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I read words aloud in my head. However, I remember reading words as fast as possible almost like an auctioneer when we would break up into reading groups in ele

I read words aloud in my head. However, I remember reading words as fast as possible almost like an auctioneer when we would break up into reading groups in elementary school. My classmates thought it was hilarious but when the teacher came by, she would tell me not to read so fast. So I switched the extra processing power to making context-appropriate inflections, dramatizations, and intonations instead of the monotone my classmates were doing, which the teachers seemed to tolerate.

cecilpl2 7y ago
> context-appropriate inflections, dramatizations, and intonations I do this too, and other people often comment on how well I read out loud. I often find myself buffering words into vocalization while I read ahead a line or so and prepare the next sentence. I can insert pauses (or intone a clause as an aside) to make it easier for the listener to parse. What tricks do you have?
- jacobolus 7y ago
  I have been reading kids books aloud for maybe 2 hours per day for the past 2 years (to an almost-3 year old), and at this point I can do a pretty decent read-aloud including voices etc. while also considering some unrelated technical problem in my head. The catch is that if I am thinking about something else simultaneously then what I am reading aloud doesn’t make it into memory; I can read for 20 minutes and then suddenly realize that I have no idea what happened in the story. The reading is on autopilot.
gowld 7y ago
You comment seems a bit defensive about your teacher inspiring you to improve your reading performance skills. Your teacher probably tolerated monotone because your classmates were working hard just to get the words out, and they weren't ready to add inflection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjtPMiumixA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjtPMiumixA Don't Read Like a Robot - Blazer Fresh | GoNoodle
- imjustsaying 7y ago
  >You comment seems a bit defensive about your teacher inspiring you to improve your reading performance skills. It was stated that the only thing she inspired me to do was slow down my expression of reading speed. Reading faster than my peers and entertaining them is not something people get embarrassed about. Her telling me to slow down was not a magical way to get me to add inflection out of the void. Being scolded for deviating from normal speed only reinforced the standard school mentality that any deviation = bad. It would have only discouraged me from adding inflections without first being instructed to do so. >(other classmates) weren't ready to add inflection. I don't recall my classmates even adding inflection by high school or beyond, let alone by the end of the trimester. At least where I'm from, elementary teachers do not try to add inflection in their students. I'd imagine being able to read itself is more than sufficient to send them on to the next class. Teachers focusing attention on illiterate students probably took precedence over tinkering with subjective inflections in kids who were not only going to pass their K-5 standardized tests but were already reading at a high school level.
  - briandear 7y ago
    > being able to read itself is more than sufficient to send them on to the next class This is why my kids go to private school and I support school choice: when students are treated like widgets that only have to meet some minimum quality standard, that necessarily results in teachers doing exactly as you describe: tolerating mediocrity because mediocrity is the standard. It’s not the teachers’ fault, it’s the way public schools are designed: to output students at a minimum level of competency. Until parents start demanding something beyond the minimum and voting accordingly, just “passing,” is all that we can expect.

cecilpl2 7y ago

> context-appropriate inflections, dramatizations, and intonations I do this too, and other people often comment on how well I read out loud. I often find myself buffering words into vocalization while I read ahead a line or so and prepare the next sentence. I can insert pauses (or intone a clause as an aside) to make it easier for the listener to parse. What tricks do you have?

jacobolus 7y ago
I have been reading kids books aloud for maybe 2 hours per day for the past 2 years (to an almost-3 year old), and at this point I can do a pretty decent read-aloud including voices etc. while also considering some unrelated technical problem in my head. The catch is that if I am thinking about something else simultaneously then what I am reading aloud doesn’t make it into memory; I can read for 20 minutes and then suddenly realize that I have no idea what happened in the story. The reading is on autopilot.

gowld 7y ago

You comment seems a bit defensive about your teacher inspiring you to improve your reading performance skills. Your teacher probably tolerated monotone because your classmates were working hard just to get the words out, and they weren't ready to add inflection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjtPMiumixA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjtPMiumixA Don't Read Like a Robot - Blazer Fresh | GoNoodle

imjustsaying 7y ago
>You comment seems a bit defensive about your teacher inspiring you to improve your reading performance skills. It was stated that the only thing she inspired me to do was slow down my expression of reading speed. Reading faster than my peers and entertaining them is not something people get embarrassed about. Her telling me to slow down was not a magical way to get me to add inflection out of the void. Being scolded for deviating from normal speed only reinforced the standard school mentality that any deviation = bad. It would have only discouraged me from adding inflections without first being instructed to do so. >(other classmates) weren't ready to add inflection. I don't recall my classmates even adding inflection by high school or beyond, let alone by the end of the trimester. At least where I'm from, elementary teachers do not try to add inflection in their students. I'd imagine being able to read itself is more than sufficient to send them on to the next class. Teachers focusing attention on illiterate students probably took precedence over tinkering with subjective inflections in kids who were not only going to pass their K-5 standardized tests but were already reading at a high school level.
- briandear 7y ago
  > being able to read itself is more than sufficient to send them on to the next class This is why my kids go to private school and I support school choice: when students are treated like widgets that only have to meet some minimum quality standard, that necessarily results in teachers doing exactly as you describe: tolerating mediocrity because mediocrity is the standard. It’s not the teachers’ fault, it’s the way public schools are designed: to output students at a minimum level of competency. Until parents start demanding something beyond the minimum and voting accordingly, just “passing,” is all that we can expect.