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I don't think it's an accident that the first influence Afflerbach lists here is metacognition, executive functioning, and mindfulness. The ability to pay attention to what one reads and subsequently understands seems foundational for every other influence.

I see consistent challenges for students in this area, especially executive functioning (EF). Kids with ADHD and with poor EF in general are not necessarily struggling readers because they struggle with reading; too many simply cannot sit still long enough to dig into a good book or to receive instruction.

While not in Afflerbach's book, Duke and Cartwright note in their excellent article The Sciences of Reading Progresses (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.411) the following:

"EF is so important to reading that there is reason to believe that for some students, limited EF skills are the primary cause of reading difficulty. To illustrate, Cutting and Scarborough (2012) studied 19 students (7–14-year-olds) identified with poor reading comprehension despite adequate word recognition ability (Gough & Tunmer’s, 1986, hyperlexic profile). The researchers administered a stan-dardized assessment of receptive vocabulary, consistent with the SVR founders’ position that standardized measures of verbal ability serve as “a reasonable estimate of C” (Gough & Tunmer, 1986, p. 9). Only 15.8% of the students showed vocabulary-only weaknesses that would be expected from a hyperlexic profile. A total of 52.6% showed difficulty in vocabulary and EF. The remaining 36.8% showed EF-only weaknesses. In other words, at least to the degree that the students’ vocabulary assessment results serve as a proxy for language comprehension, for 36.8% of the sample, weaknesses in EF appeared to be the primary cause for their reading difficulty."

To repeat: 1/3 of those students in the study demonstrated reading difficulty because they struggle with self-regulation, working memory, and/or focus. This topic definitely deserves my attention! (pun intended :-)

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Nov 21, 2022Liked by Matt Renwick

Peter J is a New Zealander, so I am especially fond of his work!

He has a new book out as well - Engaging Literate Minds. It is next on my list to read!

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Nov 21, 2022·edited Nov 21, 2022Liked by Matt Renwick

I am catching up on my reading this week and sad to have missed last week's Zoom conversation. It was a week! I am most looking forward to reading more about Self-Efficacy & Motivation and Engagement. As I work with teachers and students on our campus, these seem to be big influences that impede learning. Again, I'm catching up, but I see many parallels between Afflerbach's identified influences and the work of Peter Johnston with regard to identity and agency, and how the language we use & the conditions we set for our students can help or hinder learning.

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Nov 22, 2022Liked by Matt Renwick

These are all so important but I often return to how we can set the stage for, support and nurture MOTIVATION to read. It seems to me that the kind of environment we create where independent choice reading is not just a blip in the radar screen of curricular obligation if we have time but at the very heart and soul of what we do. A central feature of that environment is not just what we make room for but how we model on a daily basis that WE are motivated by and engage in the same reading opportunities we say we value for children. Action speak volumes and through that action and the experiences we embrace for kids, we then create a foundation for everything else.

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Nov 21, 2022Liked by Matt Renwick

I am looking forward to the epistomology and epistemic beliefs chapter as they can seem so hard to change and/or address them in our teaching (if it seems they need to be). And where they come from and how they develop is fascinating.

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