"Stifled" by Scripts: Preservice Teachers' Literacy Learning in Urban, High-Needs Schools

• In Event: 46.087 - Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: 46.087-1 - Division K Section 6 Poster Session. Field Experiences: Student Teaching, Supervision, School/Community Collaborations, and Approaches in Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper reports on a qualitative study of preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) learning to teach literacy to elementary students from historically marginalized groups in urban, high-needs schools. Drawing on interviews and observations in the participants’ teacher education program (TEP) and their student teaching placements, this nested case study chronicles three PSTs’ learning throughout their first year in a social justice-oriented TEP. Cultural Historical Activity Theory serves as a lens to understand the various factors that may mediate PSTs’ learning about literacy, including coursework, student teaching, and the current policy climate. Findings demonstrate that student teaching placements offering freedom from rigid adherence to a scripted reading program fostered PSTs’ increased efficaciousness and provided PSTs opportunities to enact research-supported literacy instructional practices.

Author

• Kathryn Struthers, Bank Street College of Education