RM Winter 2017

More Than a Literacy Lesson: Pre-Service Teachers’ Connections with Students in a University-Based Tutorial Program

By Bethanie C. Pletcher and Christie L. Warren, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Reading Matters Research Matters

Review of the Literature A search of the literature finds information pertaining to the beliefs, skills, teaching strategies, and effectiveness of pre-service teachers in university-based tutorial programs. A deeper look uncovers other dimensions of literacy tutoring that we were interested in learning more about, specifically how tutors develop relationships with the children they teach. In fact, in studies conducted by Hedrick, McGee, and Mittag (2000) andWorthy and Patterson (2001), most comments made by tutors revolved around these relationships. The Compassionate Practitioner As mentioned in Worthy & Patterson (2001), it is a delightful experience to watch tutors and children on the first day of tutorials as they meet each other. There are some pairs who hit it off immediately and others who are unsure due to nervousness or anxiety. Over the course of the first couple sessions, it is evident which pairs are working together naturally and which pairs are going through the motions of planned tutorial lessons. The ideal situation is that, as pre-service teachers have the experience of sitting alongside a child, a bond develops. As the tutor listens to the child and follows that particular child’s path to learning, a “natural caring” occurs that is “driven not by obligation but by personal feelings for the student” (Worthy & Patterson, 2001, p. 331). As instructors of this course, we want our students to understand that teaching begins with connections, and that teachers form these connections by engaging in authentic conversations with children (Assaf & Lopez, 2012; Lysaker, McCormick, & Brunette, 2004). As noted by Hedrick, McGee, and Mittag (2000), the one-to-one tutoring situation lends itself to this level of rapport. Another salient outcome of individualized tutoring is that pre-service teachers learn to empathize with children who are developing as readers and writers (Richards, 2006; Worthy & Patterson, 2001), and this is a valued trait for teachers to possess before they enter the field as practitioners. The Social Spaces of Tutoring The bond between each pair is a natural outgrowth of the underlying social “scene” to which both the tutor and child now belong. Upon meeting and spending time together, they etch out a space for themselves in which they learn and grow together. Their interactions during tutoring sessions help students become more comfortable and help tutors develop an appreciation of their students’ personalities and struggles (Worthy & Patterson, 2001). For the first time for many of them,

ABSTRACT — In this teaching narrative, the authors discovered the importance of the relationships tutors and children built during a university course-based reading tutorial program. During the brief time period of eight tutoring sessions, the course instructors noticed two pairs of tutors/tutees who had positively impacted one another. Not only did the children learn more about the reading and writing process and the teachers learn more about teaching it, the children and their tutors created relationships that illustrate the affective aspect of tutoring. The authors conclude that more can occur, beyond academic learning, in eight tutoring sessions than would usually be expected. We know that on the first day of our undergraduate diagnosis of reading problems course, our pre-service teachers will be uneasy when we tell them they will be spending approximately ten hours working with a student. As soon as we share this fact during the first class, we know that hands will go up. Where will these children come from? Where will we tutor them? How will I know what to teach? They have many “initial doubts and fears” in the weeks leading up to the actual tutorials (Richards, 2006, p. 777). When we taught this course for the first time, we had wonderings as well. Just howmuch of a difference can tutoring a child for eight sessions make? How will our tutors know when they have made a difference? As teachers of children, we firmly believe in the power of one-to-one interventions; however, for interventions to be effective, they need to occur at least four days per week and be delivered by expert teachers. We have not abandoned these beliefs, but we have become more convinced of the power of the pre-service teacher. Setting The reading tutorial program is situated in an undergraduate course titled Diagnosis and Correction of Reading Problems. In each section of this course, 25 pre-service teachers attend five traditional classes at the beginning of the semester. For the subsequent eight classes, we meet with our students for an hour and a half and then they tutor children for an hour and fifteen minutes. The course takes place on the university campus in the late afternoons, creating an after-school tutorial setting. The course instructor guides students in the use of several assessment tools, and tutors then analyze the data they gather from these assessments to provide one-on-one instruction for children, ages six through eleven, participating in the program. Although this experience is “practice” teaching, it is a crucial piece in the development of skills that impacts the reading and writing of the children involved in the tutoring program.

Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 | scira.org | 17 |

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS