Meeting the Needs of Secondary Students: One Teacher Candidate at a Time

• In Event: Roundtable 2

Abstract

Access to equitable literacy instruction remains a major barrier to future opportunities for many students across the country. Thus, most teacher education programs require students to take a literacy course that focuses on disciplinary literacy. As teacher educators in different states, we noted resistance from our students in understanding the importance of all content area teachers contributing in their instruction to the literacy skills of students. To make this need practical, a partnership between teacher education students in California and freshman composition students in Texas was created. This qualitative study demonstrates the potential active learning opportunities holds and highlights the need for programs to be responsive to literacy trends in education, the needs of students, and current events.

Authors

• Amber Wagnon, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Heather Dean, California State University - Stanislaus