From Apathy to EngagementI— Targeting Phonics Instruction to the Affective "Feeling" Domain

The brain is a "pattern-making" machine, 
constantly seeking out patterns and creating new ones.

The Measure of Intelligence

These first graders were transformed into analytical "word doctors" upon coming across the "ie" Se Secret during guided reading. Watch as they think-through (i.e. pattern-out) all of the Secrets they know about Superhero I to account for his sound behaviors, and while doing so, ultimately identify a brand NEW pattern. The diagnosis? Apparently, Superhero I has some sort of obsessive "cookie-eating and then exercising" disorder— Lol! (Kids who know the "ie" Secret will LOVE watching that clip!)

Secret Stories® Superhero I 

Secret Stories® Phonics "ie" Secret

And now for some teacher-fun! These very talented teachers from Bremerton, Washington are bringing the ie-Secret to life in their own way, which you can watch below. You can find this video and more on the free Secret Stories® Youtube Channel!

           

Underscoring existing reading curriculum and instruction with Secret Stories® makes kids privy to all of the letters' Secrets, creating a "learner-driven" instructional environment that transforms daily reading and writing into a virtual playground for critical thinking and deeper literacy learning! 

The measure of intelligence lies in the ability to see patterns where others see randomness.

Now let's watch the same first graders (from Mrs. Mac's Class) in a whole group mini-lesson, during which the kids have noticed that in the word light, the "i" is making its long sound, despite the fact that there is no Mommy E® or Babysitter Vowel® in sight! This conundrum sparks a creative (and highly imaginative!) conversation about letter-sound behavior that is purely driven by  learners' "need-to-know!"  (This is actually one of my ALL-TIME-FAVORITE clips!) 

It's difficult to imagine, given the high level of interest and student engagement seen in this video, that these first graders are actually discussing the impact of the gh phonics pattern on the sound of the letter i. Their enthusiasm for debating letter behavior is similar to that which is shown when discussing the behavior (or misbehavior!) of their classmates. This is because both concepts are anchored in the same, familiar framework of social and emotional learner-understanding. 

"It's neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things you don't care about."
— Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (Harvard Neuroscientist)

By aligning letter-behavior to kid-behavior, Secret Stories® forges personal learner-connections to otherwise random letter sound skills, which allows inexperienced, beginning (and struggling upper) grade learners to easily hypothesize and deduce letters' "most" and "next most" likely sounds.  Targeting phonics instruction to the affective (social-emotional) "feeling" domain transforms letters and sounds from skills they have to learn into "secrets" they want to know! And the fact that they are grown-up reading and writing "secrets" makes them even more important and helps mark them for memory and prioritized learning in the brain!

Secrets make information important to learners, 
marking it for memory and prioritized learning in the brain.

And if you were wondering how these first graders so easily identified the different sounds for gh, you can learn the Secret in the video, below. (Note the little girl standing next to the lady who is re-telling the Secret, as she is watching her closely to make sure that she doesn't screw it up— Lol!)  

Moving Phonics Instruction from Apathy to Engagement  

All kids are naturally fascinated by who did what and why,  and it is this inherent "need to know" that naturally drives their desire to learn more Secrets! Even kindergartners can easily remember who the line leader is, who can't sit together, and who always gets in trouble. And the same "social-emotional" learning networks that store and retrieve this information can be used to help them keep track of behavior, making it easy to predict their "most" and "next most" likely sounds. 

Secret Stories® provides the logical explanations that our brains crave about why the letters do what they do! The Secrets make phonics make SENSE because they are based on social and emotional frameworks that are already deeply entrenched within the learner. Knowing the letters' "secrets" spark their natural curiosity. motivating them to engage more with text.  

Secret Stories® Phonics— Accessing the Affective "Feeling" Domain 

"Giving" Phonics Skills, Not "Teaching" Them for Accelerated Access to the Code

To wrap things up, I just had to share this wonderful email and picture that was sent to me by Aimee Meyer and her first grade class from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Receiving letters like this one mean EVERYTHING to me, and I cannot thank her enough for taking the time to send it!

For More "Kid-Made' Versions of the Secrets, Check Out This Post!

Dear Katie,
I just wanted to share our latest first grade classwork at St. Thomas More in Baton Rouge. My student made up their own Secret Story posters....."Drop the "y" to add "ed" and "es!"

