Reading as Teachers: What Are the Content-Knowing Demands of Teaching the Reading of Literature?

• In Event: Critical and Social Justice Inquiry Through Curriculum Practices in the English Language Arts Classroom

Abstract

Content knowledge is necessary but not sufficient for the demands of teaching; teaching requires “more” and “different” knowledge of content (SCK, Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). This study aims to contribute to theory of SCK for teaching literature by examining the reading of seven English teacher candidates before, during, and after student teaching, a period when candidates must learn to “read for teaching” (Alston & Barker, 2014). Before working with students, participants’ reading reflects disciplinary literacy practices (Rainey, 2017). After, a different kind of literary reading is observable: reading with students in mind. Together, the researcher and participants from this and a prior pilot study will discuss whether findings represent literary SCK, and consider mutually educative possibilities of research collaboration.

Author

• Annie Blais, Ann Arbor Public Schools