Laying the Foundation

Teacher Preparation Programs and the Teaching of Writing Inquiry Project Synopsis

Lily N.WMWP Summer Institute

2006

How are teacher preparation programs preparing our nation’s teachers for the complex realities of teaching writing?

Despite a rigorous college experience, I felt drastically unprepared

My experience with student teachers and others in the field

So what exactly is happening in teacher preparation programs?

Lack of proper preparation often highlighted by teachers Student results as testimonial to this

problem Researchers (Bowie) say student

writing not improving A national embarrassment 1992 National Assessment of

Educational Progress: Majority of high

school juniors unable to produce adequate persuasive or analytic essay

Student problems frequently attributed to inadequate teacher preparation Bowie: “Few teacher education programs

offer specific courses on how to teach writing”

Meyer: 8th grade writing lags far behind

research and theory Teacher preparation focused on

literature Teacher enthusiasm and strategies

revolve around literature “Who can blame them, given the

training we’ve given them?”

A Closer Look at Teacher Preparation Programs Study by Bowie:

233 Teachers surveyed, from undergrad. And grad programs

Rated preservice writing training on scale of 0 (poor) to 3 (excellent)

Teachers gave undergrad program mean rating of 1

Grad programs received mean rating of 0.8

“The literature indicates that teachers do not feel prepared to

teach writing.”

Study by Grossman, et al Followed teachers through

training, student teaching, and first year

About half “entered student teaching with relatively few strategies for teaching writing”

Others “firmly believed [their] teacher education coursework had provided [them] with many good ideas for teaching writing”

Overall, researchers concluded preparation programs need to offer strategies for predictable dilemmas in teaching writing

So what do Writing Project Teachers Say? I’ve spoken to several of you on this

topic The majority have concurred that they

did not feel adequately prepared, from both undergrad. and grad. programs

Many were not given explicit instruction in teaching writing

Some, however, did feel prepared and were given explicit instruction in the teaching of writing

Conclusions and Continued Study Overall, data varies--overwhelming

majority points to poor preparation for teaching writing

Clearly teacher preparation programs need improvement, many must improve

Plan of Continued Study: Investigate local universities and colleges, their

preparation programs Interviews with teachers to gauge their sense of

preparedness Possible focus on high school level, including

demands of writing across curriculum and preparation for that

Works Cited

1. Bowie, Robert L. “Future Teachers Perceptions of Themselves as Writers and Teachers of Writing: Implications for Teacher Education Programs.” Paper for Annual Meeting of College Reading Association. Charlestown, SC. 1992.

2. Grossman, Pamela, Sheila W. Valencia, Kate Evans, Clarissa Thompson. “Transitions into Teaching: Learning to Teach Writing in Teacher Education and Beyond.” Journal of Literacy Research. Chicago, IL. December 2000.

3. Lesser, Felice. Personal Interview. Amherst, MA. July 2006.

4. Meyer, Jim. “’It’s a Lot of Hectic in Middle School’ : Student-Teaching in an Urban Classroom.” The English Journal. NCTE. May, 1999.