The Instructional Ideal

The ideal form of instruction would be one where the student feels a sense of empowerment over the learning process. There are many roads which may lead to the development of the sense of educational empowerment, but the key is to create the educationally conducive environment that provides opportunity for the fostering of emotional stability. As the development of decision-making skills (called problem-solving skills by some) lies at the root of the ideal educational process, the ideal form of instruction must provide a safe, comfortable environment for the students to practice and strengthen these skills. Students must be willing to make choices and accept the consequences in order to assume a role as a maturing adult in American society. As adults, we are well aware that, sometimes, the consequences of our actions are good. Sometimes, they are bad. It is the role of educational institutions to provide an environment where students feel safe to try.

One of the key components to ideal instruction is to remember that children, like all animals, learn best when they can relate new experiences to knowledge that they already possess. New information should be presented following a brief review of knowledge or related to concepts with which the student is already familiar. This allows them to strengthen their knowledge base in preparation for exposure, in the advanced grade levels, to new or expanded ideas. Students who experience this level of ‘recycling’ are better equipped to handle one of the most important life skills that we teach, risk taking. While students are standing on the familiar, teachers may more easily encourage them to get out of their comfort zones. This is an important step in the maturation process of children. As humans grow, we must frequently let go of the old in order to embrace the new. The void in between can be frightening.

Another important aspect of ideal instructional is time. Students should be encouraged to process information that they have received, and time should be provided for them to accomplish this. Through time for reflection and discussion, students are able to deepen their understanding of the presented material or activity. As their understanding deepens, their knowledge base widens and further solidifies. Inevitably, they are lead to new and expanded ideas of a more complicated nature. The entire process fosters increased cognitive ability.

A Thought From Margaret Byrd Rawson

“To know and be part of his world is every child’s birthright. To experience the sights, the sounds, the feel and the smell and the taste of it-city and country, in all seasons and weathers; to watch and feel kinship with animals and plants and their life cycles and to participate in them; to be intimately acquainted with rocks and streams, soil, and sea, forest and lake-all are as important as to know his fellow man. To be aware in the present, to know of the past and how things and life came to be, to dream of the future as he may experience it and as it may be beyond his time are his predominantly human privilege. Not only to be and to grow, but to make and do, to try himself against reality, to bend it to his will or to merge himself with its forces as seems good and possible to him; to find purpose in his world and himself, stalwart courage to meet what comes; resourceful skills in coping with life’s challenges; to have a basic sense of inner security which gives due realization to danger and evil, but which knows that, however biting the winds of adversity, he can deal with them with a spirit not broken but victoriously strengthened and enlarged; to relate warmly and empathetically to people, both taking and giving-sharing life positively with them in small ways and large; understanding, accepting, and welcoming diversity and coming to terms with it as constructively as lies within his powers, knowing its hazards and using well its positive potential-these he needs if he is to be a fully functioning, ever-growing human person. These are the proper heritage of every human child.”

-Margaret Byrd Rawson, The Many Faces of Dyslexia, pgs. 57-58.

Reading Is Not A Natural Process

The development of reading skills obviously serves as the gateway to the world of printed information. Most, if not all, of the informal education that we received is accomplished without the use of printed material. Historically, the oral tradition was the foundation of the informal education process and continues to remain so. However, through the development of reading skills, we prepare ourselves for our journey toward learning the material that must be mastered during the formal education process.

Many proponents of ‘whole language’ feel that, since humans learn to speak their native language through immersion, the act of reading follows a similar pattern and exposure to the printed word leads to the development of reading skills. This reasoning bears a false truth value. A great deal of care and attention to detail must accompany reading instruction because reading is quite different from speech.

In speech, the listener is provided with many clues as to the meaning of the words presented by the speaker. Intonation, pitch, cadence, and body language all provide context clues that assist in the comprehension of auditory signals. Further, according to the Innateness Hypothesis, children are equipped with a blueprint for the innate principles and properties that pertain to the grammars of all spoken human language called universal grammar. This blueprint aids the child in the task of constructing a grammar for the native language. Structure dependency of the native language and coordinate structure constraint are inherent. The rules of grammar that are language specific are learned from the surrounding linguistic environment through stages in oral communication presenting speech as a natural process.

Reading involves a quite different process. The two key components of reading, which do not manifest themselves in speech, are word identification and concept imagery. Word identification involves recognizing that words are a systematic string of individual graphemes (letters). Each individual sequential combination represents a different word. Students must be able to string together the individual phonemes (sounds) to produce these words. This is the essence of decoding. The other half of the reading puzzle involves comprehension of the meanings behind the sequential combinations of letters (words). Concept imagery allows students to visualize the item or process represented by the words. Students who have weak word attack skills (word identification) will stumble and stammer as they attempt to read the printed language. Those weak in concept imagery (comprehension) may read with prosody but will not understand what was read.

To understand the impact of word identification and concept imagery on the reading process, one merely needs to understand that the printed language is a code for spoken language. In order to read, a student must be able to translate the written symbol to the corresponding sound that it represents. This knowledge is called sound-symbol correspondence. The ability to make this translation is called phonemic awareness. Reading, or decoding, involves sound-symbol correspondence and phonemic awareness, neither of which is a naturally occurring process.

The Learning Processes

While there is not complete agreement among scientists and educators on the nature of human learning, certain ideas are generally accepted and provide a model through which we can work. Learning theories have been based, historically, on the findings of modern psychology, and most theories of learning can be divided into three main groups: 1) behavior modification; 2) cognitive theories; and 3) humanistic theories. While all three groups attempt to explain the means through which people can best achieve their educational goals, each stresses a different method of achievement.

Behavior modification theories state that learning consists of forming habits. Additionally, a person will only form a habit if the process offers him some degree of satisfaction. By utilizing a series of accumulated simple habits, a person can eventually be able to accomplish more sophisticated habits, such as solving complicated numerical equations. Theories of this type are measured by asking the student to solve problems with only one possible solution. Based upon the correctness of the answer, a determination is made as to the mastery of the material.

Cognitive theories stress the importance of thought processes in learning. Included in these processes are the abstract concepts of understanding and decision-making. Proponents of cognitive theories feel that behavior modification theorists do not fully comprehend the thought processes, as most problems have more than one solution.

Humanistic theories stress the importance of the emotions in learning. Proponents of this theory feel that the two previous theories completely and thoroughly minimize the emotional development of the student. The individuality that each student possesses and the different responses to external stimuli are stressed in this theory. Resultantly, each student must be given the opportunity to develop in the manner which suits their individual personality. As each individual student possesses different strengths and weaknesses in its learning processes, ideally, modern educators should implement strategies for instruction that will cater to all three of these theories.