TJEd Forum Conference Notes: Nurturing Good Writers and Speakers

Andrew Pudewa spoke about two keys to great writing and speaking: Read-Aloud and Memorization.

Order of Exposure to Language in Average Children

1. Media: Avg. kid is exposed to 25 hours/week of media. This is where most of their words come from.
2. Peers: Kids use better language when in mixed age groups. The older kids use better language because they are in a position of being a leader. The younger kids use better language to sound older. If we wanted to create the worst possible school system for language development, it would be to put the same age kids together all day every day.
3. Parents/Other Adults
4. Books: When children read too fast, they tend to scan the page. They understand the story, but don't digest the syntax. Most parents stop reading aloud to kids when they can read on their own, but we should keep reading to them until they leave the house.

Memorization

• Anything you memorize makes you smarter by creating new connections in your brain.
• Best groups of SAT scorers come out of music and drama clubs because of memorization.
• Suzuki Method for music can be adapted for poetry-Memorize one line at a time. Keep practicing old stuff while adding new ones. Add a poem/week, reciting all the ones from previous weeks.
• If you struggle to get boys involved in memorizing poetry, find more boyish poems. Look for humorous, violent or disgusting poems.