Whatever happened to Reading? It used to be Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. It appears that story telling is taking over for Reading as the cornerstone of a new way for young children, especially African-American children, to learn and along the way build confidence and a strong bond between the pre-schooler and the teacher, this according to the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.
The study by the Institute looked at more than 6,000 students across the United States and points out students need to be able to orally express themselves in class in front of other students as this activity helps develop early reading skills.
According to the study, when African-American children are given the opportunity to verbally tell their home and lesson stories to others in the class, good things happen not only to them but to others in the class. According to the authors, teachers should listen more and talk less and encourage all their students to talk about their studies and surroundings as this encourages them to participate in all classroom activities.
This study was the first to demonstrate a connection between African-American preschoolers’ storytelling skills and further development of their early reading skills.
This article was recently released by North Carolina News Service, a statewide news service for North Carolina.
