How to Learn Effectively

Main Points:
- Providing good examples to refer to when analyzing a new word
- Outlining different tactics to learning how to understand words
- Steps of learning different tactics, and outlines effective ways of teaching the steps

There are many different methods by which people learn most effectively. Some learn by doing, some learn by watching, some learn by repetitiveness, and many by a mixture of all. One underlying factor in effective learning is having good examples to follow. In the text From Kathleen Clark, What Can I Say Besides, "Sound it Out?" Coaching Word Recognition in Beginning Reading, the author underlines the importance of providing good examples. At these stages in a learners development, a good example can provide all the insight a learner needs to go about tackling challenges on their own. If the learner can relate challenges of learning new words to experiences when they were taught how to successfully break down the situation to something understandable, then the 'coaching' and subsequent learning has been successful.

In the text from Kathleen Clark, she breaks down the process that most readers and writers go through when assessing a word. Clark mentions typical steps that are taken, like identifying root words and phonograms, or using context clues to relate the word to a known word. For the stages f readers covered in the reading, word-breakdown is a helpful tactic due to the word banks that most readers posses. In such a breakdown, a reader uses a common, smaller word to help understand a meaning of a larger word. Anagram exercises also use this principle, as smaller words can be built easier, on which the student can add prefixes and suffixes to build larger words.

Clark outlines some methods of breaking down a readers understanding of a word in a table, and includes 5 points. Of the 5 points Clark lists, 3 of them assess a reader's prior knowledge of the word or smaller words that are simpler. This underlines the need for good examples for readers to use and be capable in developing their skills in reading and writing. With a good base knowledge that makes it capable to expand on, the entire processes for learning are easier and more productive.

Discussion question:
If you were teaching children in 1st or 2nd grade what types of topics would you try to include in readings that the kids might have prior knowledge on or might find interesting?