Annotating Text

Did you know?

George Miller, known for his work in Cognitive Psychology, has helped us to understand theories of cognition.

Short-term memory handles information that is active and readily available. The working memory and short-term memory are sometimes confused with each other. The short-term memory stores information for a few seconds, while the working memory processes and structures the information for a short time.

The work of Miller has proven that adults can hold 5-7 pieces of information in their short term memory while children can only hold 3-5 pieces of information before it moves out to allow for new information to come in.

When working with educators and children, I provide them a list of 10 words. They aren't allowed to write them down until my list is complete. Most adults fall right in line with this theory and can only recall approximately 5-7 words and children can only hold 3-5 words. As an adult, have you ever read several pages only to realize that you didn't recall a single word that you read? It is of no surprise that this happens to children too. As adults, we usually will realize this and go back and re-read, but children will not typically do this. In fact, most aren't even aware this happens.

A process called synthesis is required for anyone to move information into their "working memory." Synthesis means that you have to take information and DO SOMETHING WITH IT in order for it to effectively improve congition. In reading, asking students to hi-light or underline is not a good practice and it does absolutely nothing to support readers in synthesizing information. If you want learners to be better readers and to understand, process, and recall what they are reading, then they must SYNTHESIZE.

WHAT GOOD READERS DO ...

1. Good readers read only as much as their hands can cover horizontally.

2. Good readers then STOP and JOT what they are reading. They can write the "gist," make a connection to the text, summarize the reading, or draw what they are reading about. There are no rules, just the application of taking the information in that section and doing SOMETHING with it.

I am including two presentations. One was completed with a high school staff and the other was completed with all grade levels. This is also an effective tool in kindergarten, believe it or not.