Chapter 2 Flashcards
(24 cards)
What concept did Russ Williams, the leader of Center City School, have that was radically different?
Instead of focusing on comprehension skills, teachers should focus on the content.
How was the new curriculum at Center City School different from the old skills curriculum.
They would spend a couple of weeks on each domain and a lot of the time was spent with the teacher reading the content out loud.
What were the teachers initial fear with the Common Core Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum?
It was too demanding and abstract.
What happened within a few years of adopting the CKLA curriculum?
Test scores began to rise significantly!
What is non-hands-on science?
Exactly what it sounds like. Reading and studying units about different domains of science. Not doing experiments. This kind of approach supports reading comprehension by building knowledge.
There is a place for hands-on science, and this book is not disparaging hands-on science. They both serve different purposes.
According to Wexler, what do teachers report who have taught under skills curricula vs. knowledge curricula?
Better discussions, higher test scores, more excitement, less boredom with the knowledge curricula
T or F: Children are far more capable of abstract thinking than Jean Piaget thought?
True
What is ironic about how many teachers think about things like captions and symbols compared to information about history and science?
Teachers often believe that history and science are abstract (which they’re not) AND that captions and symbols are concrete (which they’re not!)
What did researchers discover with the baseball experiment?
Background knowledge made more of a difference in comprehension– even more than their supposed reading level. Kids who knew little about baseball including the “good readers” all did poorly. And those who knew a lot about baseball, both the “good” readers and the “bad” readers all did well. In fact, the bad readers who knew a lot about baseball outperformed the good readers who didn’t.
What happened when researchers read a story about made up wugs, a subject that neither wealthier or poorer students had any background knowledge on?
The comprehension results were virtually the same. It’s a knowledge gap NOT a skills gap.
What aspect of reading DOES need to be taught as a set of skills?
Decoding/Phonics
True or false: Students need to stick with a topic for days or weeks encountering the same vocabulary and concepts to acquire background knowledge and make vocabulary stick.
True
What’s the idea called when kids have to have enough facts in their heads to make a bunch of accumulated associations that will enable them to absorb, retain, and analyze new information?
A knowledge party
Why do a lot if difficulties begin to emerge in the fourth grade?
This is typically when a lot more non-fiction is added to curricula.
T or F: The idea that children “learn to read” in the early grades and “read to learn” in the older grades is an idea that gets in the way of the schools children deserve. Teachers of younger students should be actively introducing content in younger grades and getting it into their long-term memories.
True Dat!
T or F: Non-fiction texts require more specialized background knowledge.
True
Why are tests often nothing more than an indicator of a student’s SES?
Often the tests are merely showing that kids from wealthier families are gaining more knowledge outside of school compared to their more disadvantaged peers.
What is the only way to build vocabulary quickly?
To aggressively expand knowledge. Teaching vocabulary as a stand alone activity is not very effective. Single words are inseparable from the knowledge in which they are embedded. (i.e. If you know the word ‘oar’, you probably are familiar with rowboats and paddling)
What are some of the reasons that children from less-educated families arrive at school with less knowledge and vocabulary than their peers from highly educated families?
- Children from poverty are far more likely to experience trauma, interfering with their ability to learn.
- Wealthier families (correlated with education) more likely to invest in their children to compensate for inadequate education (buying more books, hiring tutors, extracurricular activities, enrolling in private school).
- Parents from poverty usually have more limited vocabulary background knowledge themselves, and are less likely to read to their children.
How many more words are children from higher SES families have addressed to them by the age of four?
30 million more words.
T or F. Knowledge, like Velcro, sticks best to other related knowledge.
True
What is the Matthew Effect in reading?
It’s a reference to the Bible: Basically, the rich get rich and the poor get poor. Good readers will read more and improve while poor readers will avoid learning and not improve as much.
What is a way that children who are struggling readers can get access to more sophisticated vocabulary, syntax, and content.
Listening to their teachers read more sophisticated vocabulary, syntax, and content.
Where does Natalie Wexler say the real problem of why high school test scores fall apart?
Elementary Schools not building knowledge.
