How children learn

“We have missed many children because reading pedagogy has been driven by systems of belief in how reading should be taught rather than by how children learn. The importance of variation in this process will be a surprise to many educators and a help to many children.” -Carolyn Brown

One of the things I’ve often thought is that it’s more important to figure out how your students learn, than to worry about learning how to teach them something. Enlightenment happens when you are paying attention. Rather than being a student of pedagogy, one is far better off observing students. A good teacher should be a student of life. A great teacher should do as much watching and listening as talking. Understanding what works for any given student requires knowing a great deal about their motivations, preferences, and aptitudes. If you understand how students learn, figuring out how to teach them something basically takes care of itself.

http://iowacity.patch.com/articles/university-of-iowa-study-breaks-new-ground-in-reading-development-research