Mayra. It's great to hear your classroom examples about having children say every word aloud slowly and how you have noticed that it distracts from the meaning making process and can frustrate students. Your insights and examples are very helpful.
Me, too! I am a slow reader. It is something that has bothered me for many years because it's hard to keep up: with classes, with book clubs, etc. I am not sure if it is because somewhere in the back of my mind Mrs. Sams, my first grade teacher, is saying "you need to read slowly to understand what is happening in the story..." Interestingly, though, I don't know how I feel about Smith's rule on this one.
Growing up I had a friend who could read faster than anyone I've ever seen. She would devour a 500 page book in an afternoon. "An afternoon!" I would say to myself. "That would take me three weeks!" My mother reads the same way as my friend. And she teases me sometimes because it takes me forever to read a book that took her three nights.
However, one of the things I have noticed is that my retention is far greater than both of theirs. In high school, for instance, I never had to reread parts of a text in order to complete an assignment based on that text. And, even now when reading is mostly for pleasure for me, I will talk to my mom about books I read 10 years ago - books she read as well - and she will say she doesn't remember anything about them, while I remember all the characters, where they were set, and little details about dialogue or happenings.
So... basically, I am on the fence about this one.
I agree that by teaching students to read slowly so that they can understand each word is not going to help the students comprehend the material better. This will only create a hard time for them to understand what is being read. I also agree that when we correct the students for everything they say wrong will only interupt the comprehension process and will create students to be hesitant and have a hard time to comprehend the whole picture. -Stacia
Mayra. It's great to hear your classroom examples about having children say every word aloud slowly and how you have noticed that it distracts from the meaning making process and can frustrate students. Your insights and examples are very helpful.
ReplyDeleteHi Mayra,
ReplyDeleteMe, too! I am a slow reader. It is something that has bothered me for many years because it's hard to keep up: with classes, with book clubs, etc. I am not sure if it is because somewhere in the back of my mind Mrs. Sams, my first grade teacher, is saying "you need to read slowly to understand what is happening in the story..." Interestingly, though, I don't know how I feel about Smith's rule on this one.
Growing up I had a friend who could read faster than anyone I've ever seen. She would devour a 500 page book in an afternoon. "An afternoon!" I would say to myself. "That would take me three weeks!" My mother reads the same way as my friend. And she teases me sometimes because it takes me forever to read a book that took her three nights.
However, one of the things I have noticed is that my retention is far greater than both of theirs. In high school, for instance, I never had to reread parts of a text in order to complete an assignment based on that text. And, even now when reading is mostly for pleasure for me, I will talk to my mom about books I read 10 years ago - books she read as well - and she will say she doesn't remember anything about them, while I remember all the characters, where they were set, and little details about dialogue or happenings.
So... basically, I am on the fence about this one.
I agree that by teaching students to read slowly so that they can understand each word is not going to help the students comprehend the material better. This will only create a hard time for them to understand what is being read. I also agree that when we correct the students for everything they say wrong will only interupt the comprehension process and will create students to be hesitant and have a hard time to comprehend the whole picture.
ReplyDelete-Stacia