We adore our Secret Stories! I'd feel so lost without it! My school sent me to New Orleans a couple of years ago where I got to meet you and listen to you speak.  Afterward, I went home and purchased the Secret Stories Classroom Kit as soon as could!

Thank you so much.
You don't know how many little lives you've changed.

Aimee Meyer

PS Every K-4 classroom in America needs to implement Secret Stories!)

Amy, I cannot agree more!  So let's make it happen!! There are two things that you can do to become part of the Secret Stories® tribe. First, subscribe to the free newsletter so that you are up-to-date on the latest research, strategy-shifts, video postings, free download links and general Secret Story-gossip! ;-) Second, follow, share and interact with me on social media. I'm on all of them, so pick one and let's enjoy a virtual cup of coffee (or cosmos!) together as we banter online! You can find all of my social media buttons below, as well as on the right sidebar at the top. I am most active on Instagram, and would LOVE to see pics and vids from your classroom! Just tag @TheSecretStories and be sure to use hashtags #SecretStoriesTribe  #SecretStoriesPhonics 

Until Next Time,

Katie

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Secret Stories® Makes Phonics Make SENSE!

Try a "taste" of the Secrets with YOUR class 

and see the difference they make!
Click to Download the FREE Secret Stories® Mini-Sample Poster Pack!

For a list of upcoming conferences, or for information on scheduling a school or district professional development workshop, click here. 

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www.TheSecretStories.com

You Can't Fight the Brain— It's the Ultimate Pattern-Making Machine!

The Brain is the Ultimate Pattern-Making Machine!  

In a previous post, I explained how to get the most brain-BANG for the buck when using Secret Stories® to sound-out unknown words and help learners to "think through" or pattern-out the most likely sound options. While that post focused on how to think like a doctor, this post will focus on why!

Engaging with unknown text in this way transforms daily reading and writing into a virtual playground for critical thinking and deeper learning, and is far more beneficial from a brain-based perspective than rote memorization of sight words, as evidenced by recent Stanford University Brain Study on Sight Words, referenced in this post. 

Patterning IS Thinking

When it comes to learning, our brain's core belief system is comprised of everything that's already known to be true. Our brain is the ultimate pattern-making machine.  It is continually engaged in two primary functions— seeking-out patterns and creating new ones. Whether deciding what to eat for lunch or solving complex mathematical equations, our brains remain on a perpetual hunt to both find and make new patterns! 

Once identified, our brain will attempt to connect the new information its perceived to that which it already owns, so as to create a new pattern. And this pretty much sums up the brain's core learning process! With each new pattern connection that is made, our thinking network continues to grow... and the more connections made, the easier it will be to identify new ones. Acquiring knowledge in this way is both easy and effortless, with no memorization or repetitious practice required! 

The following excerpt is taken from 12 Design Principles Based on Brain-based Learning Research by Dr. Jeffery Lackney

Pattern making is pleasing to the brain. The brain takes great pleasure in taking random and chaotic information and ordering it. The implications for learning and instruction is that presenting a learner with random and unordered information provides the maximum opportunity for the brain to order this information and form meaningful patterns that will be remembered. The brain, when allowed to express its pattern-making behavior, creates coherency and meaning. 

Research shows those considered to be the most intelligent among us, based on IQ testing, are actually the best pattern makers, as they are able to see patterns where others see only randomness. 

Author Michael Michalko (author of Thinkertoys, Cracking Creativity, and Think-Pak) wrote in a recent blog post, How Geniuses Think, that "When confronted with a problem, a genius will ask,  "How many different ways can I look at it? How many different ways can I solve it?" 

Beginning and struggling readers must employ this same diagnostic thinking when using the Secrets to sound out unknown words in text, asking, "What else can it be?....  What else could I try?"  Engaging in this type of analytical, problem-solving is often referred to as "thinking outside the box," but to do it effectively, you have to know what's in it! And this is why knowing the Secrets is so important for beginning and struggling readers, as they equip learners with everything that's in the box so that they are empowered to think outside it!  

According to Michalko, it is the ability to "connect the unconnected" that makes one some capable of "seeing things to which others are blind." Einstein, Mozart, Edison, Pasteur, Picasso....some of history's most prolific thinkers who were also great pattern-makers! Research shows that it's about teaching students how to think, not what to think.So what does this mean for teachers? It means that we can teach thinking by teaching patterning!  

