| Low Self-Esteem | | | | words per minute. I want to see first graders reading |
| Forcing a child to read aloud is cruel for a poor reader | | | | at 130 words per minute and third graders at about |
| and they never forget the embarrassment and | | | | 220 words per minute. So you can easily see that |
| shame they endure. Even years later adults will tell | | | | reading aloud does not really make sense as a part |
| me the exact moment in time when it happened to | | | | of reading improvement. |
| them. What a horrible memory. | | | | Tracking with a Crutch |
| Having students read out loud in a classroom is not | | | | Our eyes must move on their own across a line of |
| good for the poor readers self esteem because it | | | | print. The eyes are much faster moving than our |
| causes other students to torment and ridicule them | | | | hands. So using a finger or a ruler or another aid to |
| and causes them to feel stupid. Students tell me | | | | follow the line means there is a problem. Usually a |
| these things. But you can see it for yourself if you | | | | child who is using a crutch is doing so because they |
| will go to a classroom and observe carefully. It is not | | | | loose their place or skip lines and it is very frustrating. |
| good for the better readers either because it forces | | | | When you know what the real problem is there are |
| them to slow their reading down. I remember this | | | | methods for improvement. |
| from my days in elementary school. This is frustrating | | | | Poor Posture |
| for the good readers but not humiliating for them. | | | | I learned this from a brain surgeon. Our memory is |
| Sub voicing | | | | affected by posture! The first time a student makes |
| Reading out loud softly to yourself is called sub | | | | a lower comprehension score than they like, I point |
| voicing and it slows down the reading and lowers | | | | out that they did not have good posture as they |
| comprehension. It is a result of "accommodating" | | | | read. Then I teach them how to sit with good |
| some other problem. Many students and adults do | | | | posture and have them take another test. They are |
| this. Our mouth and tongue cannot move nearly as | | | | impressed when their score is improved. Many poor |
| fast as our eyes can move. I speak comfortably at | | | | readers have very poor posture when studying or |
| about 80 words per minute. Fast talkers at 130-150 | | | | reading. |