| This qualitative study reports on four student teachers learning to teach reading to Latino English Language Learners in urban elementary schools. Qualitative methodologies, such as interviewing student teachers, observing and audio-recording reading instructional lessons, and gathering student teachers' reflections were employed. By reviewing the data sources, the researcher sought to understand the contributions of the student teaching experience what the student teachers learned in diverse urban settings about teaching ELLs, what it means to teach reading to Latino ELLs when the teaching itself must be in English, and how teaching reading to ELLs is mediated by social policies.The findings were particular to these four student teachers and their school settings and were influenced by the researcher, as observer and interpreter of the data sources. The findings of this study suggest that regardless of background knowledge and experiences or teacher preparation, student teachers learned to teach reading to Latino ELLs by complying with the culture of the school and employed the prescribed routines and practices that were already in place. In these four cases, lack of guidance on behalf of the university supervisors and control on behalf of the mentors served to shape these particular student teachers into delivers of curriculum and managers of student behavior. As recipients of the curriculum, student teachers taught Latino ELLs as if the students were part of a homogenous group of pupils student teachers employed no changes in instruction or literacy practices based on students' ethnic heritage. In the end, student teachers became more alike than different as early education professionals. |
