To Believe That Students Should Read for Recreation Is Not Enough: Examining the (Dis)connections Between Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs About Reading and Their Classroom Pedagogies

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  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Perspectives on Content Area Learning, Mandated Curriculum, and Notions of Student Success

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the personal beliefs about reading and the pedagogical decisions and practices of four preservice English teachers who are enrolled in a teacher licensure program at a major Midwestern university. Each intern was formally interviewed five times and observed while teaching literature two times. Data comprised of fieldnotes, meeting notes, video and audio recordings, journal entries, essays, and other artifacts were used to prepare profiles of each intern. This report suggests that these four interns’ beliefs and orientations toward reading influenced their pedagogical practice in teaching literature.

Author

• Denise Davila, University of Nevada - Las Vegas