1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
The topic of language employs many of the cognitive features we have already learned. Through language, we are using active processes that are "remarkably efficient and accurate" -Theme 2. In addition, the concept (theme 3) that humans respond more effectively to positive information than negative connects the Pollyanna Principle for Memory, the Confirming hypothesis theory for problem solving, and this weeks reading features of Negative sentence structure.
Reading requires us to recognize letters (ch 2), use eye movement- either top down and bottom up processing to read and fully understand given information (ch 3), employ working memory to retain information we are reading (ch 4) and recall information stored in long term memory (ch 5/6). We use meta comprehension to think and check our reading (ch 6), as well as using mental imagery to further comprehend the reading (ch 7). We also use semantic memory (ch 8) to understand whole paragraphs.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
I would like to know more about reading and working memory-specifically how students who have large memory spans can read more efficiently and have left over attention to remember context clues to guess unknown words. So if students do not have large working memories, what can be done so that they can still recall the context clues in addition to the information from the story?
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
I am currently working with a student with learning disabilities, trying to improve his reading comprehension and vocab. He has a poor working memory, so we have been trying to improve that though cognitive tasks! This chapter gave alot of background knowledge (most of which I was already aware of) that related to my tutoring experiences. I hope that the following chapters will begin to answer and provide more info so that I can continue to help this student become a more successful reader.
Also, I just wanted to say, that as teachers, it is our job to correct the essays using our human abilities and training- we really don't need some artificial intelligence to do it for us. Sometimes I am annoyed that we are trying to find ways to get out of our basic human functions.
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I found the information about the artificial intelligence to be a little crazy. I am not sure why it would take so much effort and work to make a determination that is somewhat common knowledge. It seems as if resaerch is getting a little carried away here. On the other hand, maybe a computer grading writing would help improve standardized test scores in this area.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know more as well about working memory and reading. As a title 1 teacher with struggling readers, I find that they are unable to remember what they have read 2 seconds before. I also see that when they come to a word they don't know and take time to struggle through it, all the other words and concepts in their memory are lost. It's so frustrating! Maybe that is why we have students read at a rate of 95% word accuracy because if they are struggling through so many words and their memories can't hold what was previously read, they lose it. But with a higher accuracy, they can quickly brisk through the words and have a better comprehension because they might not have as much lost when stopping at words. I wish I had more research on this as well. I'm sure it makes your job more difficult and tests your patience as well. I find myself thinking, "Why don't you remember what you just read!" Now I'm also wondering if ambiguity has anything to play into it as well.
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