Building the Literacy Staircase

Submitted by Judy Hanning on Wed, 2016-07-06 03:00

Many students are putting in the effort, yet still struggling to read and write, making them feel not as smart as others. Ericsson and Poole, authors of “Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise” say these individuals need to develop “Mental Representations”, patterns that expert users apply automatically, but novices struggle to remember or even notice.

Research shows that “structural literacy” is a key point in developing reading skills in students who are struggling. Through this method, students develop mental representations or patterns of information that serve as a staircase to improved literacy skills.

An example of this in sports would be a golfer watching a video of key actions rather than a video of “good strokes”. They explain that this technique is like a staircase where every step helps build you up to that next level and allow you to judge your own performance. Researchers have already come up with the mental representations needed to improve literacy. The article includes a link to find out more information on this topic.

Key Takeaways:

1
Skillful readers and writers possess effective mental representations or “patterns of information,” according to researchers Ericsson and Pool.
2
Students struggling with literacy can benefit by working to develop effective mental representations through a program known as structured literacy.
3
The researchers suggest that the process of structured literacy involves identifying students’ weaknesses in mental representations and helping them develop these missing areas effectively. This approach allows students to move step by step on a “staircase” to improved reading and writing skills.
Read the full article here:
http://www.lexercise.com/blog/building-literacy-staircase