The Importance of Learning Decoding Skills
Cultivating a love for lifelong learning
Introduction
In today’s ever-evolving world, fostering a love for lifelong learning is crucial for our children’s success and personal growth. Alongside curiosity and a growth mindset, it is essential to equip them with foundational skills that will enable them to become independent learners. One such skill is learning to be an efficient reader. This includes the importance of decoding so that children can have the ability to read to learn. Therefore, today we will explore the importance of explicitly teaching decoding skills to help children become strong readers so they can become lifelong learners.
1. Unlocking the World of Knowledge Ignites Lifelong Learning:
Decoding is the key that unlocks a vast world of knowledge and learning opportunities. With strong decoding skills, children can independently explore books, articles, and online resources. By teaching them to decode, we empower them to access information, expand their vocabulary, and understand complex ideas. This skill forms the foundation for lifelong learning across various subjects.
In addition to learning to decode, we want to expose our children to living books that contain rich vocabulary. Furthermore, we want to encourage our children to form well-crafted conversations based on their learning and discovery.
In addition, we want our children to learn about different topics and the history of our world. This will allow their ideas to form, allowing them to create ideas and inventions.
2. Building Reading Comprehension Encourages Lifelong Learning:
Furthermore, decoding skills go hand in hand with reading comprehension—the ability to understand and analyze written text. When children can effortlessly decode words, they can focus on comprehending the meaning behind the words, making connections, and drawing conclusions. Effective decoding enhances reading comprehension, allowing children to extract knowledge and engage with the material deeply.
As we expose our children to more complex ideas and teach them to develop good decoding strategies, we want to make sure we encourage them to give their full attention and best effort. You can read more here about why this is important. For instance, I find that in today’s world, with all the business and distractions, cultivating the best effort and full attention is more important now than ever. We must learn to eliminate distractions for a certain time to form understanding.
3. Developing a Love for Reading Inspires Lifelong Learning:
Reading can become daunting when children struggle with decoding, leading to frustration and a lack of motivation. Explicitly teaching decoding skills helps them become fluent readers, enabling a more enjoyable reading experience. As they gain confidence in their ability to decode words effortlessly, they are more likely to develop a love for reading and willingly engage in lifelong learning through books and other written materials.
The goal is not to get all kids to love books and read all the time but it is to equip them with the skills needed to be efficient readers. This way, they can learn the ins and outs of what interest them and help make the world a better place.
4. Enhancing Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Supports Lifelong Learning:
Decoding is not solely about reading words; it also promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills. When children encounter unfamiliar words, they apply decoding strategies to decipher them. This process requires analyzing the word’s structure, recognizing patterns, and drawing upon their phonics knowledge. These skills transfer to other areas of learning, equipping them with the tools to tackle challenges and solve problems creatively.
Additionally, once your child reads efficiently, they can think more critically by comparing and contrasting different information to fit their schema. Furthermore, they can be stretched to solve problems by thinking and applying what they know to the unknown.
One thing about being a lifelong learner is embracing failure. As we learn, we will fail and have to try again. We must help our kids see failures as stepping stones. Hence having them think about their failure and try something different to succeed.
This is why I like to have my kids read the “Who is” and “Who was”books. These books share the real-life struggles heroes of History went through.
5. Empowering Independent Lifelong Learning:
Last but not least, explicitly teaching decoding skills empowers children to become independent learners. With the ability to decode efficiently, they can explore various subjects, conduct research, and seek answers to their questions. In addition, they can engage with written materials independently, expanding their knowledge and pursuing areas of interest. Certainly, decoding skills lay the foundation for a self-driven approach to learning that extends far beyond formal education.
Conclusion
Overall when we teach children to decode, we provide them with a powerful tool for lifelong learning. Decoding skills open doors to knowledge, enhance reading comprehension, foster a love for reading, promote critical thinking, and empower independent learning. By prioritizing explicit instruction in decoding, we equip our children with the foundational skills necessary to become lifelong learners who embrace the joy of discovery and continue to grow and thrive throughout their lives. Let us empower our children to decode, explore, and embark on a lifelong learning journey.