February 2, 2021

Science of Reading: A Primer: Part One

Time: 1 hour

10 Questions to Amplify Book:

1. How is it possible the brain attributes all these functions and breaks them down to
perform one basic skill?
2. How can our brain differentiate between normal and dispersed print?
3. Why does the visual form of a word in an area begin to appear as the brain senses. How
does the brain process this information so quickly?
4. How can we, as teachers, incorporate decoding practices into the instruction?
5. As future P.E. teachers, can we help improve our English Language Learner students
linguistic skills while teaching kinesthetically?
6. Do decoding practices significantly improve ELL linguistic skills?
7. How do first time ELL students perceive words? What do they look like? How do the
phonemes sound when the letters are pronounced?
8. Can decoding help students learn and understand the concept of games and activities
much better?
9. How does the brain distinguish the abilities to differentiate phonetics?
10. What are the parts of the brain and what functions are associated with each? How do
the parts contribute to processing information, creating sound and moving.

March 25, 2017

Reaching Teen Brains
Dr. Fran Clemente
Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Dr. Fran Clemente’s presentation on Reaching Teen Brains was a very fascinating and
intriguing presentation/professional development to attend. I was so interested and shocked at
how powerful the brain truly is. The brain is arguably our most important organ that controls our
thoughts, memory, emotion, senses, motor skills, vision, breathing, hunger, and every process
that regulates metabolism and our body. Scientists have not even come close to figuring out all
of the aspects of the brain, we believe we know the basics, such as the parts of the brain and
their respective responsibilities. In my opinion, the brain is very similar to the concept of space
being infinite. We barely know much about space and all the unimaginable things about it, and
we are not able to explore space, at least yet. Similar to space, we barely know much about the
brain. There is so much exploring left to do with the human brain, and who knows what else the
brain can perform or contribute to that we are not aware of. This is the main attraction that
makes learning about the brain so fascinating, it's infinite just like space.
 “Educators are in the only profession whose job is to change the human brain” is a quote
Dr. Clemente used to begin her presentation. It is very true. Us teachers are responsible for the
growth and development of our children. This is why teaching is a very difficult profession to
actually succeed in. The brain is a very delicate organ and must be treated with caution in order
to progress maturely and in the right direction. Any slight harmful or negative experience can
alter how the brain functions, therefore, altering how teens behave and act. Teaching is not just
an art, it is also a science. Essentially, effective teaching and instruction target the teens brain to
stimulate the brain to learn. Learning involves all aspects of the brain: psychological,
neuroscience, and pedagogical.
The brain is made up of billions of neurons, an estimated hundred billion neurons
approximately. Neurons are made of dendrites, axon and synaptics. When we acquire new
knowledge or experiences, neurons become more strongly connected, which creates a stronger
network and allows the neurons to communicate with each other more efficiently. Neurons are
the basics to understanding the neuroscience of learning. These connections are ultimately
responsible for new learning. This is another reason why teachers need to create positive
experiences and environments for their students to effectively learn and mature. It is very crucial
to maintain the receptors of neurons in the teen’s brain. For example, dopamine is a chemical
produced from our body and a type of neurotransmitter that is responsible for how we feel
pleasure. Dopamine plays a major part of our ability to think. Damaged dopamine receptors
affect how we think and will not be able to learn anything. Also, damaged dopamine receptors
are associated with impulsive behavior and can result in a loss of pleasure in activities that were
once enjoyed.
It is amazing how our brains process and remember information. We have short-term
memory, which is further broken down into immediate memory and working memory, and
long-term memory. We can only hold information in short-term memory for approximately thirty
seconds. Our memory is based on how we perceive stimulants in the environment. We
perceive information with our senses, and that information moves through our short-term
memory and eventually reaches our long-term memory. All new learning has to be connected to
something familiar, such as past experiences. Teens need to be able to relate to the information
in order to have the information moved into long-term memory. As teachers, we want our
students to be able to use their prior knowledge to be able relate to new information. Past
experiences are king for new information to be properly stored.

March 4, 2021
Welcoming & Aligning Instruction with the Science: What Should We See in the Classroom?
Time: 1 hour
Link: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/hhi79tmu/2

