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I hope you’ve had a chance to listen to the following NPR story that I posted last week.   http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=474

It’s about an hour long, so you can listen AND knock out some laundry-folding at the same time!  You can also view the transcript at http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/transcript.

Here are my highlights from Part 2: The Solution.

Achievement Gap?
It’s not poverty, but stress, that creates the achievement gap.  Stress prevents the development of these non-cognitive skills.  Dr. Nadine Burke Harris provides a clear visualization with the following scenario.

“If you look on the molecular level, you’re walking through the forest and you see a bear, right? So you can either fight the bear or run from the bear. That’s kind of your fight or flight system.  And your body releases a ton of adrenalin, right? Which is your short-term stress hormone, and something else called cortisol, which tends to be more of a long-term stress hormone. And this dilates your pupils, gets your heart beating fast. Your skin gets cold and clammy. That’s because you’re shunting blood from anywhere that isn’t absolutely necessary to the muscles that you need to be able to run from that bear.

The other thing that it does– now, you can imagine that if you’re about to fight a bear, you need some gumption to fight that bear, right? So it kind of shuts off the thinking portion of your brain, right? That executive function cognitive part. And it turns on the real primal aggression and the things that you need to be able to think that you’re going to go into a fight with a bear and come out on the winning side.

And that’s really good if you’re in a forest and there’s a bear. The problem is when that bear comes home from the bar every night. Right? And for a lot of these kids, what happens is that this system, this fight or flight response, which is an emergency response in your body, it’s activated over and over and over again.” 

The repetition of this response creates pathways in the brain.  The effect of this repeated stress shows up on brain scans, specifically on the prefrontal cortex where a lot of the non-cognitive skills happen.  Basically, for these kids, the bear never goes away…even when they’re sitting in class.  This leads to things teachers see like difficulty paying attention or sitting still.

Hope?
The rest of the story explains two significant solutions: one avenue that is more of a preventative one for younger children, as well as another that can be taught at later ages.

Studies have shown that a secure attachment relationship with an empathetic parent can significantly lower the affect of stress on the body.  So imagine a child who has grown up in these circumstances and now is possibly a teenage mother, again living in poverty and all the stresses associated with that. Often lacking role models of her own, she sees the baby as an incomprehensible bundle of need.  But the cycle can end if this mom is taught how to read her baby’s cues, and ways to respond, help and comfort her child—ways that enable the child to be more socially competent, confident, to make friends, rebound from setbacks, and engage in school.

But what if you’re dealing with a teenager now?  Paul Tough observed Kewauna Lerma in a Chicago school program called One Goal.  This program employs teachers as coaches, too, teaching leadership principles like ambition, resilience, professionalism, and resourcefulness.  Students learn grit, self-control, how to rebound from a setback, and more concrete skills like how to present yourself, network, and ask questions.  The idea is that it’s going to be difficult to make up how far behind this student is in cognitive skills and test scores.  Out of the 128 kids that started the program the same year as Kewauna, 85% are in their sophomore year.  That’s remarkable when you consider that 8% of high school freshman in Chicago get a 4-year college degree.

Nationally
And it’s not just Chicago schools that need help.  The U.S. used to have a higher percentage of students graduate from college than any other country.  Now we have the highest college dropout rate in the industrialized world.

Heckman’s Conclusion:
Heckman and other educators believe these non-cognitive skills can be taught, making those kids able to seize a better future for themselves.

And this, I think, just changes the way we think about poverty and human opportunity and what can we do to open up more possibilities to more people…I think one of the reasons why people don’t think of this as a possibility is they think these traits are fixed at birth or fixed so early there’s not much we can do about it. 

And I think what we’ve learned is that these human capabilities can be shaped. And as an economist, what I like about it is that it has this possibility of reducing inequality, but not doing it through the standard mechanism of just handing out money and transfers from the rich to the poor. That’s ancient. The idea is you make the poor highly capable. That there really is a possibility of giving people more possibilities. That there really is the chance of improving their capabilities.  And I’m personally very excited by that. And a lot of the evidence comes together, whether it’s neuroscience, psychology, economics. It’s the confluence of these things. There are these happy times in science and social science and knowledge where different strands come together. And I think we’re at such a time.

“How can I help my child become a better reader?”  Great question!  Your child’s reading ability affects his learning in other subjects like math, science, social studies, and writing.  In the early elementary years, the focus is on learning to read.  As early as second grade, students begin reading to learn.  Your child reads great authors in order to learn how he can become a better writer.  Your child reads nonfiction to learn about history, people, and the world around her.

ANSWER:  Ask them GOOD questions about their reading to increase comprehension and stimulate critical thinking skills.

If you aren’t sure what I mean by “good,” you’re not alone. Read this excerpt from an article written by Stacia Garland at http://www.exquisite-minds.com

We all want our children to use necessary critical thinking skills. Thanks to Bloom’s Taxonomy, parents can help develop and strengthen their child’s thinking skills at home. Unfortunately, teachers and parents are more likely to ask children questions at the Remembering level, which is the lowest level of thinking. This includes questions like: who, what, where, when and why. These types of questions only require children to use memorization in order to respond.

