Learning+Theories+Actvity+ECI+603

= = =**ASSIGNMENT**=
 * What’s Theory Got To Do With It? --Dr. Spires**

Often times teachers I work with tell me that they do not enjoy learning about educational theories and that they would rather spend more time on practical strategies that can be used in the classroom. Although not always apparent, theories can be great “tools for thinking” for a teacher. Specifically, theories of learning attempt to explain what happens when learning takes place. A theoretical perspective on learning is valuable in that it gives us a shared language and way of thinking as we interpret learning taking place in the classroom as well as outside the classroom. A theoretical view can help us think beyond the surface of what we see happening and provide a way to delve deeper into the process. A theory also guides us where to look for solutions to practical learning problems; in essence, a theory helps us focus on facets of the problem that are critical in finding and answer to a problem.

As a doctoral student, part of your intellectual development is to embrace a theoretical tradition, critically assess the relevant literature, and pose a research question that is theoretically and possibly practically driven. The more you reflect on theories and how they relate to practice the more interesting your research agenda becomes; also you have the opportunity to impact the field by contributing new knowledge to existing bodies of work.

In this activity, your ultimate goal is to explore a variety of theories related to literacy and begin making decisions about which theory or suite of theories you would like to embrace as you develop your doctoral research agenda. As a way to delve deeper into the theories after you have read Tracey & Morrow, you will conduct an Internet search on two of the theories below to learn more about them and post your results so that your colleagues can learn about the theory. Here are the 3 steps:
 * 1) Conduct a search on 2 of the literacy theories below. Find at least 3 sources as part of your search. Critique the sites for legitimacy. Triangulate data as best you can to ensure that the information you find is accurate; compare what you find to what you read in Tracey & Morrow. Was the information consistent or contradictory?
 * 2) Your intellectual task is to compare and contrast the two theories that you conducted your search on. In this process make sure you understand the definition of the theories, appropriate historical contexts, and an example of how it applies to literacy learning. How are the two theories similar and different in terms of their properties related to literacy learning? What part(s) of the theories do you agree with and what part(s) do you have questions about and/or disagree with?
 * 3) Share the knowledge you created through this exercise by using a communication tool of your choice. (See choices below). Upload your brief presentation to newlit.org.

**Literacy Theories to Explore:** Related to the reading you did, the theories and models are divided into four broad categories below. Choose two of the theories to explore further in your Internet search. The two theories can be from one of the broad categories or from two different categories: 1. Behaviorism: Classical Conditioning, Connectionism, Operant Conditioning

2.Constructivism: Inquiry Learning, Schema, Transactional/Reader Response, Psycholinguistic/Whole Language, Metacognition, Engagement

3.Theories of Literacy Development: Cognitive Development, Maturation, Literacy Development, Stage Models, Emergent Literacy, Family Literacy

4.Social Learning: Sociolinguistic, Socio-cultural, Social constructivism, Social learning theory, Critical literacy

=**Communication Tools to Use to Represent What You Learned About Your Theories:**= [|Slideshare]allows you to upload and share your PowerPoint presentations and Word documents on SlideShare. Share publicly or privately. Add audio to make a webinar. Share what you learned in your inquiry process through Slideshare. [|Audacity] is an open source, free, cross-platform sound editing system that records music, voices, or any other necessary sound for presentation. You can use Audacity to incorporate sound into podcasting, powerpoint, or moviemaker. Audacity is great for beginning podcasters. Make a podcast of what you learned in your inquiry process.

Create a video using a Flip camera. Create a video of what you learned in your inquiry process.

