Teaching the Reading Brain: Strategies & Student Empowerment
When I first started teaching in elementary schools 4 years ago, I vividly remember experiencing challenges in effectively supporting my struggling readers. With so many skills involved in reading, I kept questioning where to begin.
Then, I learned about the science of reading through Root Literacy Design’s training, and things became more concrete and clear. During my training, I had to draw and explain the brain, and that stuck with me. I realized that building my students' mindsets around not being able to master a skill yet means that they are currently in the process of developing that part of their brain.
For example, when my students came to 1st grade still developing their alphabet knowledge, I would tell them that their letterbox is still developing. Just like we exercise our muscles when we work out, we are exercising our muscles when we read. This was the perfect place to start in helping them understand the reading brain.
It was important for my students to understand the reading brain because I wanted them to develop the confidence in knowing that they might not know all the skills yet, but with practice and determination they will. I decided to bring this knowledge back to the classroom and share it with my students.
In this blog post, I will share the steps I took to teach my first-grade students about the reading brain, and how this knowledge has dramatically boosted their confidence, replaced negative self-talk with a growth mindset, and helped them understand that struggling with reading doesn't mean they're 'stupid'.
Building Background Knowledge: Introducing the Brain
We had already been learning about the different parts of the body, and this had become a topic of interest for them. Now, the brain had become more than just an organ to them - they were ready to learn more about it.
I started by reading JoAnn Deak’s Your Fantastic Elastic Brain and explaining the different parts of the brain to my students.
Next, we looked at The Reading Brain poster and used language from Carolyn Strom’s work (Sound City, Vision Villages, Meaning Mountains) to talk about the brain.
We talked about how reading can sometimes seem hard, and about how we can train our brains until things feel automatic and easy. We discussed having a growth mindset - that we don’t always have the answers, but as long as we try and put effort into figuring things out, we can make progress and grow.
This left a significant impact on them, changing their perspective of reading from "I read because that’s what we do at school" to "I read because it grows my brain, which will stick with me forever."
Making Connections to Literacy Lessons and Beyond
We went further, making connections to the different parts of our UFLI literacy lessons, focusing on how each lesson’s part helps us grow our brains to become great readers and writers.
One student made the realization that the visual drill part of the lesson is in the “Vision Village” part of the brain. Another student asked, “Ms. Kerry, there are different types of bats, how do we know which one?” This led to an amazing discussion about how the brain uses context to determine a word’s meaning.
It is never too soon to help students understand how their brain is learning to read. Children can begin to experience feelings of inadequacy, such as thinking they are "stupid," as early as first grade. It's so empowering for them to learn that growing their reading brain is something they can all do, and that it takes effort, time, and practice.
Understanding how each part of the lesson grows their brain helps students be more engaged in their literacy lessons. I am so excited to see how they continue to make these connections throughout the year. By empowering our students with this knowledge, we're not just teaching them to read, we're teaching them how we learn.
