Reading & Writing

Summary

Encouraging reading and reflective writing in students is essential for enhancing their learning and cognitive abilities.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of reading and writing for students' cognitive development. It suggests that educators should model and share their passion for reading to inspire students to engage in reading for pleasure. The article also recommends the revival of journal writing through regular reflective exercises, proposing a technique of one-minute reflective papers after each class or weekly reflective essays to stimulate thinking and assess understanding. It highlights that reading stories is more cognitively engaging than listening to them on tape or watching them on television.

Opinions

Reading widely and regularly, along with maintaining a daily reflective journal, is believed to improve a student's learning and comprehension abilities.
Educators should actively promote reading by sharing their own enthusiasm, recommending books, and encouraging students to join or form book clubs.
Engaging students in conversation about their reading reinforces the positive behavior of reading for pleasure.
Reflective writing, such as short reflective papers, is seen as a valuable exercise to enhance cognitive skills and can serve as a tool for assessing student understanding.
The article posits that the act of reading a story is more cognitively engaging than listening to it or watching it on television, suggesting a hierarchy of engagement with narratives.

Reading & Writing

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It appears that anyone who reads widely and regularly and writes a daily reflective journal should acquire a better disposition for learning and understanding. Yesterday, I was pleased to witness a rare sight — a student with her nose obliviously buried in a novel while eating a burger at McDonalds. How can we encourage more of that among our students (the reading for pleasure — not the burger)? As educators, we should share our own passion for reading, recommend titles to our students, and even suggest they join or form a book club. Every time we see a child with her nose in a book, we can reinforce that behavior by engaging her in conversation about her reading.

Reflective writing also exercises cognitive “muscles.” How can we revive the habit of journal writing among our students? One technique is the one-minute reflective paper after each class meeting. If we need to start small, we could have students write a short reflective paper at the end of each week instead. Pose the same two questions: “What was the big thing you learned this week? What is the big unanswered question you are left with this week?” This would be a practical way to introduce reflective writing as well as assess student understanding.

A student who keeps a reflective journal and regularly reads for enjoyment is automatically developing vocabulary, comprehension, and thinking skills. Reading a story is cognitively more engaging than listening to the story on tape, and listening to the story on tape is cognitively more engaging than watching it on television.