Course Description
Foundations of Reading is the first of two reading methods courses preservice teachers are required to complete in order to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood or elementary education.
All preservice teachers enrolled in education courses at the university are required to participate in a field requisite. Each student is placed in an elementary classroom one day each week for a specified number of hours throughout the semester, and is asked to complete a certain number of requirements for each course in which he or she is enrolled. For example, one field requirement for the Foundations of Reading methods course is to keep a journal documenting observations of reading instruction and the learning environment, along with any comments the preservice teacher may have. After many observations and in collaboration with the teacher, the student is to determine the teacher’s reading philosophy. The cooperating classroom teacher is asked to provide time for the undergraduate student to complete all course requirements, to observe the student’s performance, and to provide feedback -- as well as to continue daily instruction. Often the student and the teacher are overwhelmed by demands of requirements and schedules, and they have little (if any) time to discuss the theory behind the methods the student has practiced or observed.
From “Electronic Dialoguing in a Preservice Reading Methods Course: A Yearlong Study” by Denise Johnson.
Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted July 2002