Some Reasons for Oral Reading

Few would question the appropriateness of oral reading in the first and second grades. Most experts feel that reading aloud is a worthwhile activity in the earliest years of school because the students have not yet developed sufficient speed in silent reading to make silent reading a valuable enterprise for them. Lewis and Sisko (1963) caution, however, that from the time a child\u27s silent reading rate overtakes his rate of oral reading, usually during the second or third grade, too much oral reading has the adverse effect of slowing down the rate of silent reading and encouraging unnecessary lip movement, thoughtless word calling, and daydreaming on the parts of other pupils, who neither follow the printed text nor listen to the reader

A Writing Approach to High School Reading

Many of the problems which are endemic among middle school and senior high school youngsters who have difficulty in learning how to read effectively are overcome in writing workshops. Disabled readers at the secondary level often have a bad attitude toward reading. This attitude stems from their having developed bad self-images during their elementary school years, and these negative self-images are directly connected with their inability to perform at anticipated levels in the basic skills

Professional Concerns: Standing Reading on its Head

In his contribution to this column, Denny T. Wolfe, Jr., Director of the Division of Languages of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, calls for a more organic approach to the teaching of reading and suggests specific means of proceeding in this direction. What Dr. Wolfe writes is much in accord with the sentiments of James Moffett, who was quoted in the first appearance of this column (Spring, 1976)

Four Strategies for Teaching Reading in Content Areas

Despite all that has been written about the teaching of reading in the content areas, and despite the existence of books such as Herber\u27s Teaching Reading in Content Areas (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, 1970), Laffey\u27s Reading in the Content Areas (Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association, 1972), and Robinson and Thomas\u27 Fusing Reading Skills and Content (Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association, 1969), most secondary school teachers in the content areas still feel inadequate to teach reading and, even though they acknowledge the existence of a substantial reading program among thei

Professional Concerns

R. W. Reising, Professor of Communicative Arts and Native American Studies at Pembroke State University in North Carolina, provides a point counterpoint on the question of whether students\u27 dialects interfere with their ability to read. He suggests three specific actions to which educators concerned with reading instruction might turn their efforts in order to enhance the quality of such instruction for students who normally use a dialect other than standard

Professional Concerns: Reading Instruction and Brain Research

In her contribution to this column, Professor Chall gives an overview of her recent book, and she makes some interesting observations about the question of hemisphericity. While she does not deny the possibility that research focusing on the functions of the right hemisphere of the brain may have long term significance for reading instruction, she does indicate that at the present time it would seem that no simple inferences for what and how schools should teach the various curricular areas can be drawn from such research. Professor Chall stresses the importance of environmental stimulation and experience as fundamental determiners of the brain\u27s development

Professional Concerns

In the article which follows, Evelyn Hill, principal of Gertrude Ealy Elementary School in the West Bloomfield School District of Birmingham, Michigan, suggests specific ways in which the elementary school administrator can promote the reading program within his/her school. Ms. Hill provides sensible suggestions which any elementary school administrator should find rather easy and practical to apply

Professional Concerns: Remedial Programs: Some Strategies for Creating a Supportive Learning Environment

Professional Concerns is a regular column devoted to the interchange of ideas among those interested in reading instruction. Send your comments and contributions to the editor. If you have questions about reading that you wish to have answered) the ed£tor will find respondents to answer them. Address correspondence to R. Baird Shuman) Department of English) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Urbana) Illinois) 61801

Profssional Concerns

Professional Concerns is a regular column devoted to the interchange of ideas among those interested in reading instruction. Send your comments and contributions to the editor. If you have questions about reading that you wish to have answered, the editor will find respondents to answer them. Address correspondence to R. Baird Shuman, Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801

Professional Concerns

William S. Palmer is Professor of Reading and Language Arts at the University of NC?rth Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is well known for his contributions to professional journals in the field of reading and English education. He is author of Teaching Reading to High School Students. In his contribution to this column, Professor Palmer points out some of the oversimplication which results from basing reading programs upon the taxonomic model. He carefully explores the stages of beginning reading, and he sets these in a useful historical perspective. In doing so, he avoids the Aristotelian either/or dichotomy in his reasoning and presents suggestions which involve a both/ and type of reasoning