The thought leading website, Children of the Code, has posted a new video on the power of shame in learning. When a child reads out loud in class or to a parent it is often very clear where there reading skills lie. Think about how it feels inside to have that difficulty on display each and every day.
Children of the Code website describes it like this: Reading is the skill that matters most to success in school and children who fall behind in reading are in great academic danger. However, it is not just the lack of reading skills that most endangers these children. It’s mind shame.
Most children who struggle with reading experience the struggle as a reflection of something wrong with themselves — something to be ashamed of. So what happens to children who feel ashamed of themselves when learning to read? They are in serious danger. The shame they feel not only motivates them to avoid reading, it also fosters self-disesteem and undremines the cognitive capacities they need to learn to read in the first place.
Millions of children are caught in this learning-disabling downward spiral. Not only are they in danger of being improficient readers, which is learning disabling with respect to educational content access, they are also in danger of developing aversions to other learning situations that trigger similar shameful feelings. Such mind-shame is learning disabling and it can have a very powerful effect on how children learn their way into adulthood. It makes learning software like Fast ForWord that much more critical.
