"As far as the teacher asking the students to read out loud, it is very important..........one needs to evaluate that student."
Respectfully, I think the 'reading aloud' technique is far more applicable to very young children, or grammar school, as someone else stated.
There's a difference between having youngsters reading aloud and having grown adults do it.
I can assure you first hand that when apprenticeship teachers had adult students
read aloud, the vast majority of time it was out of lack of desire to do anything else that particular evening, or to chew up some time from the 3 hour evening class.
Part time night teachers are humans with other day jobs, families, and a day full of other events and problems they go thru before they even get to their class at the end of an already long day. Sometimes, like anyone else working two jobs, they just aren't 'up for it' that day.
Whenever I was really on top of my game, had interesting material, and was fully prepared for class that night, I did all the talking, explaining the written material instead of just plodding thru it. I was at the board demonstrating things, and I had everyones attention, they were taking notes, interacting with me and each other, etc.
Whenever I was not prepared, or as sometimes happens, just not 'into it' that night, having the class read aloud was the fall back plan, tantamount to "I don't feel like teaching tonight".
I fully agree that revealing/learning a students strengths and weaknesses is an important part of the teacher/student relationship. I just don't believe having grown adults read aloud in front of their peers is the way to force them to expose those weaknesses in front of each other, when one on one time with the student, or thorough review of their work can better achieve that evaluation.
Of course, this is only my opinion from personal experience, and surely there are other circumstances where reading aloud may be more applicable. I just don't think a night trade apprenticeship class full of adults is one of them.
[This message has been edited by MONOLITH (edited 09-13-2004).]
