The Young Speaker!
Recitation isn't as easy as it looks! The Young Speaker's got me thinking about Applebee's (1996) notion of bringing the traditions of the past forward in ways that are relevant to the present and to the future. There is a lot we don't like anymore about those elocution lessons: rote memorization, lack of comprehension, stand & deliver only to be judged lacking, etc. You could argue that this form of literacy really wasn't all that relevant to most people's lives even when it was popular in schools. But if we look for the relevancy of the tradition, as it has been passed down today, I venture to suggest that there were a handful of nice things about this tradition. Like knowing a poem by heart, building fluency, working cooperatively (there are parts for 2 speakers!), building community through shared texts, incorporating the body, and, well, those of us that tried it, I think, thought they were fun. At any rate, more motivating than sitting silently at your desk and bubbling in answers to silent reading comprehension sheets (which came in to fashion in the next period and kept the kids reading silently until, well, gee, until today). I think of how the tradition of elocution in schools shows up in the "Reader's Theatre" in classrooms today: a tool for building fluency, community, comprehension, and motivation. One good example, perhaps, of how we carry on traditions, while at the same time transforming them...
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