It means that regardless of students' personal strengths or weaknesses, inclinations or academic interests, teaching them how to pattern-out new information makes them better thinkers ... and more intelligent!  That's right!  The research shows that by helping learners to foster new connections, we have the power to increase physical brain mass, maximizing learner-potential and better preparing them for future learning!

It also means that kindergarten teachers can't just say that the letter T will say "tuh" and then pretend to ignore the fact that it almost never actually does when kids see it in real words (i.e. this, they, them, those, them, that, there, those, etc... outnumber words like turtle and Toronto 10 to 1!) versus ignore all of the times that it doesn't (i.e. the, this, they, those, them, then, than, these, etc...)

The Brain is a "Pattern-Making" Machine!

When the odds are 10 to 1 against a letter actually making the sound that learners expect it to, trying to read words can feel like a wild goose chase! But for learners who know the letters' Secrets!

Download the Secret Stories® Mini-Poster "Appetizer" Anchor Pack FREE!

Effective instruction should align with the brain's natural learning process, not against it, and this can be extremely difficult when teaching letter sounds and phonics. Teaching phonics is not intuitive, and most teachers in early classrooms today have received little to no training on how to do it effectively. So how does one teach something that doesn't seem to make sense in a way that actually makes sense? They know the Secrets, of course!

Click here for Vlog#1— Teaching Reading with the Brain in Mind

Secret Stories® is not like traditional phonics, nor is it like any phonics program. The Secrets simply put meaning where there would otherwise be none, and thereby shifting instruction from brain antagonistic to brain compatible. Secrets empower teachers to break down the grade level walls of traditional phonics skill introduction that limit early learner-access to the code (and what are often letters' most likely sounds!)

Breaking Down the Grade Level Walls that Limit Early Learner Access to the Code

The ability to classify incoming information quickly into categories (based on patterns that we know) means that the brain can use easier rules to deal with the new input, which is less stressful than always having to deal with things that haven't been seen before. 

In other words, our brains are hardwired to look for patterns, and the Secrets are patterns— not abstract letter patterns, but patterns of behavior that are designed to mimic learners' own behavior. Knowing these patterns (i.e. Secrets) equips learners to more easily deal with new information (i.e. unfamiliar words) and better identify the best course of action (most and next most likely sound options to try). In contrast, inexperienced early grade and struggling upper grade readers who don't know the Secrets must constantly deal with things (i.e. words, phonics patterns) they have never seen before, and are usually told, "It just is... It just does... You just have to remember...." when they can't read or spell a word.

Seth Godwin, author of Looking for Patterns (Where they don't Exist!) writes, "Human beings are pattern-making machines. That's a key to our survival instinct— we seek out patterns and use them to predict the future. Which is great, except when the pattern isn't there, then our pattern-making machinery is busy picking things out that truly don't matter." 

The brain science cuts a clear path for teachers today, and understanding how we might better align our instruction with the brain science is critical information for those in early grade classrooms, as well as those working with struggling readers at the upper grade levels. For more, click here to subscribe free to my YouTube Channel and check out the video clip below to find out why "Cheating the Brain is Like Robbing a Bank!"

Until Next Time,

Katie Garner :-)

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Breaking down the grade level walls of phonics introduction— one "Secret" at a time!

Secret Stories® accelerates learner access to the code by fast-tracking individual letter sound skill mastery to just 2 weeks to 2 months (via muscle memory) while simultaneously targeting learners' earlier-developing, affective (social-emotional) "feeling" networks with Secrets for accelerated phonics skill mastery. 

Secrets account for WHY letters don't always "do what they should" when they get together in words in a way that kids easily understand, making them easy to remember with no memorization or skill-based practice required! By working with the brain rather than against, Secret Stories® breaks down the traditional grade level walls of phonics skill introduction that limit learner-access to the code and increases momentum in both reading AND writing! (Note: Secret Stories® is not a program, but intended to underscore any existing reading curriculum/instruction, serving as a teacher "took-kit" to make phonics make sense!) 

Try a "taste" of the Secrets with YOUR class 
and see the difference they make!
Click to Download the FREE Secret Stories® Mini-Sample Poster Pack!

For a list of upcoming conferences, or for information on scheduling a school or district professional development workshop, click here. 

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www.TheSecretStories.com

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