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Reading partnerships for teacher candidates.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

An effective field experience is an important component in the development of teachers for elementary schools. Research shows that partnerships between university and elementary schools are one way to provide meaningful experiences for teacher candidates. However, one problem in developing these partnerships lies in the design of the experience. This study describes a partnership and reading activity between a university professor and an elementary teacher which was designed to enhance the learning experience for elementary students and teacher candidates enrolled in a content reading course.

Introduction

The preparation of preservice teachers is intricately intertwined with public schools in terms of purposes, content, processes, and organization (Ishler, Edens & Barnett, 1996). The university curriculum designed to prepare teacher candidates typically includes classroom theory, operational curriculum (classroom teaching, instruction, and experiences) and experiential curriculum (meaningful learning experiences as perceived by the students). Methods courses, part of the operational curriculum, are part of most curriculum plans for teacher candidates. The courses are designed to provide opportunities for teacher candidates to create lesson plans and practice teaching the lessons to their fellow classmates (microteaching). Fortunately, this microteaching concept has evolved to provide opportunities for students to teach their lessons in actual classrooms during their field experience visits to classroom sites.

Research shows that in field experiences with focused, well-structured activities, significant learning can occur (Wilson, Floden, and Ferrini-Mundy, 2001). It is commonly accepted that those teacher candidates who participate in field based experiences will be better prepared to teach than those who do not. Consequently, the opportunity to interact with students in field sites is valuable in helping teacher candidates gain practical experiences in an authentic situation. For many years, schools of education have regularly partnered with P-12 schools to serve as field based sites for teacher candidates. Although there are many types of field experiences formed between schools and universities, the most common arrangement involves the teacher candidate placed at the school with the university supervisor visiting the school site. Designing partnerships takes time and a willingness on the part of both entities to make it work. This paper describes a four-year collaborative field experience between an elementary teacher of gifted and talented students (grades 3-5) and a reading professor at a university site.

A Different Type of Early Field Experience

An early field experience usually involves the placement of teacher candidates in a classroom to gain practical experiences while working with a classroom teacher and students. However, in our case, two major factors (distance and time) determined the redesign of the experience: The...

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