Article in its entirety: http://www.exquisite-minds.com/idea-of-the-week/blooms-taxonomy-critical-thinking-skills/

The only reason I know how to ask good questions is because I took classes in order to get my Bachelors in Education!  But don’t worry.  You don’t have to have a teaching degree to glean some simple strategies to help your child today.

SMALL ASIDE
Since I taught second grade, I do want to add one thing before I lay out the levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Please don’t SKIP the Remembering level all together.  There is value in asking those reporter questions: who, what, where, when, and why.  And it doesn’t take long.  I even had a RETELL story glove (it was a cotton work glove–$1.50 a pair at Lowes).  Each finger had a different label: characters, setting, problem, events, and solution.

I’d have the child wear the glove (purely for fun) and ask the beginner reader to answer those questions for the story or chapter we’d read.  If he knew the answers, great!  We would move on to the next level.  But what if he didn’t?  This was a good indicator that the child was struggling to decode, remember, or organize in their mind what they were reading.

A struggling decoder is easy to spot, but the “hooked on phonics” type kid can slip through the cracks.  He or she is excellent at decoding and reading aloud, but might not be able to answer a single question about the story.  This totally changes your approach with that child, whether parent or teacher.

So trust me, don’t skip any of the levels, but do adjust how much time you spend on the first level based on your child’s needs.

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
Now, what are the levels in this taxonomy?  I’m so glad you asked.

1. Remembering
2. Understanding
3. Applying
4. Analyzing
5. Evaluating
6. Creating

Bloom’s Taxonomy: http://wed.siu.edu/faculty/JCalvin/bloomstax.pdf
This link will show you a chart of the 6 levels PLUS key words, model questions, and instructional strategies.  Good news!  The work is already done for you.  You can pluck questions directly from here and engage your child today.  You’ll soon have a feel for your child’s exposure and capacity for critical thinking.

As you listen, be patient because kids get WAY more experience with levels 1-2 in school.  Thankfully, as a 2^nd grade teacher, I did not have to administer a standardized test, but I wouldn’t doubt the following quote, from Stacia Garland again, has some truth to it:

Teachers state that with the big push of state testing and the pressure to teach to the test, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to be able to take their time and teach at a higher level. As a parent you can help your child to use critical thinking skills and work on exercising their mind so that they will be a high level thinker.

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING
The sooner you start this habit of reading with and to your child, the better.  I’ve already shown you the benefits for your child.  But here’s the benefit for you, the parent.  Let’s be honest here.  It is MUCH easier to read a 1000-word picture book with your young child and ask these questions because you’ve just read the book with him.   YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS!

And each day you do this, you are creating a strong foundation of critical thinking skills that your child will carry with her.  She’ll be able to apply this higher-level thinking to other reading because you’ve given her practice, which leads to confidence.

PARENT OF THE YEAR
In my guided reading groups, we’d often be reading lengthy chapter books.  Yes, even in second grade—the wonderful fruit of great parents who read with their children.  But the thing was, this meant I had to take home a stack of chapter books each weekend and read the next week’s assignment!  How else could I ask (and know the answers to) these Bloom’s Taxonomy higher-level questions?

And so now your child is reading Magic Tree House or Ivy and Bean, between 5,000 and 10,000 words per book!  Unless you’re going for some Parent of the Year award, I’m guessing you don’t have time to read every book your child reads.  And I know I get uncomfortable asking questions that I don’t know the answer to.

GOOD NEWS
Once you get past the Remember and Understand levels, there ARE no right answers!  We’re talking about higher level thinking here, so you want them to take the information and weigh it, arriving at judgments and conclusions for themselves.

So ask your child to retell the who/what/when/where stuff briefly (summarizing is always a good skill to practice).  And then take a few nuggets from what he says and springboard from there.

FICTION EXAMPLES
What would happen if [cause]…?  What would be the effect?
What do you think the motive was for [character]?
Which seems more appropriate: what [character] did or [character]?
How did [character] try to persuade [character]?
What ideas justify the conclusion?
Propose an alternative.  How else would you…?

NONFICTION EXAMPLES
Which statements are facts?  Which are opinions?
What’s the relationship between [animal] and [environmental force mentioned]?
How much change would there be if…?
What’s the main idea?

EXTRA CREDIT
And maybe, once in awhile, curl up with one of the good books your child is reading—10,000 words and all—and enter that world.  You’ll be treated to the sweet conversations that follow between you and your child as you share in their experience.

In my next post, I’ll explore my own reading of late:
What? Mysteries
Why? I’m doing “research” for my dog detective picture book.
How can mysteries help your child? I think these types of stories encourage critical thinking in students of all ages.  I will provide a reading list for you, as well.