Surprise Me! Use a tool that you don't think we know about yet. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =**INFORMATION/COGNITIVE PROCESSING PERSPECTIVES IN READING**=

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With a partner, briefly define one of the models below and provide a practical example of how the model can be applied to the process of reading. If possible, relate it to a student you have worked with before and describe the student's learning/reading profile.======

Research Applications
 * Information Processing Model of Reading (Meg & Laura) **


 * Background Information (Meg) **
 * based on the idea that information moves through different stages: processing, storage, and retrieval
 * processing system organized based on Atkinson and Shiffrin's //executive control systems/processes// (Tracy & Morrow, 2006)
 * attempts to explain the "unobservable, underlying cognitive processes involved with the processing, storage, and retrieval of information" (Tracy & Morrow, 2006)
 * //**Executive Control Processes**//
 * //**Sensory Memory**//: location where memory is first perceived
 * //perception//: (takes place here) "a person's interpretation of stimuli" (qtd in Tracy & Morrow, 2006) and takes place almost instantaneously.
 * information can only be held for a few seconds in sensory memory
 * //**Short-Term Memory** (also known as working memory): a//fter information is processed in the sensory memory it moves to the short-term memory or working memory, which is a short-term storage area.
 * articulatory loop: (rehearsal mechanism of the mind)
 * "saves information into, and retrieves information from, long-term memory" (Tracy & Morrow, 2006).
 * //**Long-Term Memory**:// large amounts of information are stored for long periods of time; concept of //attention// is key to encoding information from short-term to long-term memory
 * //episodic memory//: stores images of our personal experiences
 * //semantic memory//: stores facts and general knowledge
 * //procedural memory//: stores information about how to do things
 * //flashbulb memor//y: stores information about important events fixed mainly in visual and auditory memory
 * //Schema//: the information (encoded) held in long-term memory
 * //decay//: the information that is lost (from schema) over time
 * Applications to Reading** (Laura)
 * When a student first encounters a new word or a new concept in reading (such as a literary device), we can help him/her introduce it into his/her short-term memory by having them read it aloud or write a definition or example. We can revisit the term or concept on subsequent learning occasions.
 * To help the student integrate the word or concept into his/her long-term memory, we will need to help the student to encode the new word or concept in one or more ways.
 * Into episodic memory: They student may act out the word or perform some accompanying action each time they encounter it.
 * Into procedural memory: Have the student write a procedure for recognizing the term, using it, or remembering it.
 * Into flashbulb memory: Have the student create a visual representation of the word OR have the student create an auditory cue for the word (a poem, a song, a sound effect)
 * Create a schema: Have the student create a story that uses the word, or have the student create a concept web that maps the term to other ideas that are similar or related in some way.
 * In my AP English class, I have had my students use the Method of Loci for creating a schema using their vocabulary words. (This method doesn't work for all lists of words, but is helpful for some.) They would choose a location that is familiar to them (their bedroom or their house, their workplace, the route they take from home to school, etc.). Then they attach each word in the list to some object in that place, identifying the reason that the word fits the object.

**** I watched the movie //Memento// last night, so I have been thinking about memory since then and what it is that makes a memory "stick." I like the differentiation between different types of memory, such as episodic, semantic, and procedural and the different ways that they can be used to help students remember words. The activities that Laura suggested for each type of memory might connect to the thinking stage in the model of information processing in the [|Model of Information Processing graphic.] When I taught high school English I would give students a small prize, such as a piece of candy, if they used one of the weekly vocabulary words in conversation sometime during the week. The word had to be used appropriately within the context of the conversation and it had to be something more than, "One of our vocabulary words is...." The students had fun trying to use the words and it was interesting to see how creative they could be in using the words. Perhaps this was a type of procedural memory since the students were practicing a "procedure" for using the words in conversation.**// ~ Myra //**

**Automatic Information Processing Model //Lisa// & Alex ** AIP definition: Teachers help students become fluent readers by building both their external and internal attention at the word level through 3 stages: (1) non-accurate stage - studnet has great difficulty recognizing printed words; (2) accurate but requires attention stage - student is able to recognize words, but fluency is hindered (halted or without expression); (3) automatic stage - student recognizes printed words automatically with appropriate rate and expression.

