[Oz-gifted] Encouraging active participation

[Deidree McMaster]

On 03/08/2006, at 9:50 PM, L B wrote:

> Lisa
> At our school the kids are asked to read aloud to the parents not 
> because
> they can't read, but for fluency and pronunciation.  I find it helps 
> with my
> kids. Sometimes they don't know how to pronounce words, or exactly 
> what they
> mean.  And it really helps with their fluency and public speaking.

I remember reading aloud in primary school - my teacher always let me 
read longer, presumably because I didn't stumble and falter like all 
the others - and one day confidently read out 'etker'.  The teacher 
stopped me and said that it was an abbreviation - I looked blank, so 
she told me it stood for 'etcetera'.  I was stunned!  My mum said that 
word often, but, as I'd never seen it written, I thought it was just 
one of HER words!  I felt so stupid and humiliated - up till then, I'd 
thought that reading aloud was easy and anyone with half a brain could 
do it (except, of course, all the other kids in my class!)

At the time we were very poor, lived on a farm, our radio had blown up, 
we had no tv, I hardly ever saw other people except at school, and 
after two years of correspondence lessons, this was the first time 
anyone had asked me to read aloud.

There are STILL words that I'm unsure of in pronunciation terms, but 
I'm now much more able to just learn them, rather than cringe and want 
to hide because I might look stupid.

What did John Holt say in 'Why Children Fail'?  Isn't it something to 
do with the fact that schools still insist on kids getting things 
'right' rather than exploration and play?

Deidree