Root Exercises
READING COMPREHENSION
Today, students can “decode” what they read, but their understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of reading has declined significantly, according to a 2007 NEA study on reading comprehension: “On average, Americans ages 15-24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading.” The consequences for American society are severe: “Literary readers are more likely than non-readers to engage in positive civic and individual activities – such as volunteering, attending sports or cultural events, and exercising.” BrainBuilders enhances reading comprehension by reading aloud, conducting “narrations” which require a student to practice recounting what he has read at short intervals, and reviewing and applying a list of reading comprehension techniques. A broadened vocabulary and cultural literacy (two other “mental muscles” of the BrainBuilders program) improve reading comprehension as well.
COMPOSITION
Writing skills on every level are also on the decline. There are complex societal reasons for this and various entities have proposed even more complicated and unguaranteed solutions. BrainBuilders recognizes the impossibility of solving the problem on a societal scale. Instead, we focus on one student at a time, convincing him or her of the value of expending effort on the quality and clarity of their ideas and the effectiveness of the language that expresses them. Then we coach them through hours of practice: structuring ideas, revising syntax, clarifying arguments, substantiating claims, editing grammar and mechanics. Our 10-week summer Write Right program focuses exclusively on writing skills. The weekly BrainBuilders Educational Mentoring program offered during the school year improves writing in a less direct way by expanding students’ areas of interest, as well as broadening their database and thinking ability.
CRITICAL THINKING
Along with wisdom and breadth of mind, the higher-level thinking skills of deduction, analysis, assessment, and synthesis characterize intellectual maturity. These skills are almost constantly required of a student during a BrainBuilders session because we use the Socratic method: Why? How? What would happen if? We rarely tell or even show students information or concepts. We ask them to deduce, research, conclude, speculate, and predict. BrainBuilders students know that the question “Why” is their most critical learning tool. Once they form the habit of asking the WHY question frequently, the quality of their learning, and hence their writing, improves.
VOCABULARY
Over the years, studies have indicated that people with large vocabularies out-earn their peers with less command of the language. While we recognize greater earnings as a strong motivator for expanding your vocabulary, we’re purists when it comes to words. An extensive vocabulary increases your reading comprehension, which increases your understanding, which increases your wisdom, which facilitates a more meaningful life of significant impact. We believe that vocabulary should be “grown organically”—meaning no lists, flash cards, or exercises. We use big words in our sessions, in our emails, and collect them from higher-level reading material. We play vocab improv games, study word families, and practice writing sentences with words in all their part-of-speech forms. Students frequently read aloud and are coached on pronunciation as well.
