As I was reading this evening regarding reading fluency among students today; my mind kept racing back to this past summer when I was teaching English and Reading in a primary school in Central Uganda. The students are, in general, far behind in the language comprehension and word knowledge because of not only the educational situation, but also because the environment that they have grown up in are not enriching and most of their parents do not speak English. One of my primary methods of helping students first learn to speak and read English was to model and make sure that I was using the correct annunciation. It was amazing the changes and progress that could be seen after only a few months of work.
On the other hand, it was also important that the teachers knew the proper and correct form of words and knew how to read. I really enjoyed getting to sit down and talk through content and instructional strategies and really get a glimpse into what they were thinking about the best way to teach the students to read. Of course, when you are trying to teach 90 students ages 11 to 17 how to read you are going to have a whole new set of issues. The most important part to remember both from my experiences and the reading was to make sure that I am modeling well and being a positive influence.
Number one, I love hearing and reading about your Uganda experiences. Number two, I like when you relate things to them. Number three, I agree that modeling is very important and a very effective way to teach kids just about anything. I think modeling could be very beneficial for fluency so the kids see how important putting emphasis on words or phrases is, pausing with punctuation, etc.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with what you said about modeling to the students as an educator and fellow learner. It is really cool that you had that experience. I will experience readers that are behind in their reading level, but not anything like what you experienced. That will be very useful for your future class.
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