Preservice teachers' understanding's of how to teach literacy

Unrestricted This study examined the field experiences, literacy experiences and reflections of preservice teachers (PSTs) in relationship to development of their instructional literacy practice. The objective was to establish a better understanding how PSTs develop their instructional literacy practices. This is a qualitative study using PSTs reflective journals, lesson-sharing feedback, transcripts from a focus group and a series of personal interviews as well as in-classroom observations of literacy related instruction as primary sources. Data were analyzed using sociocultural theory guided by Rogoff’s (2003) three planes of learning and development: the personal, the social and the community-institutional. The author found the PST’s developing literacy practices were primarily influenced by their early literacy experiences, their early field experiences, the literacy practices observed from the cooperating teacher (CT) and, to a much lesser extent, coursework. The CT was most influential where the PST had not articulated early literacy learning experiences. In terms of lesson planning, the coursework was either not referenced by the PSTs or acknowledged as potentially useful but difficult to remember and look-up. This finding was most evident among those who did not identify with their early learning experiences. Lesson planning overall was stressful due to limited planning time, feedback and consulting with their CT. Overall, PSTs with the weakest, or missing, articulation of early literacy memories were associated with the weakest application of coursework and greatest reliance on the CT for instructional literacy practices. Last, during the interviews and throughout their journals, the PSTs revealed their beliefs and values as related to literacy, to learning and children’s abilities. Half of this data were related specifically to classroom management. Implications for practice call for including structured, guided and critical reflection in PST development.; Capturing the learning experiences of PSTs and deconstructing those experiences per best practices and current theory can provide a base upon which PSTs can build their pedagogy (Hollingsworth, 1989; Lortie, 1977; Wideen, Mayer-Smith & Moon, 1998). Vygotsky’s (1986) theory of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) asserts that learning can be scaffolded through a learner’s collaboration with a more knowledgeable person. Thus, having a routinized time for the CT and PST to meet and debrief allows for scaffolding. Marxen and Rudney (1999) identified debriefing sessions as a key feature of PSTs development in their study, where PSTs replaced their initial ideas with positive knowledge and understanding. Lastly, Hollingsworth (1989) recommends that classroom management knowledge be routinized – allowing PSTs to focus on their content rather than on classroom management. Successful literacy teachers use a variety of management routines, effectively increasing instruction time (Williams & Baumann, 2008).