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Identified as a bottom-up cognitive processing model by Tracey and Morrow (2006), the Automatic Information Processing Model, created by LaBerge and Samuels (1974), was the most frequently presented reading model in reading methods textbooks in the 1980’s.======

As Dr. Fox (and many researchers!) says: At the word level, good readers are "fast, accurate & effortless".
What AIP **grounded** **reading** lesson (repeated reading) might look like in a:

Step 1 - The student selects a passage at their instructional level (neither so hard that student cannot read any of the words nor so easy that all of the words can be read with high accuracy and speed). The length of the passage should depending on the reader’s skill and be age appropriate. Step 2 - The teacher (or assistant) makes a chart for recording word-recognition errors and speed. Step 3 - The student reads the selection aloud while the teacher counts and records the number of errors and the reading time in seconds. Step 4 - The student rereads the selection independently (silently) until ready to read aloud again. The teacher may point out errors in the passage, model and correct with the student prior to their rereading the selection. Step 5 - This cycle is repeated until the student can read the selection with some degree of fluency. It is not important to eliminate all word-recognition errors, but it is important to have the student read the selection with fluency. When this goal is reached, a new selection is chosen and the process is repeated. Use recorded data (charts) to provide feedback to and celebrate with the student about their progress.

Based on Samuels, S. (2004). Toward a Theory of Automatic Information Processing in Reading, Revisited. In R.B. Ruddell, & N.J. Unrau (Eds.), //Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading// (pp. 1127-1148). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.


 * Interactive Model Erin & Myra **


 * Definition:** The interactive model uses bottom up and top down strategies simultaneously. It is when a student switches from one type of strategy to another while reading a passage. It was first defined by Rumelhart in 1977. According to Tracey and Morrow (2006), Rumelhart's Interactive Model is "considered interactive rather than 'bottom up,' however, because it depicts multiple processors converging on visual input simultaneously, rather than in a linear, sequential manner" (p. 139).

In order to teach with the interactive model, teachers might be trained in an [|interactive instructional program,] which is theoretically based on the interactive model of reading. Teachers then train the students to use specific reading strategies including those from bottom-up and top-down reading models.

Tracey and Morrow discusses 4 types of knowledge associated with the interactive model:
 * Orthographic – visual input
 * Syntatical – word order within the sentence
 * Lexical – word knowledge--sight words, decoding, word families
 * Semantical – message construction – higher level thinking – context clues and use of pictures to make meaning


 * Practical example:** The student uses bottom-up strategies for word identification and uses context clues and pictures (top-down strategy) for contructing meaning. The bottom-up strategies exhibited included sight words, decoding skills, use of phonics to sound out words, word families, and letter onset. The top-down strategy included context clues and think alouds to try to understand the meaning and construct meaning for the passage.


 * Relate to a student:** The student as described below has mild dyslexia. When reading the student uses an interactive model by incorporating bottom-up strategies with top-down strategies. His dyslexia causes him to use more bottom-up stategies when faced with an unknown word.

//**Student Profile:**// The specific student observed is a 6th grade, male who was diagnosed in 1st grade with mild dyslexia. He had one-on-one pull-out intervention for 2 years and since then has not had any additional formal intervention through the school system. In tutoring this student, it was noticed that he reads silently until he comes to an unfamiliar word. At which point, he sounds out the word aloud and tries to figure it out with the use of pictures and context clues. If he is still unable to decode the word, he sometimes "pronounces" the word as just a jumble of sounds and then continues on to the next phrase even though he does not understand the context. He sometimes speeds up when he does not know the word and tries to get through the sentence quickly. If it is in something that he is really interested in understanding such as instructions for his video game, he might ask questions about what the word is and what the sentence means.

