Is Reading still part of the three R's?

Reading Out Loud

As I stood up in front of the crowd
They all sat still and silent
Their eyes and ears aimed like rifles on me
And I slowly read my poem aloud

My knees shook with every spoken lyric
My lips quivered as I couldn't stop
They listened intently, focused
As if my every word was the word of a mystic

Heavy emotions make me weightless
My eyes are shaking and my heart is too
My poem is almost finished
But the words aren't bitter and tasteless

I look at the crowd's emotionless faces as I finish reading
Their monotone lips curve upward as they clap
I walk off the stage nervously trying to maintain balance
And in my head the words of the poem repeat

 

 - Christian Rivera

 

 

In every class I have been in so far in my partner school, none of the students read out loud. NONE. The ELA classes have ranged from grade nine to eleven. Is this not considered an important part of ELA anymore? The only class I have been in where the students have read out loud is World Religions 30. The teacher is of the traditional variety - transmission based - but at least she gets some students reading. I say some because the students are allowed to pass if they do not feel like reading. She also tries to get the students out of the classroom as much as possible by scheduling field trips to religious centers. So the question I have is: Why aren't the students reading out loud? I remember back to my time in high school - all students had to read. It didn't matter if you were nervous, because if anyone laughed about someone's reading ability, they were disciplined. 

Another thing I have noticed during my time at the local high school is the spelling ability of the students. Most of the grade nine's spell words exactly how they sound, which is often wrong. The teachers do not seem to take marks off for their mistakes, so why would they care? Actually, most students don't seem to care about much at all, besides getting out of class or causing destraction. I was growing extremely frustrated with that class until one student asked me an a colleague to read her poetry. It was unbelievable. There was so much feeling and emotion involved in her words and I was truly surprised that a student would let a relative stranger read such personal writing. These moments are what makes all of the stress worth it.