Service Learning in a Teacher Candidate Preparation Program: ​Reading with Elementary Students to Foster and Sustain Positive Reading Attitudes​

Recent conversations about best practices for teaching reading have highlighted the importance of connecting theory with practical application when instructing pre-service teachers. This study will be piloted in two-undergraduate literacy methods classes: Literacy in the Content Area for Early Childhood and Childhood Teachers and Literacy in the Content Areas for Adolescent Teachers. Pre-service teachers will work with elementary students in a local Public School district for 40-minutes to one-hour, once a month in the semester. The research design for this longitudinal study is hypothesis generating with mixed methods. Data sources include: pre/post surveys for elementary students, pre/post surveys for teacher candidates, pre/post surveys for cooperating teachers, four teacher candidate reflective papers, researcher field notes, pre/post session mood meters for elementary students, and elementary student work consisting of writings and drawings. The longitudinal component of this study includes a survey to be sent to students once a year for three years following the teacher candidates’ four reading sessions with elementary students. The survey will document the remaining impact teacher candidates might have had on the reading attitudes of younger students. Teacher candidates must possess positive attitudes towards reading and translate these into their teaching practice by helping their students maintain or develop an interest in sustained reading. Therefore, this study’s goal is to better understand how a service-learning project that connects teacher candidates with elementary students in a reading setting might impact current and long-term reading attitudes for the young readers as well as attitudes of teacher candidates towards reading instruction.