Tracy & Morrow. (2006). Lenses on Reading
 * Sources:**

Interactive Instructional Program Website: []

What is an interactive reading model? []

** Verbal Efficiency Model Jonathan & Shane ** From Tracy and Morrow (2006) this theory is built on 3 assumptions:
 * 1) Word recognition related to speech access - as reader reads sound of word is activated [Reading of text is related to hearing of text]
 * 2) How long reader takes to read a word indicates knowledge of the word
 * 3) Vocalization Latency - time it takes to read a word aloud
 * 4) Word recognition automaticity - how quickly printed word is identified
 * 5) Decoding skills determines speed of recognition for isolated words

Key points:
 * Automatic word recognition reduces cognitive energy usage allowing more energy for comprehension.
 * Has been accepted in North American reading research community
 * Reflective of a cognitive processing orientation toward reading

Collecting data about your students, using this model:
 * Timed reading exercises
 * Asking students to read passages aloud and noting the words that slow the student's reading
 * Identify the reasons the students slows down for those words (eg: phonics or unfamiliar word)

In-Class Example: An example of this theoretical model in action is found when conducting reading assessments, especially running records. Students will slow down and work through decoding strategies when the text is more difficult to read. When it gets to the point that they struggle to decode unfamiliar words too long, they tend to lose the comprehension of the text. This is part of how you determine when a child has reached the frustrational level and where you can identify the instructional level when you are determining the ZPD (borrowing from Vygotsky (1978)) for a student. Questions to ask while using this model in a classroom:
 * Does the reader know the word in regular speech? (If you say the word, does the student recognize it?)
 * Is there a phonetic problem that is stopping the student from recognizing the word?
 * What scaffolds can best help this student to improve or increase his or her decoding skills?

Philosophical Questions:
 * What would the proponents of the verbal efficiency model say about people who learn to speed read?
 * What would they say about otherwise intelligent people who have difficulty in reading aloud?


 * __PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING MODEL__ Watson **

Paralellel models/frameworks (also called connectionism) were created to basically describe how information is processed in the brain's real time. They describe how information processing occurs via interactions where numerous nodes are processed simutaneously, i.e. parallel. The framework is useful for understanding multidimensionality of simple to complex ideas.
 * __I. Overview__ (Ormrod, 2008)**

1. Represented information is distributed; 2. Memory/knowledge for specific information and activities are stored via connections between units, i.e., simple processing elements. 3. Learning occurs gradually and via prolonged experiences.
 * __II. Three Principles of the Parallel Distributed Processing Model__ (Rumelhart, Hinton, & McClelland, 1986)**

//1. A set of processing units// //2. A state of activation// //3. An output function for each unit// //4. A pattern of connectivity among units// //5. A propagation rule for propagating patterns of activities through the network of connectivities// //6. An activation rule for combining the inputs impinging on a unit with the current state of that unit to produce a new level of activation for the unit// //7. A learning rule whereby patterns of connectivity are modified by experience// //8. An environment within which the system must operate//
 * __III. Step-by-Step Stage of the PDP__ (McLelland, J., Rumelhart, D., & Hinton, G., 1986)**

====**__IV. Example__ (Ormrod, 2008) Read** the word __ **f i r e** __. **What happens?** Thoughts come to mind, right? You may see a visual of a fire; imagine the cracklings associated with fire; hear the word f-i-r-e; recall a story like "How to Build a Fire"; think about a time when you built a fire; hear the 80's tune "Fire"; think of how fire felt the first time you recall touching it or feeling its warmth; playing with fire in the back of the garage until your dad caught you and you received a spanking, etc.==== ====**Explanation?** The PDP model describes this collage of fire-related information as the brain **"simutaneously retrieving"** those sensory aspects of the individual word. Each time you retreive the word and the information that comes with it, you could eventually activate everything that is associated with that word. Sounds a little like private brainstorming, right? Now you can add another node to the word "fire" for the next time you retrieve it.====

**__V. Limitations__ (Ormond, 2008)**

 * Portrays learning as something gradual
 * Relationship to brain anatomy is loose