Learning From the “Little Guys”: What do Middle and High School Preservice Teachers Learn from Tutoring Elementary Students?

Abstract

As teacher educators, we continue to focus on tutoring experiences as ways to help tutors connect coursework to practice. This study presents a preservice tutoring program designed to provide a field-based experience where the tutors would be able to (a) learn about literacy instruction, (b) use a multitude of assessment data rather than representing students by single scores, (c) design literacy curriculum based on students' needs, and (d) focus on motivating students to read and write in addition to helping them succeed academically. Unlike previous studies, the tutors were middle and high school preservice teachers tutoring elementary struggling readers.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• struggling readers