Teacher Education

Question: How is teacher education taught?

Answer/Quote: “If the adage ‘we teach as we are taught’ is true, pre-service teachers must experience current views of literacy in their college classes before they can be expected to practice them in primary or secondary school classrooms. However, many teacher educators who profess beliefs in holistic [whole language] learning still use a transmission model of teaching, simply passing along information to students in traditional style. Such practice results in conflict between what is taught and how it is taught.” P. 276.

Quote: “The way students learn in teacher education classrooms will shape the way they teach in their own classrooms.” P. 281.

Comment: If you’re going to teach prospective teachers to teach whole language, use whole language techniques in your teacher education classes. Let the students test the theories about the whole language program of teaching reading and writing. I once wrote a paper when individualizing was the fad in education, challenging the professor not to tell about individualizing, but to actually individualize his own instruction, showing teacher education students how to do it by demonstrating it with them. His response? “It’s hard.” RayS.

 Title: “Moving Toward a Whole Language College Classroom.” EP Ross. Journal of Reading (December 1991/January 1992), 276-281.