Why do learners often find learning so aversive?
When considering this question, it seems only fair to call upon Daniel Willingham’s Why don’t students like school? a work of seminal importance. Early on in the book, Willingham says-
"People are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking."
I agree. My seven year old is a fountain of knowledge about spiders, the number of teeth some sharks have (including some that have teeth in their eyes, apparently). But when I ask him if he would like to sit and read or practise his writing, there will always be a reason why he can’t at that very moment.
And I’ve seen this in various iterations in my thirteen years as a teacher in secondary schools.
And why is reading particularly aversive?
Reading - and, by extension, comprehension- is really difficult. Once we’ve considered the limitations of human working memory, it’s not a stretch to recognise that reading comprehension is absolutely exhausting. Before we factor in the infinite number of potential reasons why a learner may not be on top of their game, let’s consider the number of processes that could potentially be called upon-
- Attention
- Auditory Processing
- Inhibition
- Long-term Memory
- Sensory Integration
- Short-term Memory
- Visual Processing
Disciplinary considerations
And after we’ve considered these cognitive processes, we’ll move into the realms of higher order thinking in individual disciplines. Professor Timothy Shanahan’s excellent work on this area has demonstrated the unique ways in which different subject areas have different reasons for being, and therefore are fundamentally trying to do different kinds of things with different kinds of language and processes. We have another article which goes into more detail around strategies for tackling reading comprehension across different text types.
Imagine going through a school day, moving in busy corridors, possibly falling out with a friend and being tasked with engaging in four or five rigorous areas of academic study!
So what?
Whilst not necessarily subject specific, the following recommendations are intended as methods to lessen the cognitive burden on you and your learners. These techniques are all thematically linked to Peps McCrea’s idea of ‘outsourcing’ knowledge in his excellent book Memorable Teaching.
1. Frontloading
Before presenting a class with a text, consider whether “going in blind” is necessary or helpful. In other words, when reading the text you’re confronting, what knowledge or information is assumed? Could you bridge the gap here? If going in blind is , on reflection, unhelpful, reflect upon could key ideas/knowledge/context be discussed directly or indirectly to provide fertile ground for accessing the knowledge in the text?
- Variations on the theme: make use of homework for pre-reading; use Bedrock Mapper to pre-teach key concepts; ask learners to predict and make predictions about a topic or text; select two or three crucial words from the text and pre-teach them, including the word root; use a Frayer Model to pre-teach complex vocabulary.
2. Summarising
This is seriously under-rated. Whether you provide your learners with a two or three sentence summary, or you ask them to do this, the presence of a lucid summary can take the apprehension away from the daunting task of comprehension.
- Variations on the theme: can learners summarise texts/paragraphs in a single word or sentence? Can they transform it into a simple image?
3. Checking in
Whether you are leaving notes in margins, scaffolding texts with questions or frequently stopping things moving forward to clarify understanding, not being afraid to check in is crucial. Invariably, most adults will preface a question in a meeting with ‘I might be being stupid but can I just check…?’ It’s safe to assume that the vast majority of young people would not be comfortable with feeling this way in front of their peers. Removing the threat of ‘falling behind’ is a key strategy to avoid this.
- Variations on the theme: leave ‘to do’ tasks at various points of the text, such as explaining key words or ideas; ask pupils to highlight the most important words in sections of the text and be ready to justify
4. Consolidation
Although it’s easy to assume you might already be there with this consideration, it’s really important to consider, ‘what next?’ Essentially, in a perfect world in which all learners understood everything in a given text, be sure to clarify what you’d like the outcome to be in terms of next steps. Sharing this prior to engaging with a text is also powerful: in other words ‘we are doing this so that…’ In a nutshell, if learners don’t have to think about the rationale for reading something, they don’t have to spend mental energy searching for it.
- Variations on the theme: Use examples with a range of quality and ask pupils to unpick and discuss; ask learners to explicitly identify key aspects of poor or effective work and justify their reasons
5. Visualisation
Without being drawn into notions of visual, audio and kinaesthetic considerations, visualising concepts and making what we might call the ‘schema’ clear is another extremely useful means of reducing the strain of comprehension.
- Variations on the theme: It’s always useful to reflect upon whether information can be resequenced in a timeline, a hierarchy or even a venn diagram, for example. There’s plenty of examples of what we might call ‘thinking tools’ that are freely available to suit any type of need!
And with a primary specific focus:
Whilst these five strategies can be adapted and successfully applied to any classroom, sometimes it’s beneficial to consider a different approach for teaching in another context. Here are two more strategies that may come in especially handy in a primary classroom:
6. Use art to impart
For some learners, particularly EAL, SEN, or those that just find reading a bit tricky, try interlinking reading with the subjects they enjoy or are good at, like art.
- For example, the text can be modelled by the teacher first, followed by asking the learners to draw what they visualised when they heard the text. The teacher can then give praise to certain learners on their drawing, boosting their self-esteem and confidence, before attempting to read and comprehend the text themselves.
7. Stop and smell the flowers
Whilst all these reading comprehension strategies are fantastic, what use are they if the learners are not showing up to class emotionally ready? Breathing strategies can be a powerful tool for improving learners' reading comprehension by reducing stress, promoting calmness, and improving focus and concentration.
- Have learners choose a flower (real, fake or imagined). Ask them to take a few moments to breathe deeply and fill their lungs with air - ‘smelling’ the flower. After they have taken a complete inhalation, ask them to hold for one second before exhaling deeply.
Although reading comprehension is a challenge for our learners, there are plenty of ways that we can support them in developing the skills necessary to make it easier. We have a wealth of suggestions, from activities you can do with your learners, to how graphic organisers and KWL charts can be used to improve reading comprehension, and more.
