knowledge gap

This edWeb podcast is sponsored by XanEdu, a Scholarus Learning Company.
The webinar recording can be accessed here.

Our students’ performance on the whole on national reading tests has not improved over the past two decades (NAEP, 2023). More troubling, the gap in scores between socioeconomic groups has remained stubbornly wide.

Recent reform efforts have focused on improving instruction in phonics and other foundational skills. That’s crucial, but the evidence indicates it’s not enough. We also need to change our approach to reading comprehension to take account of a key factor that has long been overlooked: knowledge.

Some students are better able to acquire knowledge of the world outside of school beginning at birth, enabling them to read more complex text. Others rely on school for that kind of knowledge. If they don’t start acquiring it early, the gap between “good” and “poor” readers only grows wider as grades go up.

Listen to this edWeb podcast to hear Natalie Wexler, education journalist and author of The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—and How to Fix It, share the research along with her insights and perspectives on how we can give all students access to the kind of knowledge that enables reading comprehension—and learning in general.

This edWeb podcast is of interest to K-12 teachers, librarians, and school and district leaders and is part of the Leading by Design: 6 Initiatives You Can’t Afford to Get Wrong district leadership series where you learn from leaders who are pulling together the elements of successful schooling.

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We live in the information age. The more aware you are, the more opportunities you can recognize, take advantage of and prosper. Knowledge holds the key to prosperity in the modern world. So, where should you get started? Tune in to find out!

Wired magazine once challenged 39 sci-fi writers and creative types to put their artistry to test by writing a 6-word story. Author of beloved Wicked series, Gregory Maguire came back with a clever riposte, “From torched skyscrapers, men grew wings.” These simple string of words sets the brain’s into motion. It wonders, what are the men are thinking, what are they feeling, what was the author thinking, and what do the other readers make of this. While a good writer tickles the reader’s imagination, a good reader imagines the mind and the inner workings of the imaginator extraordinaire. The brain’s highly developed prefrontal cortex is responsible for the Theory of Mind or granting humans the ability to think about one’s own thinking and thinking of others. This episode, my guest Dr. Carol Westby returns to discuss the ways to promote the development of Theory of Mind.

About Carol Westby, Ph.D.
Carol Westby, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language-pathologist and educational consultant. She has written and presented workshops nationally and internationally on play, language-literacy development and disabilities, theory of mind, social-communication impairments, and multicultural issues in assessment and intervention. She has received the Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Resources

• An Interview with Carol Westby
• Carol Westby’s Webinars

In the world of limitless possibilities, there is a limit as to how much one can know about the minds of others. Take an example: Have you ever been in your head so much that your insecurities catch up with you and you fail to gauge what others are thinking and feeling? It all simply begins when a friend doesn't return your call; or at least not right away. You begin to guess what her reasons are to not call and from there on, it escalates into this drama inside where you end up wondering if your friend actually hates you or maybe, doesn’t want anything to do with you. Then on Monday morning, you get a call from your friend saying that she went to her dentist on Friday and left her phone there. Your mind failed you!

This episode, my guest, Dr. Carol Westby, will discuss the concept of Theory of Mind which enables us to understand others’ intentions, feelings, and beliefs by directing our attention to “reading” the minds of others. She will explain how the key to unlock the social struggles of those with Executive function challenges often lies in this “mentalizing” ability.

About Carol Westby, Ph.D.
Carol Westby, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language-pathologist and educational consultant. She has written and presented workshops nationally and internationally on play, language-literacy development and disabilities, theory of mind, social-communication impairments, and multicultural issues in assessment and intervention. She has received the Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Resources

• An Interview with Carol Westby
• Carol Westby’s Webinars

Have you ever tried to point out mistakes in someone – maybe in your child, spouse, employee, or even your boss? And what do you get? A sharp rebuttal or a strong push back. Peace comes to those whose self-concept and behaviors are in harmony with each other. If not, the result is cognitive dissonance. When you do something wrong, your brain is wired to try and relieve the tension it feels by immediately making up excuses for you. On this show, our guest, Dr. Carol Tavris, will give us some tips to handle this subconscious process so that we can learn and grow from our mistakes instead of simply denying and self-justifying.

About Carol Tavris, Ph.D.
Carol Tavris is a social psychologist, writer, and lecturer who has sought to use the contributions of psychological science to dispel some of the harms of pseudoscience. Her book with Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), explains why people don’t change their minds, recognize the harms they inflict, or give up useless practices simply because the evidence says they should. Carol is also author of the classic Anger: The misunderstood emotion and The Mismeasure of Woman:Why women are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex. She has written hundreds of articles, essays, and book reviews on topics in psychological science, and she currently writes a column, “The Gadfly,” for Skeptic. Carol has given lectures, workshops, and keynote addresses to diverse audiences around the world. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science; her other awards include an honorary doctorate from Simmons College for her work in promoting critical thinking and gender equity; an award from the Center for Inquiry, Independent Investigations Group, for contributions to skepticism and science; and the Media Achievement Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Books

• Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
• Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion

Your 20-something-year-old son decides to buy a car without your help and you come to find out that he got ripped off. He tells you the story of what happened and you cannot believe it. Apparently, your son agreed to buy a car off Craigslist, gave your home address to a stranger, and thought nothing of the request to pay in cash, even when the seller showed up with a car that looked nothing like the one in the online ad. When you point out these red flags to your son, all he does is get mad and come up with reasons of self-justification, which makes you furious. Our guest, Dr. Carol Tavris, will say that, in fact, your son is just a victim of his brain’s own deception. Find out about the perils of cognitive dissonance and why we find it hard to accept our own mistakes.

About Carol Tavris, Ph.D.
Carol Tavris is a social psychologist, writer, and lecturer who has sought to use the contributions of psychological science to dispel some of the harms of pseudoscience. Her book with Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), explains why people don’t change their minds, recognize the harms they inflict, or give up useless practices simply because the evidence says they should. Carol is also author of the classic Anger: The misunderstood emotion and The Mismeasure of Woman:Why women are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex. She has written hundreds of articles, essays, and book reviews on topics in psychological science, and she currently writes a column, “The Gadfly,” for Skeptic. Carol has given lectures, workshops, and keynote addresses to diverse audiences around the world. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science; her other awards include an honorary doctorate from Simmons College for her work in promoting critical thinking and gender equity; an award from the Center for Inquiry, Independent Investigations Group, for contributions to skepticism and science; and the Media Achievement Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Books

• Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
• Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion