RM Winter 2017 FINAL

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Reading Matters
Research Matters
| 20| Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 |
paying a hefty fee to enroll him in a commercialized
reading program. She was also in the process of having
him tested for a learning disability through his school.
Alex embraced the challenge and did not allow Dylan’s
demeanor, or the presence of his mother during the first
several tutoring sessions, to deter her from establishing
a positive rapport in a focused, engaging learning
environment. She knew he needed help, and though
she often questioned her own ability to meet Dylan’s
unique needs as a reader and writer, Alex designed and
implemented lessons that met him at his instructional
level. As I talked with her each week about various
activities and reading materials, as well as Dylan’s overall
progress, it occurred to me that our tutoring camp is as
much a positive learning intervention for students as it is
for pre-service teachers.
Alex wrestled with the same doubts and fears that
plague classroom teachers every day. What else can
I do to help? Am I an effective teacher? Are the lessons I
teach really making a difference? Alex also found herself
questioning her career choice—Is teaching really for
me? She experienced for the first time the exhilarating
pleasure and frustration of being an educator. Up to this
point, Alex had only textbook vignettes and professors’
anecdotes to which she could refer. Now, she knew
firsthand what teaching is all about.
I observed Alex and Dylan as they traversed this path
together. I witnessed a shy first grader morph, at times,
into an eager learner willing to try anything that Alex
offered. He showed improvement inword recognition and
letter formation, as well as in writing. These little victories
occurred sporadically throughout the semester, similar to
the real classroom. I witnessed the birth of a teacher, as
she experienced success and “exhibited greater feelings
of self-efficacy” (Wasserman, 2009, p. 1049). She also
responded to the obstacles and reality of teaching much
like a boxer counters an opponent in the ring—recoiling
from the pain of one blow, a failed lesson, all to shake it
off and return with an equally packed punch, an engaging
and effective activity. At the end of the semester, Alex
was not only committed to the education profession, but
also for the first time referred to herself as a teacher and
“visualized [her]self in [this] role”(Lane, et al., 2011, p. 209).
Final Thoughts
As professors of future reading teachers in this diagnosis
of reading problems course, it is our duty to help our students
understand the reading and writing process and how to assess
and instruct young readers. However, it is always our wish that,
at some point during the semester, we notice that our students
have similar experiences to those of Kira and Alex. We want to
look around the room and see pairs of tutors and students who
are so engaged in what they are doing that they have no idea
what else is happening around them. We can teach pre-service
educators how to instruct children in the areas of comprehension,
word recognition, and writing. What we cannot teach and
can only model and explain (Noddings, 1984) is a passion for
working with students, a passion that has to come from within.
Our observations in our course align with what Assaf
and Lopez (2012) argue, that “we must nurture caring
relationships by providing the time and space for our pre-
service teachers to share their lives and personally get to know
their students” (p. 377). We are fortunate to have witnessed
examples of this in our after-school tutorial course, and we
carry these stories into the next courses we will teach.
References
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