Teaching literacy is very much a science. Many adolescents progress through school
without actually being able to read or becoming literate, therefore, significantly increasing their
chances for struggling and for failure in life. There is a clear and troubling lack of information
about what’s happening in the child’s brain as they are learning to read and a lack of research to
support literacy learning. Many adults consider the common assumption that children learn by
exposure and continuously reading, however, this is a myth. In physical education class, this
statement may be true for learning kinesthetic movements because students need to be
exposed to multiple environments, and see and practice movements repetitiously to better
themselves. In my opinion, it is true students get by practicing, however, if a child is
continuously practicing wrong strategies or simply does not know how to read, how do we
expect the child to improve. The student will never improve and will actually develop bad habits,
just like in physical education. If a child is practicing the wrong technique for a movement, their
body will become used to performing the wrong movement, and therefore, will not be able to
perform the actual skill correctly to participate in future activities (will struggle).
A statement from Dr. BB that stood out to me was “All children can be taught to read.” As
I previously stated the common myth of reading, when teachers find their students are not being
able to demonstrate their “learning” of literacy, teachers become confused and sometimes
create excuses outside of their perceived locus of control. As teachers, we cannot create
excuses to why our students are not learning. We must be able to adapt and try to understand
why and what needs to happen or change in order for the students to learn, it is our job.
Teaching is not an easy job by any means, and we are all human, we will all make mistakes and
come across times when our students may not be processing information well. This does not
mean to create excuses or to quit, but to figure out why so we can quickly get the students back
on track. We want to internalize reading in the brain and utilize evidence-based practices to
teach children to read and to utilize the systematic support systems to ensure it happens.
Reading is a very complicated task to learn and to teach, especially when taking into
consideration learning disabilities. The strategies of teaching literacy shifted from visual and
structure to the four part processing system, which focused on code base instruction. The four
part system consisted of: 1) Context, 2) Meaning, 3) Letters, and 4) Sounds. This system
requires the ability to decode words. The NRP found conclusive evidence of the need for explicit
instruction in five different areas: 1) phonological awareness (type of knowledge), 2) systematic
phonics (instruction), 3) fluency (characteristics of reading), 4) vocabulary (component of
instruction), and 5) comprehension (goal to be met). These five areas are known as the Five
Pillars of Reading Instruction. This will provide a foundation to teach literacy to your students.
The five pillars are not equivalent to one another. Students will need practice in each pillar to be
able to read efficiently and effectively, appropriately learn. However, in order to actually ensure
our students are learning (using any model/any content-area) they need to be motivated. To be
motivated, students have to feel like they're pretty good at it. How do we do this? We can teach
reading strategies, encourage peer discussion about passages, or as the teacher, show that you
are dedicated to really teaching them.

March 4, 2021
Speech to Print: Reading’s Best Idea
Time: 1 hour
Link: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/hhi79tmu/3

Dr. Louisa Moats presentation was very interesting. She discussed the linguistics skills of
literacy, which involve phonemes, graphemes, morphonemics, syllables, etc… The first writing
system ever recorded came into existence about five thousand years ago, which was the use of
symbols, such as hieroglyphics. It is very shocking to see how far language has come and
developed. Language consists of symbols that create pronunciations that allow us to speak. It is
crazy to think that there are thousands of different types of human languages that have been
created throughout recorded human history, yet here we are in today’s world with hundreds of
languages spoken throughout the world.
Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound and speech that can change the meaning of a
word. In the English language, there are forty-four phonemes despite their only being twenty-six
letters in the alphabet. Graphemes are various letters or letter combinations that represent a
phoneme (represent sounds), may be one, two, three, or even four letters. The forty-four sounds
fall into two classes: consonants and vowels. Phonemes that have more than one variant are
known as allophones, which functions as a single sound. Allophones are classified into two
groups, complementary and free-variation allophones, on the basis of whether they appear in
complementary distribution or the speaker has the freedom to choose the allophone that they
will use. Morphophonemics represent the sound, meaning and function. Can also represent
both sound and meaning. Linguists place symbols for phonemes between slash marks, such as
/e/ which creates the sound “eh” as in egg. Phonemes can be very tricky and confusing. For
example, the sound “ee” is represented by /ē/, which creates words like “bee”. Very different
from /e/. There is also /ā/, which represents the letter combination ai and can be created in the
word snail, opposed to /a/, which can be created in the word “cat”.
Teaching phonemes to children beginning to read and pronounce complicated words can
be very difficult, especially for English language learners. Children need to be aware of how
sounds work and how these relate to words before they can fully develop literacy skills. As
teachers, we want to instill phonological awareness in our students. Conscious analysis of
phonemes in words is necessary for proficient use of an alphabet. Phonological awareness is
the process of working out the sounds, including counting syllables, picking out rhyming words,
etc… Phonemes as a linguistic object is not part of their easily accessible mental calculus. Once
children have practiced segmenting words, they will transfer these words into orthographically
learning. Phonology of spelling is more critical in learning than in learning to read because
spelling aids in reading. Spelling helps create the connection that is shared between the sound
and letters. Our brains also play a critical role in developing phonological awareness. Specific
regions within the brain are inclined to recognize faces and objects, not words. We are not born
with this, we have to develop and strengthen these areas over time. As teachers,it is very
important to develop phonological awareness to allow for efficient linguistic skills to be
developed.

