Another semester has come to an end, and reflection has now begun. What did I do that helped my students to grow as teachers? What did I do that failed miserably, and how can I correct that for my future students? What do I want to keep in my lessons, and what do I need to get rid of or revise? However, this is not only a time of reflection but one of planning for the next semester. This is where I truly get excited since it is a time of starting over with a clean slate.
This coming semester I will be teaching an undergrad course entitled “Foundations of Reading.” I have taught this many times as a graduate course, but this will be the first time I will be teaching it to preservice teachers. As with any course I begin thinking about what do I want the students to have learned by the end of the semester. Then I wonder how I will get them to that point. The latter is what I would like to think about in this blog.
When I think of foundations, my literacy brain automatically goes to the 5 Pillars of Reading. Then I think about reading models and theories. I emphasize these heavily in my graduate course, but I need to remember that these are preservice teachers just learning about what it is to be a teacher. They lack the background knowledge that inservice teachers possess in regards to teaching. Building background knowledge will be key. Before starting with reading foundations, perhaps these students need to be reminded of what it was like to be a reader. Oh, they ARE readers in the sense of academic reading, but I would bet my life it has been a long time since many of them have read for enjoyment!
Enjoyment – Do we allow ourselves to enjoy reading? As I wrote in a previous blog, I almost feel guilty for reading a book just for pure enjoyment. But isn’t that where reading begins? Children enjoy having books read to them. Children enjoy looking at the many books in a library. I think giving my students “permission” to enjoy a book is where I will start with this class. This will be interesting to see if they allow themselves to enjoy a good book instead of thinking about what a waste of time aesthetic reading is when they could be working on school work.
Motivation – Is it possible to motivate preservice teachers to read? Hmmmm . . . How do we motivate younger students to read (and by younger I mean K-12 students). Read alouds? Book talks? Just talking about books we have seen or heard about? Extrinsic motivation is solidified in preservice teachers because they want that good grade, but isn’t there more to reading than just a grade? I would dare say not for college students. I think a number of preservice as well as inservice teachers have given up the intrinsic motivation due to seeking a degree, but we need to get that back. If we want our students to be readers, we must also be readers ourselves. Model the joy of reading – that will need to be a focus.
Realization – As a literacy professor, I have the responsibility to enlighten my preservice teachers about the students that they are going to teach one day. The phrase “There is a reading crisis” can be just that – a phrase. It is knowledge, but do my preservice teachers realize how bad the crisis is? Do these preservice teachers (especially middle school and high school preservice teachers) know that 1/3 of their students will not be able to read the textbook put in front of them (2019 NAEP reading scores)? Do they realize that another 1/3 of their students will be able to read but struggle with the textbook put in front of them? It is easy to point the finger at early childhood and elementary teachers since isn’t it their job to teach reading? A goal in my foundations class will be to open my preservice teachers’ eyes to their responsibility of helping struggling readers read the text put in front of them. No blame game – let’s just learn.
Oh, theories and models are important to know, but I do not think the impact of these will be felt until the very foundation of reading is laid. These three things (enjoyment, motivation, and realization) are foundational for preservice teachers to experience in order for the rest of the reading structure to stand. My students may not remember all of the theorists or even be able to recite all of the pillars of reading, but I will strive for them to become better readers so that they may turn around and model for their future students what it truly means to be a reader.