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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

Reading Matters Research Matters

Allington, R. L. (2006). What really matters for struggling readers: Designing research-based programs. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson, Allyn, and Bacon.

Assaf, L. C., & Lopez, M. (2012). Reading rocks: Creating a space for preservice teachers to become responsive teachers. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 33 (4), 365-381.

Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1994). Personal experience methods. In N. K.

Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (413-427). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Hedrick, W. B., McGee, P., & Mittag, K. (2000). Pre-service teacher learning through one-on-one tutoring: Reporting perceptions through e-mail. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16 , 47-63. Lane, H. B., Hudson, R. F., McCray, R. D., Tragash, J. R., & Zeig, J. L. (2011). Tutoring opened my eyes: Tutor experiences in the America Reads challenge. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 19 (2), 199-218. Lysaker, J., McCormick, K., & Brunette, C. C. (2004). Hope, happiness, and reciprocity: A thematic analysis of preservice teachers’relationships with their reading buddies. Reading Research and Instruction, 44 (2), 21-45. Massey, D. D., & Lewis, J. (2011). Learning from the“little guys”: What do middle and high school preservice teachers learn from tutoring elementary students? L iteracy Research and Instruction, 50, 120-132.

Noddings, N. (1984). Caring, a feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Richards, J. C. (2006). Preservice teachers’professional development in a community of practice summer literacy camp for children at-risk: A sociocultural perspective. The Qualitative Report, 11 (4), 771-794. Tuten, J., & Jensen, D. A. (2008). Re-visioning the reading clinic experience: Tutoring at the edge of one’s comfort zone. Journal of Reading Education, 34 (1), 25-32.

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