How the Brain Works

"Spider Web Brains"

Think of your brain as a giant spider web. As you grow and experience new things, your brain "catches" this information and stores it away. You may not need the information immediately, but it is there to use when you need it.

Going to school is something that all of us can relate to. Do you remember a time when you were playing on the playground with friends, and fell while you were running?

Fast Forward---------Five years later you read a book about a little bear that doesn't like playing on the playground, because he fell one day. His friends laughed at him. He was so embarrassed.

If you have experienced falling on a playground (or somewhere else) you can relate to this part of the story. You have a greater understanding, because of that experience. If you have been laughed at before, then you also know that feeling.

Let's think about a child who just recently moved here from another country. The word "playground" may not exist in their vocabulary. Bears may not live in their country, so they are unfamiliar with that term, as well. Think about the child who has been home-schooled. Perhaps, they have never played on a playground other than at the local park with their parents. They may not understand how it feels to be laughed at by friends. This can cause the information in the story to become confusing or "fuzzy". These factors, among so many more, determine a child's ability to comprehend text.

Our brain stores information through our experiences, words that we hear, things that we see, and things that we touch, taste or smell. It stores memories of our emotions from events in our lives. Our brain is so powerful. Its memory is endless. Our brain is our own World Wide Web of resources. When we read for meaning, we are using our schema to build upon the knowledge that we already possess. Metacognition is crucial to comprehension.

The more experiences that we have, the more schema (stored information) we have to access for comprehending texts.

Activate Background Knowledge

Think of your brain as a giant book shelf or rows of file cabinets. Your brain stores all of the information from your prior experiences. You have the ability to access this information whenever you need it. This informational access is known as schema. These past experiences can help with comprehension.

Try to recall events from your own life that relate to the story or passage that you are reading. Try to imagine how the characters feel or how you have felt during a similar circumstance. Try to visualize the setting. Imagine how you would feel if you were there. Visualizing yourself in the story can help you to understand how the setting changes or how the characters emotions evolve throughout the text.

Some people have more schema for some stories when compared to other stories. Life experiences also differ from person to person depending on where you grew up, the vocabulary you have heard, activities you have participated in, culture, and much more. Exposure to vocabulary and unfamiliar events can also build schema.

Language comprehension skills are just one aspect of reading. Scarborough's Reading Rope depicts how students become skilled readers.

Language Comprehension skills and Word Recognition are both crucial to reading success. These strands of reading are woven together so students are able to read words accurately and with automaticity, while also understanding the meaning behind the words that are being read.

Students decode words using word recognition strategies such as matching letters to sounds, using syllables to break apart words and identifying sight words. They use language comprehension skills such as using context clues, making inferences, visualizing, asking questions, determining the importance of the text, and using schema to comprehend.

This combination plays an important role in reading. When students are taught all skills, they are able to use them when they come to unknown words in texts. If students struggle with comprehension, they may not have mastered all of the Word Recognition skills.

From an early age, children need to be taught how to break apart words. Phonological awareness activities provide the foundation for word recognition and skilled reading. Students begin to decode words and recognize familiar words. Once they have a solid foundation in these skills, they are ready to be taught language structure, literacy knowledge, verbal reasoning, and other language comprehension skills. Students need both Language Comprehension and Word Recognition

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