March 4, 2021
The Science of Reading: Equity Matters
Time: 1 hour
Link: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/hhi79tmu/3

Equity in the classroom is very important for every students’ academic success. Including
appropriate equity goes beyond just race and gender; includes areas such as socioeconomic
status, religion, age, physical abilities, etc… As teachers, we want to provide the appropriate
help as needed depending on the type of student so they can learn at a fair rate compared to
their peers. Now, I happened to notice a very intriguing quote in the comment section that I
thought was very telling. “Equality equals providing every student with a book to read. Equity
equals providing the student with low vision/blindness is given a book in Braille!” This quote just
goes to show how teachers need to accommodate for every student so they can have a fair
chance of learning. Other big aspects is to establish an inclusive environment within the class,
be dynamic, and accommodate learning styles. Signs to look for if students are struggling with
the instruction are: difficulty sounding out words, listening comprehension exceeds reading
comprehension, inadequate response to effective instruction and intervention and excels in
other areas.

March 4, 2021
Early Reading Success: Oral Language Competence is the Engine and High Quality
Instruction is the Fuel.
Time: 1 hour
Link: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/hhi79tmu/10

Oral language is the system through which we use spoken words to express knowledge, ideas
and feelings. Dr. Snow defines oral language as the everyday talking and listening skills and the
mental representations that sit behind them. Language consists of many different components
that one must develop: phonology, grammar, morphology, vocabulary, discourse and
pragmatics. Further, children must also develop competence in three areas that are responsible
for mastering oral language as a whole: 1) Form, which is knowledge of the structure of
language; 2) Content, which represents vocabulary and concepts; 3) Use, which is knowledge
of how to communicate in different social situations. All three components are skills one must
learn to be an effective communicator (engage the audience). The acquisition of these skills
begin at the base, 0-5 years of age. During these years, children experience oral language and
an explosion of language. This stage involves the sudden onset of learning new words, which is
why many parents go on to believe their children are geniuses. The biggest influence for oral
language development is the home life and the development of prosocial interpersonal skills.
Parents apply scaffolding techniques to guide their child in developing linguistic skills. After this
stage, children move on to print based language and decoding skills which is usually taught in
school.

March 4, 2021
How Writing Instruction Can Narrow the Knowledge Gap
Time: 1 hour
Link: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/hhi79tmu/7

Narrowing the academic gap between affluent and low-income students has been an increasing
issue over the past decade. Billions of dollars have been invested into reforming education to
narrow the wide gap, however, the United State has not progressed into achieving this issue.
We haven’t even come closer to solving the problem today than it was twenty, thirty years ago.
Affluent parents who send their children to desirable schools are being blamed for the inferior
education inflicted on less privileged kids, which is unfair. Parents who do what they feel is best
for their child should not be receiving the blame. The blame should be pointed towards the
people in charge of creating the curriculum being taught to low-income students. Schools in
low-income areas do not have the funding to hire specialized teachers in such areas and
therefore, depend on the government for funding and instruction.

However, in order to fix the problem, we must first understand the issue: children are not being
taught linguistic skills appropriately. There are many connections between writing and the
science of reading. Spelling should be taught in conjunction with phonics; when students learn
to use conventions of written language, they are better able to understand them when reading;
writing can help compensate for gaps in background knowledge that interfere with reading
comprehension. Free writing is a very effective practice to improve learning. It is a good way to
help understand a topic and practice writing. The focused aspect of freewriting exercises
enables students to concentrate on thoughts about a specific topic and create intriguing ideas.
Writing also includes the use of retrieval and the protege effect which both work to help
understand and retain information. As teachers, we can engage children from less-educated
families in knowledge about the world, and allow them to articulate that knowledge into writing.
Chunking is another strategy that helps divide or group together word items. This can help
students store information and make it easier to teach grammar and conventions.

April 9, 2021
The Brain Prize: Stanislas Dehaene
Time: 10 minutes
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlYZBi_07vk

What happens in the brain when we speak and what implications should this have on
instruction? According to Dr. Dehaene, language is not an evolutionary construct, it is an
invention. We were never born to read, however, our brains allow reading and oral language to
occur. Dr. Deahene’s laboratory analyses higher level functions of the human brain: reading,
language, mathematics, consciousness, number processing, etc.. Before learning the alphabet,
the brain must first learn how to speak. As children begin learning how to read, rewiring of the
brain occurs to turn shapes of letters on paper into sounds and words of spoken language. Until
the learner masters this conversion, they cannot focus on the meaning of words. To see how the
brain reads, the scientists construct a range of stimuli of real words to pseudo words and letters
as a participant undergoes the experiment. Recognizing whole words and sentences may not
be effective. However, it is the explicit teaching of correspondences between letters and sounds
that is the effective way. Teaches the preferred route from vision to spoken language.

