pg. 31).

The way the Sumerians taught their children how to read is similar to the way we now teach reading. The researchers at Tel-Aviv University found that their basis of instruction was focused around a phonological system, meaning it was sound based. The Sumerians also included meaning-based instruction. This helps the students form sound and meaning from words while focusing on conceptual understanding.

Whoa! All these new fantastic ideas that we think we are evolving come from the beginning of written word!

Some more ideas from this youtube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBwmvSo7Dh8


To conclude, I had some questions while reading this chapter:

If reading is considered a passing on of knowledge from generation to generation, what is the socioeconomic implications?
Could the brain re-wiring and character use in languages like Chinese and Japanese be why people are more advanced than traditionally alphabetical nations?


Until later.