Ch. 8 & 9 Discussion

As an undergrad I recieved my degree in Early Childhood education, therefore, I really enjoyed reading this chapter and felt it as a good review. I also feel this is where muuch of my philosophy of teaching comes from. Piaget and Vygotsky are major influences that can been seen by just walking into my classroom. I think that its important to really think about how young children learn to build on the foundations of reading. If we look at these theoriest, we can gain insights into the young minds of learners and begin to teach them in the ways in which they learn best. Most of Chapter 8 focused on these theorist and the social learning that takes place among young students. I feel that much research and theory that we have been reading this semester also contributes to this idea. Children need to opportunity to learn in a social situation and from their peers. They will be able to learn and practice by being social beings, which as humans we are. Early Childhood is so important to me as an educator of first graders and I feel that this educational physology has set a basis for how I teach literacy and what I know about children and how they learn.

After reading Chapt 9 I was very overwhelmed about the brain. I know that it is a good thing as teachers to understand how the brain works to understand more about how are students are learning to read. I really liked how in the beginning of the chap. the author was discussing that the brain will ready itself for learning to occur. p. 175 I feel that this also fits in with begin developmentally ready to learn to read. At what age or stage of development is our brains ready? If within the first 3 years of life our brain dramatically changes at what age should we be exposed to explicit literacy instruction? Hope that makes sense!

As for Annes awesome youtube video:

I think that The fMRI's are a great glimps into the brain and how students with Dyslexya are using parts of their brain. Yes there is controversy and being aware of both sides helps us to critically think about this. I really think that seeing those pictures and hearing about all the studies show us an view of what is happening on the inside that can be so frustrating to figure out. I dont know how I feel about the extensive phonics instruction for thsie students. Yes it was seen successful and it awesome for those students to rewire thier thinking/brain but I'm just still a little curious about it. I know how great phonics instruction is for students but I just cant explain it.