Building the Reading Brain, Essay Example

Upon participating in the brain teasers from the site BrainConnection.com, I realized that repetitions and routines are exceptionally important for building sound linguistic capabilities for children. The playful environment offered at the site enables children to release the tension that they may feel during a test or an examination; they feel much freer in training their memory, reading, and listening skills. I enjoyed the game “ABC Gulp” as it revealed the importance of print comprehension for me – it is discussed in chapter 4 by Nevills and Wolfe (2009). Children who recognize the print letters visually and are able to connect them with sounds of these letters, as well as some mental images of these letters, surely have a much higher potential for acquiring proficiency in reading in further learning (Nevills & Wolfe, 2009).

The role of repetitions in the process of learning to read is also essential due to the establishment of neural connections in the brain; all learning processes are inseparably connected with the operation of neurons in the brain tissue, and a strong skill can be spoken about in case the connections are automatic. I have become aware of this fact when I was playing the “ABC Gulp” game; I realized that naming letters and connecting them with visual letters is an automatic process for me, since I saw and pronounced letters so many times that they are firmly fixed in my long-term memory. However, proceeding to another task, “Bumper Cows”, I already experienced difficulties in remembering the sequences of sounds and colors, since it was not a typical exercise for me, and I had no repetitions and routines connected with such tasks yet. Therefore, the conclusion about the overwhelming significance of repetition and routines can be made from these easy and playful training exercises that help establish firm connections between brain neurons, bringing the literacy skills to the level of automation.

Works Cited

Nevills, P. A., & Wolfe, P. A. (2009). Building the reading brain: PreK-3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.