Marilee B. Sprenger - Wiring the Brain for Reading: Brain-Based Strategies for Teaching Literacy

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Cover design: Michael Cook

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sprenger, Marilee, 1949

Wiring the brain for reading: brain-based strategies for teaching literacy / Marilee Sprenger.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-58721-8 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-118-22054-2 (ebk.) ISBN 978-1-118-23414-3 (ebk.)

ISBN 978-1-118-25891-0 (ebk.)

1. Reading. 2. Child development. 3. BrainGrowth. I. Title.

LB1573.S8215 2013

372.4dc23

Acknowledgments

None of my work would be possible without the support of my family. To my husband, Scott, you support my writing, speaking, and traveling. Knowing you are behind me as well as beside me makes everything worthwhile. To my favorite son, Josh, you help me see the big picture and keep me practical. I respect your advice and need your influence in my life. To Marnie, my favorite daughter, thank you for believing in me and keeping me real. You call it as you see it, and I value both your knowledge and opinion. To the second author in the family, my daughter-in-law, Amy: your love of reading and writing have been inspirational for me. I look forward to many best-sellers from you. To my three incredible grandchildren, Jack, Emmie, and Maeve, watching each of you acquire the skills of reading is both educational and delightful. Seeing you excited about books always brings a smile to my face and warmth to my heart.

I thank Kate Bradford, senior editor at Jossey-Bass/Wiley, for her incredible patience and expert assistance; Robin Lloyd, excellent production editor; and Diane Turso, proofreader extraordinaire.

In memory of my mother,
Mollie Broms,
the woman who taught me
how to read, to love reading,
and to read everything I see

About the Author

Marilee Sprenger is a highly regarded educator, presenter, and author who has taught students from prekindergarten through graduate school. She has been translating neuroscience research for over twenty years and has engaged audiences internationally. The author of eight books and numerous articles, Marilee is a popular keynote speaker who is passionate about brain researchbased teaching strategies, which include differentiated instruction and wiring the brain for success.

Marilee is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the Learning and the Brain Society, and the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. She is an adjunct professor at Aurora University, teaching graduate courses on brain-based teaching, learning and memory, and differentiation. Teachers who have read her work or heard her speak agree that they walk away with user-friendly information that they can apply at all levels.

You can contact Marilee at .

About the Book

There is nothing more exciting than having the privilege of helping people, children and adults, learn to read. The thrill of seeing the smile on their faces and the sparkle in their eyes as they realize they have broken the code is priceless.

Mary Ann Wolf tells us in Proust and the Squid (2008) that learning to read begins the first time a book is read to an infant. This often happens in an environment filled with love for the child and the love of reading. Unfortunately, not all readers have that magical moment that provides security and attachment for the developing brain. There are children who come from homes filled with books and a love of reading. Their parents read aloud to them nightly and have elaborate conversations with them that increase their vocabulary and background knowledge. And then there are students who come to us from homes where literacy is limited. Their parents work long hours and have little time or energy to provide the background that encourages reading. Although there is no guarantee, children who come from homes filled with reading seem to have a better chance at reading success.

In this book, I share some of what I have learned about reading through my own teaching experiences, neuroscience research, and educational research and the experiences of teachers with whom I have had the privilege to work. The science of the brain has revealed exciting and important information that, when added to the educational research, creates standards for best practices in teaching reading.

There are almost seven thousand languages in the world, and babies are born with the ability to master any of them. But the brain changes as children develop, and language acquisition can become more difficult. In chapter 1, discover how children learn their native language and how the brain's approach to new languages changes with age. Developing language is exciting for parents, children, and teachers. Research is continuously being done to educate us more about how to encourage better language skills.

Through brain imaging, neuroscientists have discovered what neural connections are necessary for a brain to read easily. Chapter 2 covers the theories and applications of this research. For example, neuronal recycling is necessary for a reading pathway to form, and an understanding of how this and other parts of the brain function helps educators develop best practice and parents how to make a difference in their child's reading progress.