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Theory & Practice

Theory

An excerpt from the book Saving Literacy provides an overview of Neuroconstructivist theory. See below. The paper "The Scribble Hypothesis" supports this theory (see below) as does the position paper "A Theory of Marks and Mind." Both "The Peek-a-Boo Principle" and "Thirteen Brain-Based Principles of Child Development" are available in the books Saving Literacy and HandMade Marks, and first appeared in Dr. Sheridan's 1990 doctoral dissertation.

• Introduction: Excerpt from Saving Literacy: Early experience and later development, pages 57-60
• Excerpt from Saving Literacy: Thirteen Brain-Based Principles of Child Development, pages 257-262
• Excerpt from Saving Literacy: The Peek-a-Boo Principle, pages 261-264
• Excerpt from Saving Literacy: Symbol Grounding and Scribbling in the context of the work of Walter J. Freeman, pages 262-270

  Saving Literacy Dr. Susan Rich Sheridan is a researcher/scholar with degrees in English, Art and Education. Her Neuroconstructive, brain-based theory and marks-based practice of literacy have a twenty-year history, including teaching first grade through college. This guide introduces a Scribbling/Drawing/Writing program including developmental benchmarks, lesson plans, evaluation tools, and research questions for professional caregivers: preschool and daycare providers, elementary school teachers, child psychologists, art teachers and art therapists, speech pathologists, and researchers in early child development and education. The goals of the program are sustained attention, emotional control and connection, expanded speech, and literacy. Issues including autism and technology are discussed. Price: $55.95 Saving Literacy may be puchased from Infinity Publishing; it will soon also be available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as other sites and stores.

• The Scribble Hypothesis: Abstract and Research Notes
  

  Introduction Very young children’s scribbling serves four critical purposes Research Questions Neurobiological research relevant to education in connection with reading, writing, mathematics and "creativity" DRAWING AND TALK RESEARCH DRAWING AND WRITING RESEARCH DRAWING AND READING RESEARCH DRAWING AND MATHEMATICS RESEARCH DRAWING AND CREATIVITY RESEARCH DRAWING AND EXPERT MODELS Added after presentation Inaccurate “icons” of science A protein called scribble Isomorphism between proteins and children’s scribbles

• Excerpts from Drawing/Writing and the new literacy
  

  Part One: The Reasons Why: A Pesuasive Essay in Four Sections The Drawing/Writing Experience New Classrooms, New Teachers The New Literacy Part Two: How to Do It: A User's Guide How to Do It Preliminary Drawing/Writing Download "Preliminary Drawing/Writing" exercise Part Three: Hitchhikers' Guide to Brain Science Excerpt from "Hitchhikers' Guide to Brain Science" Part Four: The Thinking Child Excerpt from "The Thinking Child" Appendices How I got here The New Literacy Terms and Powerful Ideas Works Cited Extended Bibliography

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Practice

• For a Thumbnail Sketch of the five-step Drawing/Writing practice, click on "The Thinking Child: A handbook for parents" and also go to Part Two: How to do It; A User's Guide, for a full description of the five-step Drawing/Writing process.
• For a full description of the Scribbling/Drawing/Writing program, consult the books Saving Literacy and HandMade Marks. Also, go to "Free Downloads" for sample Scribbling/Drawing/Writing" lesson plans and exercises. Also, remember you can download for free the pamphlet "The Thinking Child" which will give you a thumbnail sketch of the five-step Drawing/Writing program.