The Shy Kid

This reading brought back a lot of memories for me about my own literacy narrative, so to speak. Just the categories of Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking took me back to my years and years of Spanish classes and how, all through junior high and high school, we would get grades for each section. Reading and Writing weren't hard for me, but I struggled more with Speaking and Listening--especially Listening (those CDs! someone was always on their way to the biblioteca). I think that's because I am very much a visual learner, and even when someone is talking and I'm really focusing on what they're saying, I oftentimes will see their words written out in my own head.

I also thought about how speaking--in English--in school took much longer for me to learn than reading and writing. Hard to believe it now--since I have an opinion about everything and never shut up--but I used to be very shy until about halfway through high school. I was "that kid" who got phone calls home because I sometimes just flat-out refused to participate in group activities because I didn't want to talk to other people. Learning to talk was a real process for me, one that took years. Additionally, because I was an avid reader, my family had running jokes about words that I would pronounce wrong because I had never heard them spoken, only seen them on the page ("Colonel," for example).

With that said, I have to disagree somewhat with Emig's stance that talking comes more naturally than writing, takes less time, and is more instinctual to our genetic makeup. While I wholeheartedly agree that "A silent classroom or one filled only with the teacher's voice is anathema to learning," I still must beg the question--what about our shy students? More specifically, what about the ones who are talented and enthusiastic writers, yet aren't confident enough to speak up in class? There's a difference between being sleepy and/or lazy and being shy. This is why I think having both a Participation grade and Peer Review (tough love) as well as creating a welcoming, inclusive classroom environment are so important. As teachers, we must be insightful and observant enough to find our students who, contrary to the article, take a longer time to learn how to talk in a classroom. One way I try to help those students out is by rarely ever having a "blind discussion"--i.e., just asking a question out of nowhere. Instead, we almost always free-write about a topic beforehand, watch a clip or video (and even then, we usually write after that, too) or bring in something to talk about for homework. This weekend, for instance, they are preparing discussion questions after watching the film Winter's Bone in class, and I expect everyone to participate come Monday. Thus, while I agree with Emig that writing is a "unique mode of learning," I feel like speaking is as well, and we teachers must be in tune to the challenges of both for our students.