Teach Effectively!

Why, oh why, are the intrapsychic explanations so embedded in our culture? In a brief article headed by “Learning is affected by many factors,” Doreen Nagle (Gannett News Service) describes four reasons for a child’s not reading for pleasure. They are all based on the view that there are hidden explanations for human behavior. Here’s her lead and the first explanation.

You beg your 8-year-old (known for his advanced reading skills) to pick up a book and read. He responds by whining or worse.

…

Why is my child not motivated?

Could it be a learning disability? Testing may put your mind at ease. Ask your pediatrician as well as your child’s school for a full evaluation.

There are lots of reasons to reject Ms. Nagle’s analysis. This snippet shows only one: Learning Disability is not the result of a lack of motivation. If children with Learning Disabilities were not motivated, then all we would need would be some powerful reinforcers, as we have argued in earlier posts on TeachEffectively (here) and LDBlog (here).

The other explanations and solutions Ms. Nagle offers are about equally inane. She suggests

• “Emotional problems: New baby? Remarriage? Moving?”
• “Boredom,” and
• “Personality conflict [with the the boy's teacher!].”

This is dime-store psychology. There is a much simpler, more direct, and likely-effective approach: Make reading at home fun! Engage the child in conversation about something he’s read and act interested in what he tells you (“Wow, that’s cool! Of course you can’t flush in weightlessness, so it makes sense that those astronauts have to use a hose”). Talk with him about interesting things you’ve read (“You know, just yesterday I was reading about Jackie Robinson. I didn’t know that he was also really good at basketball…and I found out that he refused to sit at the back of the bus in the 1940s! Way before all the civil rights protests.”). Crack up when he tells you something funny that he’s read (“Woooweee! I can’t believe a president would say somthing like that either!”). Do these things over and over again, referring to different readings, and the ball will roll downhill.

Link to Ms. Nagle’s story in the IndyStar (Indianapolis, IN, US).