Learning by Teaching.

Abstract

A sixth grader who reads at a first or second grade level might be rebelliously indignant if he were asked to increase his reading skills by using primers appropriate to his reading level. However, when he is asked to take on the role of teacher with a first or second grade child who needs help, the same materials become part of a program invested with status and responsibility. In this manner, the older child is given the opportunity of building up his self-confidence even as he builds his reading skills. The value of such a practice has gained recognition among educators. During the past few years, the use of fifth and sixth grade students to help children in the primary grades develop reading skills has become an increasingly accepted practice. Riess man (1965) called attention to the unique dual value of this procedure, which benefits both the tutor and the tutee. This tutor ial technique was a major element contributing to the success of the Homework Helper Program, Mobilization of Youth, a delinquency prevention project on New York's Lower East Side. As Cloward (1966) points out, the technique also has important advantages for the younger child, where the value of having an individual tutor cannot be measured in terms of the acquisition of skills alone. For example, if the tutor is a male, he can serve as a model for the younger boy. This is especially important for disadvantaged children who often have no appropriate male figure at home. There are undoubtedly sound reasons for the adoption of the tutoring procedure, yet surprisingly little attention has been given to improving the effectiveness of the tutorial programs. Ellson, Barber, Engle, and Kampwerth (1965) cite a series of experiments in which a wide range of non-professionals, from retarded teen agers to college graduates, successfully tutored both retarded and normal children in kindergarten and first grade. However, these investigators were primarily interested in the impact on the stu dents tutored, rather than the gains made by those doing the 403

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