Journal Article: Working memory, negative affect and personal assets: how do they relate to mathematics and reading literacy?
Summarize the Article: The article provided a framework around the impact of working memory, negative affect, and personal assets and the ways in which they impact students' success and challenges specifically in mathematics and literacy. The article provides the ways that students are struggling with their academics, due to what's happening in and around their lives.
Make Connections: I was able to make many connections throughout this article, as I thought back to my experiences in middle school and also considered my interactions with middle schoolers. One idea that was discussed was the increased anxiety around mathematics. I connected this to my experiences in school. I have always enjoyed math and did not fully experience math anxiety until higher level math in high school; however, I saw this in my friends and classmates. Many people believe they either are or are not a math person; therefore, it math becomes a place of anxiety due to the idea of not being a math person. As a result, students struggle with math because they likely do not feel support around their mathematic aspects of life. Teachers can often look over their students needs if they are not mastering a subject and then students lack support at home leading to anxiety in their life and academic success. The article also discussed how personal assets impact school performance, specifically discussing the support of academics within a household. I was fortunate to receive support with my academics, but in working closely with other middle school students, I know that this support is not experienced for all. I can think of many students who are dependent on a teacher to encourage and support their academic achievements.
Critique: This research is relatively new; therefore, there is little research of various measures that have been conducted. While they have a great standing for the research provided, it would be beneficial to test students around the United States and other countries to be able to see any correlations between students of middle school age in various locations around the world. There were also greater findings related to mathematics than reading literacy. I found the mathematics sections to be interesting, due to my focal area in math; but could see where greater research in other subject areas would be beneficial.
The Importance of this Article: This article was extremely beneficial and a good reminder for me, as a future educator. I think as a teacher, it can be easy to get in the mindset of getting everything done in order to prepare students for standardized testing and meeting school standards that we can forget that our students are dealing with a lot. This article made great points reminding me of the importance of checking in on students and realizing that there is a lot going on in each of their lives. The article was focused on middle school, making it extremely relevant to my future as a teacher. It spoke of the changes that come with adolescents which creates an increase in anxiety and depression, to name a few. Therefore, as an educator, I must be willing to know and invest in my students in order to help them achieve their own success both in and out of the classroom. They need support during these years of their life and studies are beginning to show their non-academic lives impacting their academic lives.
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