April 9, 2021
How Does The Reading Brain Work?
Time: 5 minutes
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kB7GgLlR7M
Reading is very complex. Requires different areas of the brain to be able to be activated in a
coordinated and synchronised way to maximize ability to decode certain texts. Children who
have problems differentiating speech sounds at the phonemic level will struggle with
phonological awareness and with decoding words. Children with grammatical comprehension
problems also have difficulty with prefixes, suffixes and complex grammatical sentences. Regios
in the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes formulate linguistic skills, and the motor cortex in the
frontal lobe enables you to speak the words. Most language activity occurs in the left side of the
brain. Angular gyrus is the hub that helps us convert visual input to audio output. If this part is
not well developed, children may not be able to relate certain letters and sounds.

April 9, 2021
How the Brain Learns to Read
Time: 35 minutes
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GI3-kiLdo

What does the brain do when we read? Before we read, we communicate thoughts through the
eyes. Information enters through the occipital lobe (vision portion of the brain) then throughout
the rest of the brain. Reading starts as a vision observation; without the ability to see, we will not
be able to communicate with the environment around us, what we see. First, reading conserves
meaning and two, conserves articulation of words. Learning to read consists of recognizing
letters and combinations, and connecting them for speech and meaning. The infant brain is
organized at birth and contains sophisticated learning algorithms. Infants already process
spoken language using delicate areas. Therefore, before a child learns to read, the major
systems for vision and speech recognition are already in place. How can literacy acquisition
change the brain? In literate individuals, the brain changes are induced by readings. Certain
parts become activated to the shapes (letters) you have learned. However, if you have not
learned shapes of a different language, such as Chinese, these parts in the brain will not
activate. An interesting fact is the concept of mirror writing. Many children learning to read and
write will write letters backward and in reverse; which many parents believe this is a form of
dyslexia. According to the studies, we have evolved a symmetry mechanism that helps to
recognize faces and objects regardless of their orientation. This symmetry generalization is
unlearned when we learn to read.

April 14, 2021

Reading the Brain
Time: 1 hour
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSy685vNqYk

The brain is a very intriguing organ of the body. The brain controls our body in every possible
way, through our thoughts, visions, language, metabolism, etc… I like to compare the brain to
space. I believe the brain is infinite just like space, and no matter how much we learn and
discover about the brain, there will always be much more waiting to be discovered. A very
fascinating fact is that we humans are not meant to be able to read. Humans have not evolved
to read, however, we did adapt the ability to read because our brains allow us the ability to do
so. Reading is more so an invention that humans created thousands of years ago. We take in a
texture of letters and transform them into speech. A cool reality is that we have the ability to
communicate with the deceased. Not by having conversation, but by reading ancient artifacts.
Learning to read consists in creating invariant visual representation of written words, connecting
it to the brain areas coding for speech sounds and meaning. All written words are chenneld to
specific areas of the brain to interpret meanings. Perisylvian language areas are already
activated by spoken language in two month old babies. The left perisylvian temporal and inferior
frontal regions are activated by speech. Activation unfolds according to a temporal hierarchy.
Before a child learns to read, the major systems for vision and speech recognition are already in
place. Human babies, of course cannot read, but can listen to speech. An interface must be
created between vision and language. Another very interesting fact about the brain is that the
visual word form area is a reproducible site of activation during reading in all cultures. Will be
found in all readers, Chinese readers, Hebrew readers, etc… We all use the same circuit and
the same locations are activated.

April 14, 2021

Strengthening the Strands of the Reading Skills ‘Rope’: Research Insights for Teachers
Interested in the Science of Reading
Time: 1 hour
Link: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/hhi79tmu/9

Dr. Hollis Scarborough Rope Model compares skilled reading to many strands of a rope. Each
strand represents a separate skill, and when combined with other skills, creates a strong, fluent,
literate and proficient reader. Strands of cognitive skills come together to support one another.
When any one strand of skill is not developed or strengthened with fluency, the strength of the
rope is weakened. Individual domains of knowledge are strengthened through interactions with
teachers and peers, curriculum, and materials children engage with. Strands of cognitive skills
come together to support one another. According to Dr. McCandliss, there are two components
that are critical learning for reading to gain meaning. Decoding and language comprehension
are both absolutely necessary to develop fluency. The processes by which we develop these
abilities, language comprehension and the particular interactions that children have inside
schools can help facilitate learning, and help foster, challenge and scaffold language
comprehension. Literacy is an invention that has transformed a whole aspect of cognitive
development as well as societal development. Our brains possess the ability to take abstract
ideas that we coveney in speech and associate each one with discrete written symbols and
allow us to process these symbols in the brain so rapidly to engage in fluent language
comprehension.