Teaching Reading with the Brain in Mind

All teachers are, first and foremost, reading teachers! I didn’t understand this concept when I first began teaching back in 1968. While I have used numerous reading programs over the years and have worked with many talented teachers, there was, however, one very disturbing constant - some students would succeed and others would fail. In fact, for many students, reading became the most difficult task they would ever encounter in school.

As educators, we know that students must learn to read well so that they can, in turn, read to learn well. Without basic reading comprehension skills students will be challenged in all facets of learning - from their ability to solve basic problems to creating, storing and applying knowledge. That’s why it’s extremely important that all teachers see themselves as reading teachers, whether they teach math, social studies, science or any other discipline.

In short, all teachers must be prepared to provide their students with useful strategies that will enable them to comprehend the subject content.

Why is learning to read so difficult for so many of our children? Why are reading scores not improving on the national level? What can we do to improve the situation? The answers to these questions can be found in research being conducted on the human brain.

I’m amazed that the connection between the human brain and the learning process is given such little credit. Think about it; we say we learn things by heart. But while the heart is a pump, the brain is the organ for learning (L. Hart, 1983).

Roughly the size of two fists put together, the human brain weighs approximately three pounds and has the texture of a ripe avocado. Yet it’s capable of almost an infinite
number of connections. Forming a kind of super network, brain cells communicate with each other via biological charges that stimulate chemicals known as neurotransmitters, which work together to produce feelings, emotions, memories and cognition.

Despite its enormous capability, however, the human brain has limitations. These limitations revolve around short-term and working memory and the ability to make sense of the written code.