Working Memory and Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers

by Susan E. Gathercole, Tracy Packiam Alloway

A good working memory is crucial to becoming a successful leaner, yet there is very little material available in an easy-to-use format that explains the concept and offers practitioners ways to support children with poor working memory in the classroom. This book provides a coherent overview of the role played by working memory in learning during the school years, and uses theory to inform good practice. Topics covered " the link between working memory skills and key areas of learning (such as literacy & numeracy) " the relationship between working memory and children with developmental disorders " assessment of children for working memory deficits " strategies for supporting working memory in under-performing children This accessible guide will help SENCOs, teachers, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists to understand and address working memory in their setting

Genres: Psychology, Education, Professional Development

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2008

Reviews

[Andrea Levin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a high school English teacher with no formal SPED training, and I co-teach a class for 9th graders whose reading comprehension skills are at a third to fifth grade level. Before reading this book, I would feel a mixture of panic and despair when I'd encounter mention of working memory problems in IEPs because those problems seemed insurmountable. This book does an excellent job of explaining what working memory is, how it is related to other types of memory, how it differs from them, and the role that working memory plays in learning. Gathercole and Alloway describe how working memory problems manifest themselves in student's behavior and academic performance. I now realize that I would often misidentify working memory problems as attentional or behavioral issues. Working Memory and Learning provides practical suggestions for improving the learning of students with working memory deficits. These suggestions include modifications that teachers can make to their instruction and strategies that can be taught to students to help them compensate for their working memory weaknesses. These solutions make sense and are doable. Because it is essential to academic success that working memory problems are caught early, I recommend this book to all early childhood and elementary educators. I also recommend it to middle and high school teachers, especially those who work with lower-achieving populations, and to parents whose kids have been diagnosed with working memory deficits.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The big insight of this book that I found helpful was that kids who seem inattentive or defiant could be the ones with a very short working memory (a kind of short-term memory). They genuinely can't remember two-part instructions or information that comes in too big of a barrage. Just yesterday I told my class, "Get your pencils and your Native American books and come sit at the big table." One of the kids said, "Wait, are we supposed to bring our books? Where do we sit?" He makes a joke of that kind of thing when the other kids call him on it, but now I think, "Maybe he really can't remember more than just the part about the pencil."

The author takes far too long to make this point, from the point of view of someone like me who just wants strategies. The strategy section has obvious suggestions, like break down instructions into smaller bits and wait for compliance until you go on, or give the kids memory cards with the steps of a task broken down into clear, check-able pieces. It wasn't until the last bit of the book that I read that short-term memory problems probably aren't fixable. Since almost every other special-ed problem I know about can be addressed, this was a surprise, and also, I'm pretty sure I don't believe it. I bet that there will be breakthroughs in this area.

BUT it will change my behavior in the short term–from trying to help such kids get better, to just giving them help.

Another thing I have noticed about all the kids I can remember dealing with who have this issue is that they can't even hear general instructions or content information when it is addressed to the whole class. You have to then turn to them individually and say it again if you want them to do it or remember it. This was not addressed at all in the book. I'm still curious. Do I continue my exhortations to them to pay attention in class even though I'm not facing them and looking them in the eye while giving general information? Or is this another thing that is currently unfixable, and I should just expect to repeat to them when I can touch their arm and look warmly into their eyes? I really want to know!

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book about how the working memory is crucial to becoming a successful learner. Many great points which open your mind to the problems that some children in your class are facing each day. I will definitely being using some of these good practices.

[Leeann Bricker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm honestly on the fence about this book. To be fair, I had a big break in the middle of reading it where I set it down and then didn't pick it back up again for a long time. The breakdown of different types of memory is interesting and something that I think anyone who works with people with memory issues needs to be well versed on...I think the different types can be confusing and are often used interchangeably. I like the examples of strategies to use with students, I wish there were more examples for when someone is working one-on-one versus small group versus whole class.

[Mark]

Given its brevity (and its SAGE Publications pedigree, which I had heretofore accepted as a mark of scholarly seriousness of purpose and relatively high editorial quality), I expected this book to be concise and cogent. It is in fact concise, but in my own estimation, not particularly cogent. I'd hoped for more concrete methodological suggestions for applying the research on working memory--and there is a paucity of that here as well--but instead found little in this slim book that I didn't already know. I imagine there are much better books on the subject out there, and I suppose I'll have to seek them out. I cannot in good conscience recommend this, hence its two-star review.

[Catherine Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrifically helpful & succinct explanation of working memory & its 3 components: verbal short term memory, visuo-spatial short term memory, and the "executive."

Very interesting to learn that teachers do not perceive children with even very low working memory as having difficulty remembering what they are trying to do & thus losing their way mid-stride. Rather, low-WM children are perceived as spacey & inattentive: "in his own little world."

Authors imply that in fact long term memory is probably intact.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book was helpful in terms of the concepts it was teaching, I was disappointed in the lack of examples one could easily apply to middle and high school. The examples was heavily ingrained in elementary school reading and math teaching.

[Nikki Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main take away for me is the idea that kiddos who appear to be distracted or not paying attention may just have limited working memory capacity! There are some useful tips for supporting working memory while maintaining learning goals and high expectations.

[Diana Orr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quick read with a few specific examples and scenarios at the end of the book that provided practice for what the book was teaching.

[Patty Rehfus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good brief introduction to working memory. The book focuses primarily on the early grades.